The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee is holding an inquiry into the newly introduced Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2009 (Cth). We recently sent our concerns about the exposure draft for this Bill to the Attorney-General's department. At the time, we were worried that the proposed legislation provided a very broad exception to the general prohibition on interception of telecommunications. The original wording of the exposure draft would have allowed any network operators to monitor their networks for compliance with acceptable use policies or other user agreements. It then provided no real limitations on the disclosure of this information. We were very concerned that this would allow consumer ISPs to monitor their subscribers' internet access and disclose communications to third parties.

I am happy to say that the Bill as introduced has removed the greatest majority of our concerns. It appears to be closely tailored to network security purposes, and the ability to monitor for whether a network is being 'appropriately used' is limited to Commonwealth agencies. There are additionally much stronger limitations as to when intercepted information can be disclosed.

The Senate LACA has called for submissions to the Bill by 09 October 2009. We will be drafting a submission in the next week. If you have continuing concerns about the Bill or want to help with our submission, please see the draft submission on the wiki.

Valve's highly-anticipated sequel, Left 4 Dead 2, has just been refused classification in Australia.

For more information, see IGN and Kotaku.

I imagine that this will go to the Classification Review Board for appeal. This highlights the continued impact of a lack of an R18+ rating for computer games in Australia. If this decision stands, Australian adults will find it significantly more difficult to play the much anticipated zombie shooter sequel.

This follows from some reports from Gamespot.au earlier this week that little progress has been made on releasing the discussion paper for the introduction of an R18+ rating in Australia.

Once the discussion paper arrives, we will be putting in a submission. Until then, you may want to help by (a) writing to your Attorney-General; or (b) helping us prepare the submission in advance. See our wiki for more details.

I spoke last night at the Fellowship Of the Round Table forum last night at parliament house in Sydney on the forum topic "Cyberhate? Censorship on the Internet", as did Fiona Patten from the Australian Sex Party.  Jim Wallace from the Australian Christian Lobby and Angela Conway (formerly of the Australian Family Association) were also in attendance and spoke on a different topic, entirely one of their own choosing.

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EFA Board Member Geordie Guy will be taking part in a forum on Internet Censorship entitled "Cyberhate? Censorship on the Internet" at NSW Parliament House tomorrow, Tuesday the 8th September at 6pm. The event is hosted by Fellowship of the Round Table:

Our next Forum will be held Tuesday September 8th. again in the Jubilee Room Parliament House, at 6pm -8.30pm. The Topic - 'Cyberhate? Censorship on the Internet'.

Each speaker will talk for maximum 20 minutes and treat the topic as he/she chooses.
Entry: $20 - Students $10 – includes light Supper before Speakers begin
Your questions from the floor will be welcome when all four guest Speakers have concluded.

Our 4 provocative guest Speakers for this evening will be:
Mr. Geordie Guy - Spokesperson Electronic Frontiers Australia
Mr. Jim Wallace - Managing Director The Australian Christian Lobby
Ms. Fiona Patton - Convenor of the Australian Sex Party
Dr. John Kaye MLC - Member of The Greens

Enquiries: Phone: 0404 457453
Email: editor@youthmatrix.com
Ring/Email to reserve your seat – Payment available at the door but seats are limited.