The Australian government is conducting an inquiry into regulating the Internet, and if previous federal recommendations and current Aussie state laws are any indication, the continent down under could get its very own CDA.
"Australia seems to be entering an era of increased censorship," asserted Greg Taylor, co-founder of Electronic Frontiers Australia, which is associated with the American EFF.
The inquiry comes just as Parliament has passed a telecommunications bill allowing the country's local phone service, Telstra, to charge timed calls for Net access to businesses - a move that the country's 470 ISPs say will crush the telecommunications industry in Australia.
A government panel on technology standards said it is reviewing federal Net policies to "assess whether community standards have been maintained since it last looked at this rapidly developing area." The committee is accepting public comments through Monday.
The inquiry is a second look at online content after recommendations made in 1995, when the committee concluded - in language reminiscent of the US Communications Decency Act - "that it should be an offense to use a computer service to transmit, obtain possession of, demonstrate, advertise, or request the transmission of material equivalent to the RC [refused classification, like child porn], R [over 18], and X [nonviolent porn] categories."
In addition, the committee called for "a system of self-regulation" and "the concept of classification at source of all material placed online." This self-censorship is similar to that outlined in the CDA, which has been challenged by US free-speech advocates who have asked the Supreme Court to uphold a federal district court ruling that struck down the law.
Two of the six Australian states have already legislated the Net, although neither law has yet been used. Under the Western Australian Censorship Act enacted in November, police do not need a warrant to search ISPs' records, logs, email, and other data. And in Victoria, a law criminalizies the online transmission of material deemed unsuitable to a minor.
Australia has among the most Internet hosts per capita in the world - more than 1 million of the nation's 18 million people have Net access. Internet growth is doubling about every nine months, and a recent survey by the Australia Bureau of Statistics found that by 1998, 66 percent of high-income households and 56 percent of upper-middle class households will have a home computer.
