Censorship Thomas Morrissy and Sam Joiner

Individual rights as determined by the government o Adults should be able to read see and hear what they want o Minors should be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them o Everyone should be protected from exposure to unsolicited material that they find offensive; o The need to take account of community concerns about: o Depictions that condone or incite violence, particularly sexual violence and the portrayal of a persons in a demeaning manner Individual Rights

Laissez-faire approach o Individuals are capable of determining the quality of internet content and the governments should not intervene in the 'marketplace of ideas' Interventionist approach o Government's' role is to ensure that the law deals with online phenomenon like racial hatred and pornography o This approach will involve:  enacting legislation  imposing obligations on ISPs  strengthening enforcement agencies

Internet Censorship in Australia One of the strictest in the West Arguments for: o Protection of children o Privacy o Makes the internet a safer and cleaner place Arguments against: o Internet Service Providers say that it can be too easily bypassed o Enforcement too onerous o Filter may block material than has nothing to do with the type of content that the law aims to fight

Mobile Censorship Australian Communications Authority guidelines: o Mobile phones with chat services were to monitor all content o The ABA had been given the power to remove all outlawed content or services o Phone companies were to check a customer's age before making any content that would be classified MA15+ or R18+ available

Legislation Broadcasting Services Act 1992 Allows the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to ban content from Australia o Refused classification (or X18+) o R18+ o MA15+

Legislation Howard government introduced a filtering scheme that was imposed on all Internet Service Providers (ISP) Labor Party proposed to extend censorship into a mandatory filtering that would ban potential refused content material Argued that it would not only block inappropriate material, it would also combat child pornagraphy

Future Directions In order to combat cyber crime, there must be enforceable laws Government provides public goods that enable individuals and businesses to use the internet o cable network and communication laws o criminal laws o laws governing property rights o enforcement agencies