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Posts Tagged ‘isp law’

A new website has been launched by the Federal Government’s Australian Communications and Media Authority to help children and teenagers to have safe and positive experiences online.

The site – www.cybersmart.gov.au – provides comprehensive and practical advice for parents and interactive learning activities and information for children. Cybersmart also features guidance and a range of resources for libraries and schools.

The Acting Chairman of ACMA, Chris Cheah, said the Cybersmart site is about empowering Australian children and young people to be smart online and to become good digital citizens.

“Understanding how to navigate the online world safely is an important element in the development of digital literacy. By providing teachers and parents with clear, current and credible information about cyber safety, we assist them to develop in young people, the critical skills needed to stay safe online and get the most from their online encounters,” Mr Cheah added.

The website also includes an online helpline for young people who have had negative experiences online, such as cyber bullying. The helpline offers confidential advice and support from counsellors who are trained in listening to children and have expertise in cyber safety. Best of all the website has something for parents and teenagers, which are critical to effectively achieve the goals of the website.

The launch of the website raises the question of whether this website is a pre-cursor to the Government considering dropping its hugely unpopular internet filtering plans. Website like this one provide for a more considered solution to protecting children on the internet.

Tags: internet filtering, internet law, isp law, ISP lawyer, online safety, telecommunications lawyer
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law | Comments Off

The ACMA has issued ISP, Green Tree Frog, with a remedial direction, arising out of its alleged failure to comply with directions of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (‘TIO’) in two separate instances.

According to ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman:

All members of the TIO Scheme have an obligation to comply with the responsibilities established under the scheme as well as those established by the legislation that governs the industry….In issuing this direction, ACMA has undertaken the appropriate enforcement action to prevent Green Tree Frog from continuing to contravene its regulatory obligations.

The failure to comply arose out of two instances in which among other things, the TIO directed that Green Tree Frog “pay money to a customer and waive their early termination fee“.

We previously reported that another ISP had failed to comply with the TIO scheme and had been issued with a direction by the ACMA. The ACMA in line with its recently processes, has once again exercised its statutory powers to compel compliance.

Whilst the ACMA is bound to enforce the law, bigger questions about the role of the TIO and its impartiality have in the recent past been in issue. Only time will tell whether the industry will make a stand on this issue.

Tags: ACMA, isp law, ISP Lawyers, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in ISP and Telco Law | Comments Off

Dodo Australia Pty Ltd has been forced to give a Court enforceable undertaking to issue refunds customers and discount monthly plans, as a result of an ACCC investigation into misleading statements statements made by the Telco.

According to the ACCC, Dodo advertised free offer plans between October 2008 and March 2009 on both the television and its website. The ACCC also said:

The ACCC was concerned consumers were likely to have been misled or deceived by the advertisements which represented consumers would receive either of an Asus Eee PC, a fuel card or a cash payment (to their nominated account) for free or at no cost when they signed up to any one of the Free Offer Plans.

An investigation by the ACCC revealed Dodo offered other cheaper mobile cap plans (that did not include the free goods or cash) that were comparable (in included value and services) with the Free Offer Plans.  In some cases the monthly fee for those comparable mobile cap plans was up to $30 per month lower.

Customers on the following plans may have been affected, and ultimately may be eligible for discounts or refunds:

1. ‘FREE $29.90 Mobility Cap Plan’,

2. ‘FREE Fuel’ and

3. ‘Cash Offer’ 24 month mobile cap plan offers

Dodo is not new to controversy, previously having received a wrap over the knuckles from both the ACMA and the ACCC for various alleged breaches of the law.

Tags: isp law, ISP Lawyers, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers, Trade Practices
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, Trade Practices Law | Comments Off

The TIO’s  recently released December 2008 quarter complaints statistics identify complaint handling as a problem area for ISPs and Telcos.

