FC: More on Australian official demanding Net-regulation -- demonstrating ignorance to the world

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[The view of the US First Amendment as an irksome obstacle to regulation --
and bureaucratic empire-building -- is not of course unique to this
misguided and censorhappy Australian official. But it does nicely
demonstrate why anyone who cherishes free speech should be real wary of
global Net-governance agreements. --DBM]



Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 08:37:28 +1100
From: Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke () xamax com au>
Subject: ABA Demonstrates Its Ignorance to the World
:

Declan McCullagh reported this, absolutely aghast at the breathtaking
ignorance of the author, one Gareth Grainger, Deputy Chairman of the
Australian Broadcasting Authority.

http://www.aba.gov.au/about/public_relations/newrel_99/101nr99.htm

e.g.

"the Internet is clearly emerging as a means of mass communication of a
particularly intrusive nature";  and

"In Australia we are now endeavouring to place online services on the same
footing as broadcasting".

I thought the Senators were pretty thick five years ago, when Geoff Huston,
Tom Worthington, Karl Auer, myself and several others endeavoured to
explain to the relevant Committee what 'broadcast medium' meant, and how
the Internet was not the same thing at all.  With the benefit of 5 years to
think about it, the Deputy Chair of the relevant government authority
*still* doesn't understand it.

[As a consultant to, among other organisations, Commonwealth government
agencies, I normally try to keep a civil tongue in my head;  but the ABA is
simply amazing ...]

[Lest I be misunderstood, I make clear that I am *not* opposed to
appropriate forms of regulation, and in particular co-regulation.  In any
case, there are many ways in which net behaviour is subject to existing law.

What is appalling about this statement, the government's policy, and the
legislation that was passed by the Opposition-controlled Senate as well as
the Government-controlled House, is that it is framed in blithe ignorance
of the nature of the technology and hence of the behaviour that it pretends
to regulate.  This results in no advantages to the intended beneficiaries,
and is to the serious detriment of all involved.

Meanwhile, the primary focus of the nation is on irrelevancies like present
and former politicians' opinions about a politician-elected President and
an entirely symbolic constitutional preamble.]


Roger Clarke              http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke () xamax com au            http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Fellow                       Department of Computer Science
The Australian National University     Canberra  ACT  0200 AUSTRALIA
Information Sciences Building Room 211       Tel:  +61  2  6249 3666




Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 12:27:20 -0800
From: Lizard <lizard () dnai com>
To: declan () well com, politech () vorlon mit edu
Subject: Re: FC: Australian official says Internet uses public property,
intrudes on life, needs international regulation for the "public good"
References: <19991101195307.VDSG2915 () alaptop hotwired com>
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McCullagh on Mon, Nov 01, 1999 at 11:51:09AM -0700
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I wish to direct this message to all those (you know who you are!) who
insist that government must have 'a role' in shaping the Internet and
that only 'libertarian extremists' wish to see a government-free
net. This is what you asked for -- are you happy now?



Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 23:37:59 -0500 (EST)
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To: declan () well com
From: Doug Carroll <doug () interlog com>
Subject: Re: FC: Australian official says Internet uses public
  property,  intrudes on life, needs international regulation for the
  "public good"
X-UIDL: 065e185990ca4927d389b4392b54af53

This guy carries on a repulsive defense of censorship disguised
as the public good. Nice to see how little he really believes
in the people he's so anxious to control, uh I mean protect.

And now we hear about the "free speech lobby" as opposed to "countries
with healthy democratic systems and vibrant processes of open expression"

Gee I thought "open expression" was free speech. And since when was
censorship a sign of a healthy democratic system.

And, I doubt any evidence has been found that internet porn harms
anybody, of any age at all, except the victims of puritan law
enforcement, whose lives may be ruined by it.

Internet porn is a shocking image used to justify police state
control of the net. It has no basis I know of in fact as a cause
of social harm, to anyone.




From: rongus () tiac net (Ron Gustavson)
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: Australian official says Internet uses public property,
intrudes on life, needs international regulation for the "public good"
Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999 21:13:34 GMT
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>  "Whereas in the United States the US Constitution First
> Amendment allows the free speech lobby to dominate 
> discussion about self-regulation, other countries with healthy 
> democratic systems and vibrant processes of open 
> expression are able to seek a more appropriate balance 
> between the right to free expression and the right of 
> communities to nurture national and local cultures and 
> to protect children from harmful content. There is no one 
> right way for any nation to approach the manner in which
> we move forward in these issues. 

That pesky amendment #1.

I like how he bundles TV and the Internet as "they," and implies
that they force themselves into your home. Why not extend this 
offense to telephones and the post office? True cultural warriors
should reject any outside influence.




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Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999 16:12:21 -0500
Subject: Re: FC: Australian official says Internet uses public property,
         intrudes on life, needs international regulation for the "public good"
From: "John Parmater" <jparmate () columbus rr com>
To: declan () well com
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Declan:

This quote (that I got from Dave's signature) seems appropriate here:

"The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it." --- John
Gilmore

I hope it turns out to be true.

John Parmater



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Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999 15:38:32 -0500
To: declan () well com
From: Lee Reynolds <lreynolds () cyberportal net>
Subject: Re: FC: Australian official says Internet uses public
  property, intrudes on life, needs international regulation for the
  "public good"
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I think you'll find that this will equate, eventually, to -

"Send us lots of money and we'll permit you to run a media outlet that *we*
regulate!"

- unless governmental control can be exerted on people who start up their own
media outlet, how can the corporate world begin to make a profit out of such
a medium?

(Take a look at the present sorry state of radio in the USA - vast amounts 
of money
have been paid for outlets yet there's less imaginative and far poorer 
quality programming
than ever before. But, let's look on the bright side - it *has* made a 
small number of
people extremely wealthy! This'll be the next to go....)




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