http://www.it.fairfax.com.au/breaking/19990914/A2671-1999Sep14.html Summit queries Net content law Tuesday 14 September 1999 By KIRSTY NEEDHAM AUSTRALIA'S Internet content law came under attack at an international summit on Internet content regulation in Germany. The reaction "was critical, particularly when it comes to blocking provisions", said Jens Waltermann, who headed the Bertelsmann Foundation summit attended by 300 policymakers and industry representatives, including former White House adviser Ira Magaziner. Australian Broadcasting Authority deputy chairman Gareth Grainger said: "The area where some people have discomfort, and (civil liberties group) Electronic Frontiers Australia have extreme discomfort, is that some material will never be accessed in Australia." Magaziner said in his keynote speech that the Internet could not be censored, nor could centralised rules be enacted on it. Grainger said the US Government felt the Internet was too young to be stifled by government rules. "But he was urging the industry itself to take responsibility for self regulation." Waltermann said a proposal by the Australian Internet Industry Association to soften the impact of the legislation had been seen more favourably. "If the blocking provisions in the Australian regulation were interpreted = in such a way where the filtering is done in the household rather than at the Internet service provider, I think it can work. But above (that level= ) =85 Australia should consider looking at the slowly forming international consensus on this," he said. Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=3Dsubscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=3Dunsubscribe%20leftlink