The TIO statistics show that complaints around complaint handling are increasing across all service segments:

Mobile services:

• Provisioning (an increase of 37.7 per cent, from 297 to 409)
• Customer Transfer (up 40.5 per cent, from 412 to 579)
• Complaint Handling (up 25 per cent, from 4,340 to 5,427)

Landline services:

• Complaint Handling (increasing by 55.1 per cent, from 3,957 to 6,137)
• Phonecard (up 70.1 per cent, from 281 to 478)
• Disability (up 117.4 per cent, from 46 to 100)
• Billing and Payments (up 40 per cent, from 6,999 to 9,796)

Internet services

• Complaint Handling (rising 31.5 per cent, from 2,782 to 3,657)
• Credit Management (up 30.7 per cent, from 1,177 to 1,538).

The statistics are a timely reminder of the Complaint Handling obligations contained in the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code C628:2007.

Clause 9 of the TCP Code imposes a number of obligations, the core of which are:

1. (clause 9.1.1) having a complaint handling process;
2. (clause 9.1.2) having a documented complaint handling policy;

It is also a requirement under clause 9.1.4 of the TCP Code that:

Suppliers must give the TIO a copy of their internal Complaint handling policy and advise the TIO of any significant changes within 7 days of the change, or as soon as practicable after that time.

The success of compliance can in large part be impacted by staff training and awareness of the procedures and policies. This needs to be addressed to ensure effective TCP Code compliance.

Non-compliance may cause the ACMA to take action by issuing formal directions or taking other enforcement action.

Tags: Code Compliance, isp law, ISP Lawyers, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers, TIO
Posted in ISP and Telco Law | Comments Off

In the shadow of the Victorian bush fires, regulations create a new exception to the use and disclosure offences under Part 13 of the Telecommunications Act 1997.

Part 13 of the Act requires that Carriers, CSPs, their employees and contractors protect the confidentiality of protected information such as the content of communications, the affairs and personal particulars of people and namely the integrated public number database. The offences under this part are contained in sections 276 to 278, and can include a penalty of imprisonment against offenders.

s292(1) of the Act allows regulations to be made that provides for circumstances in which there may be exceptions to the offences under sections 276 to 278.

Although the Act already allows disclosure of documents and information in cases of threat to life or health (s287) in very limited situations, the Telecommunications Amendment Regulations 2009 (No.1) provides for an exception for the purpose of:

1. preventing or lessening a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of a person or a class of persons; or
2. ensuring that effective arrangements are in place to deal with such threats

The Explanatory Statement to these new Regulations states that:

The primary purpose of the Regulations is to allow emergency management authorities in each state and territory to obtain phone numbers and personal particulars (including any unlisted telephone or any address) of all the database listings for their respective state or territory for the purpose of ensuring effective arrangements are in place to deal with serious and imminent threats to life and health of persons. Such threats may emanate from natural disasters (such as bushfires and floods), criminal acts and non natural disasters (such as industrial accidents).

The Regulations permit disclosure of either (a) the information in an integrated public number database; or (b) a document that consists or relations to information contained in the integrated public number database.

Before disclosure is permitted there are 3 requirements that an authorised person must meet, these are:

1. certify to Telstra that the disclosure and use of the information is required for the two permitted purposes (as set out above); and
2. identify the recipient of the information; and
3. provide Telstra with an undertaking that (a) any disclosure or use by a person other than Telstra or an employee of Telstra will be fore the same purpose; and (b) reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that any disclosure or use by a person other than Telstra or an employee of Telstra will not adversely affect the operation of Telstra telecommunications network;

There are also a number of safeguards requiring destruction of information when no longer required, and authority for the Privacy Commissioner to monitor the use of the information or documents.

We recently received an emergency communication from the Victoria Police, which we presume took advantage of these new Regulations, by way of an SMS warning of:

Extreme weather in Vic expected Mon night & Tues. High wind & fire risk. Listen to Local ABC Radio for emergency updates. Do not reply to this msg.

This Regulation is a welcome yet long over due regulatory development.

Tags: isp law, ISP Lawyers, Privacy, Telco Law, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in ISP and Telco Law, Privacy | Comments Off

The Australian Communications and Media Authority ACMA last week announced that it had assessed 44 carriage service providers, and issued formal directions to 2 providers for non-compliance with the financial hardship requirements of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code (TCP Code).

Chapter 7 of the TCP Code deals with Credit Management, and among other things sets out obligations on how CSPs and Carriers must conduct themselves throughout the credit management process, including in cases of financial hardship.

