[AusNOG] Hyperlink fines from ACMA

Tue Mar 17 20:29:01 EST 2009

Excellent Grahame!

Now let's try for further clarification!

Do you think this relates to data hosted by an Australian 'company/individual/etc' or actually onshore in the Commonwealth of Australia.

Could Bulletproof move the Whirlpool website to a US physical server* (see below), and tell the ACMA where to go?

* Is there a difference between having your own 'owned' servers in the US, or if you resell another US hosting farm?

I really hope this is as simple as 'move it offshore' or 'I will move it to one of my US (or wherever for FTA issues) servers, and then tell the ACMA where to go'.

Also... If someone reports a complaint to the ACMA... I assume they are doing so because they 'think' it is hosted in Australia.  This would probably be guessed by the .au domain name we can assume.

Are .au domain named hosted on US servers safe? Or does the ACMA think they have a say?  Is the first thing the ACMA does is a traceroute (which could be misleading), and if it is outside out borders... they respond to the complainant 'Sorry, can't help you'.

I am not advocating any particular method to avoiding the ACMA's powers... I believe there is much badness on the internet which should be blocked (not supporting national filters though) but I just want to understand EXACTLY the extent of their authority and powers so I can advise people appropriately until they change.

...Skeeve

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Skeeve Stevens, CEO/Technical Director
eintellego Pty Ltd - The Networking Specialists
skeeve at eintellego.net / www.eintellego.net
Phone: 1300 753 383, Fax: (+612) 8572 9954
Cell +61 (0)414 753 383 / skype://skeeve
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From: Grahame Lynch [mailto:grahamelynch at commsdaymail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 17 March 2009 8:15 PM
To: Skeeve Stevens
Cc: ausnog at ausnog.net
Subject: Re: [AusNOG] Hyperlink fines from ACMA

Skeeve I usually lurk here but as a publisher who is conscious of my legal liabilities my first thought is this - an Australian web hoster will have to think long and hard about hosting any form of relatively lightly moderated message board.

I know Whirlpool is modded but by volunteers without full legal training.
It will basically create the equivalent of 1970s UK pirate radio stations on oil rigs off the coast - no website with any potential for liability would want to be caught dead in ACMA's regulatory domicile. As far as I am aware ACMA only has authority over content hosted in Australia (including those publishing hyperlinks to prohibited content). So the incentive is to leave the domicile basically.

Given the list of prohibited links is supposed to be secret how does a web moderator really know if a poster has posted an offending link until they are already in breach? Catch 22.

I currently run websites out of Australia but all this is a potential nightmare, especially given one of my core topics of competence in my content is critiquing the censors.. I intend to move as much of my activity and potential liability offshore as is practicable.

2009/3/17 Skeeve Stevens <skeeve at eintellego.net<mailto:skeeve at eintellego.net>>
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/banned-hyperlinks-could-cost-you-11000-a-day/2009/03/17/1237054787635.html

Most people would have read about the above link.

I think it is stupid, and I'd like to know where they get off stopping people seeing something about anti-abortion, but... that aside.

My question is... the ACMA.... who do they have authority over?

Options:

 *   Websites hosted in Australia
 *   Websites hosted under .au domains
 *   Australian citizens
 *   Anyone they goddamn please

Do they have any authority of a .au website hosted in the US?  Or if it's run by an Aussie, does it not matter?

Shouldn't they be going after the website owner (Whirlpool) as opposed to the host? (Bulletproof)

This is concerning and I have people asking questions, and I would like to inform them appropriately.

This is my first thought about this, and I haven't googled, searched their website or anything, because I am interested in the opinions of others here as well.

...Skeeve

--
Skeeve Stevens, CEO/Technical Director
eintellego Pty Ltd - The Networking Specialists
skeeve at eintellego.net<mailto:skeeve at eintellego.net> / www.eintellego.net<http://www.eintellego.net/>
Phone: 1300 753 383, Fax: (+612) 8572 9954
Cell +61 (0)414 753 383 / skype://skeeve
--
NOC, NOC, who's there?

Disclaimer: Limits of Liability and Disclaimer: This message is for the named person's use only. It may contain sensitive and private proprietary or legally privileged information. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended recipient. eintellego Pty Ltd and each legal entity in the Tefilah Pty Ltd group of companies reserve the right to monitor all e-mail communications through its networks.  Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the message states otherwise and the sender is authorised to state them to be the views of any such entity. Any reference to costs, fee quotations, contractual transactions and variations to contract terms is subject to separate confirmation in writing signed by an authorised representative of eintellego. Whilst all efforts are made to safeguard inbound and outbound e-mails, we cannot guarantee that attachments are virus-free or compatible with your systems and do not accept any liability in respect of viruses or computer problems experienced.

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Grahame Lynch
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