--- From: Irene Graham <igrahamat_private> To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Subject: EFA Media Release: NSW law would criminalise internet material unsuitable for children Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 20:49:18 +1000 Declan, Below fyi and politech if you think it would be of interest. Regards, Irene ======= Media Release from Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc (EFA) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 17 November 2001 NSW LAW WOULD CRIMINALISE INTERNET MATERIAL UNSUITABLE FOR CHILDREN Electronic Frontiers Australia today warned that new Internet censorship laws under consideration by NSW Parliament would criminalise Internet material unsuitable for children. The legislation is expected to be voted on this month. The law will cover text and images placed on the web, including email sent to mailing lists that are archived on the web, and messages to newsgroups. "The Bill criminalises making available information unsuitable for children online, even if the content is only made available to adults," said Irene Graham, EFA Executive Director. "While a defence is offered, this unjustifiably reverses the onus of proof and requires an Internet user to defend themself in a court of law. It's doubtful an Internet user could prove their innocence using the particular defence. Relevant technological matters have been ignored or overlooked." Graham said other serious criminal justice issues also need to be addressed. "The proposals show an intent to treat ordinary NSW people who use the Internet less fairly under criminal law than offline publishers. For example, police could commence criminal proceedings against an Internet user before online content has even been classified. However, NSW law applicable to offline films and publications prevents police from commencing prosecution until the material has been classified. Police are not trained to apply classification guidelines, nor should they be. No useful purpose is served by empowering police to commence criminal proceedings on the basis of a wrong guess about the classification." In 1996, NSW citizens marched on Parliament after draft Internet censorship legislation was leaked. The NSW government subsequently dropped that proposal. EFA believes the NSW Government is attempting to rush the latest version through Parliament before most citizens even become aware of it. "The Bill should be suspended until its full ramifications have been investigated, criminal justice issues and practical problems adequately addressed, and appropriate amendments made." "Failure to give proper consideration to the particular problems presented by the Internet in comparison with traditional media censorship will result in ineffective and unworkable legislation." "The proposed laws will not make it any easier for parents to protect their children from offensive material on the worldwide Internet, but they will restrict adults' freedom to communicate with each other online." -------------------------------------------------------------- Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc -- http://www.efa.org.au/ representing Internet users concerned with on-line freedoms URL of this release: http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/PR011117.html -------------------------------------------------------------- Media Contacts: Ms Irene Graham Mr Kimberley Heitman EFA Executive Director EFA Chair Phone: 0412 997 163 Phone: 0408 881 421 Email: edat_private Email: chairat_private -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: EFA's comprehensive reference source on the NSW Bill, including links to the Bill and a detailed analysis of same, is available at: http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/nswbill.html The NSW Bill is part of the second component of the Commonwealth Internet censorship legislation (effective 1 January 2000). The NSW Government is believed to be the second of the State/Territory Governments to act on the Commonwealth Government's request that they enact complementary enforcement legislation applicable to Internet users and content providers. (The Commonwealth legislation applies to Internet Service Providers and Internet Content Hosts, not Internet users and content providers). The South Australian Government tabled a similar Bill twelve months ago (in November 2000) that had not been passed by the SA Parliament as at 17 November 2001. The SA Bill became the subject of an SA Parliamentary inquiry, apparently as a result of considerable opposition to the Bill. Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory enacted Internet censorship legislation (in 1995/96) prior to the Commonwealth legislation being enacted in 1999. It is not known whether they will amend their legislation to bring it into line with the proposed "national" regime which is more restrictive in some regards than existing laws in those jurisdictions. For example, laws in the latter jurisdictions do not make it a criminal offence to make available to adults material unsuitable for minors. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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