Australia: where forward co-regulation?

Abstract

Regulation of the online environment has become a common problem for many governments around the world. While the motivations for regulation are diverse, in their desire to censor Internet content, English-speaking countries have tended to focus on the moral implications of unfettered communication between computer users. Issues associated with intellectual property protection, harassment, and criminality following behind initial policy positions aimed, largely, at pornography and other morally-unacceptable forms of communication.

In Australia, initial policy debates about Internet content focused almost exclusively on pornography and paedophilia, focusing on conflict between the protection of minors from offensive and morallydegrading material and the freedom of adults to communicate content of interest to them. In 1999, the Federal Government introduced the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Act prohibiting the unrestricted distribution of material that would be classified 'R' or greater under the existing film and literature classification regime. In 2000, following public debate about the extent of gambling in the Australian community, the government introduced a moratorium on the expansion of online gambling services in Australia, followed in July 2001 by the Interactive Gambling Act to prohibit the operation of online casinos within Australia. While initial regulatory proposals countenanced the possibility of strict regulation, each law was curtailed to regulatory regimes that would minimise compliance costs for certain established commercial players. (From Introduction)