Dear Mr Shaw I refer to your press release of 27th May 1996. First let me tell you again our name is Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. Our registered address is PO Box 382 North Adelaide SA 5006, and we can be contacted by electronic mail at [email protected] or in person to Mr Kimberley Heitman, Chairperson EFA, Telephone 09 458 2790 or Facsimile 09 356 1247.

I give you these contact details to reaffirm our desire to be involved in the development of appropriate codes of practice for the Internet in Australia.

Let me also assure you that we are indeed interested in assisting the State and Federal Governments to meet the challenges posed by the widespread use of the Internet and our submissions to all Senate and ABA enquiries, in written and oral forms have indicated our intent in that regard. Further, we have promoted and continue to promote the development and adoption of self regulation mechanisms for Internet Service Providers but these do not extend to the big brother imposition and invasions of privacy proposed by your innocent little statement

        "They may also be able to demonstrate that they had conducted
random checks of material available through their information service."  

The point which once again the NSW government has missed is that ISPs are not, REPEAT NOT, an information service. Neither is the Internet a bulletin board. They are the conduit, the pipes if you like, through which information passes which is why regulation of the medium is preposterous and it is the trafficking of material which must be legislated for as it currently is. If there are inadequacies in the present legislation then re-work it to make it encompass the new technology which is a delivery mechanism only.

Protection of children is one of our platforms and let me tell you that Internet Service Providers indeed do provide firewall services at the point of delivery, ie the school, if that is what the customer wants. This acts to protect the recipients of information and is a viable and totally achievable result. No one in the Internet community would suggest for one moment that firewalls not be implemented, however the appropriate place for that implementation is at the point of receipt and as an added value facility it commands an appropriate fee for the service.

If you'd care to visit our World Wide Web site (http://www.efa.org.au/) and your staff will see for yourselves, as will other interested Australians, the work we have been doing since 1995.

As a women and the national secretary of Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc., I can assure you, Mr Shaw, I and we are not at all interested in flouting the law nor in promoting illicit activities of any sort, including paedophilia and pornography, but we are concerned that freedom of speech and assembly is not trampled on in the pursuit of worthwhile objectives, like protecting children and the vulnerable in our society.

Brenda Aynsley
National Secretary
ELECTRONIC FRONTIERS AUSTRALIA INC.

27 May 1996