Clause 7.5.1 states:

7.5.1 Financial Hardship policy: A Supplier must have a Financial Hardship policy that:
(a) provides for training of staff who will be applying the policy;
(b) is sufficiently flexible to accommodate the circumstances of individual Customers;
(c) ensures that a Customer can contact appropriate employees of the Supplier if experiencing Financial Hardship; and
(d) includes options for managing a Customer’s Financial Hardship.

The ACMA’s formal direction to compel the 2 CSPs  in question, to prepare a compliant Hardship Policy, once again underlines the importance of implementing a proper code compliance program, to maintain compliance, before the ACMA is forced to take action. Failure to comply with the formal direction, would result in Federal Court action by the ACMA to compel the CSPs in question.

Unfortunately, many ISPs are not proactive in ensuring compliance, and it is only when the ACMA comes knocking that they realise. This is something that we can assist you to overcome.

We have prepared scores of compliant policies, if you are a CSP who doesn’t comply, give us a call, we can help!

Tags: Code Compliance, isp law, ISP Lawyers, TCP Code, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in ISP and Telco Law | Comments Off

In what appears to be a systematic global piracy crack down, and hot on the heels of the iiNet case, copyright owners including Warner Bros, MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI are seeking approximately $18million in damages from file sharing website The Pirate Bay in a Swedish Court.

In the claim it is alleged that the website was used in the infringement of copyright, by allowing pirated movies, music, software and computer games to be downloaded.

In their defence, The Pirate Bay (yes a very unfortunate name in this type of matter) claims that no copyrighted material is stored on its servers, and no exchange of files actually takes place on them, that they are not responsible for any copyright infringement.

In addition to the potential damages claim, the four men who operate the site could face up to 2 years imprisonment.

The success of cases like this will do very little to stop global intellectual property infringement, but what is may do is reduce the number of people prepared to take the risk of deriving a commercial benefit from operating these types of file sharing sites.

Tags: copyright infringement, file sharing, isp law, IT Law, IT Lawyer, technology law, technology lawyers
Posted in IT Law | Comments Off

The ACCC’s recent action against Internet Service Provider TPG is a timely reminder for Telcos and ISPs looking to use the word ‘unlimited’ in their advertising.

The ACCC announced yesterday that it had sought and received enforceable undertakings (these are for practical purposes, very similar to a Court order) from TPG, for statements which it believed were misleading and deceptive to consumers.

The ACCC alleged that in advertising its Unlimited Cap Save plan, TPG engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by making false representations that its plan:

includes unlimited calls and text for $59.99 per month when, in fact, there are multiple exclusions to the plan (including calls to 1800, 13 and 1300 numbers, directory assistance, international calls and SMS, calls to MobileSAT, premium SMS, and calls to operator assistance), and

is available for the purchase price of only $59.99 per month when, in fact, the minimum charge for the Unlimited Cap Saver Plan is $79.99 due to an additional $20 SIM card fee payable on registration

Besides being a public relations disaster with customers, advertisements which are misleading and deceptive are plain and simple illegal.

TPG learnt the hardway. According to the ACCC, TPG undertook to:

not, for a period of three years, publish an advertisement for a mobile telephone plan which states that for a specified price there will be unlimited calls and text when certain calls and text are excluded or additional charges will apply for some calls and text without including an appropriately prominent disclaimer to the effect that exceptions, terms and conditions apply

publish a corrective notice on its website

implement a trade practices law compliance program which requires all relevant staff and management to take part in training.

This is not a good outcome, considering this could have so easily been avoided.

Telco’s and ISP must remember that if there are conditions around an offer then they must make it clear what those conditions are. Failure to do so may lead to a breach of s52 and s53 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

It is also a requirement of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code 628:2007 that where the word ‘unlimited’ or equivalent is used that, the Telco or ISP:

must ensure that it identifies which elements of the offer are “unlimited” and states any other conditions that may qualify the offer.

It isn’t to hard to comply, just be honest in advertising, and where there are conditions around an offer, let people know. If you are not sure, just ask your lawyer.

Tags: isp law, ISP Lawyers, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in ISP and Telco Law, Trade Practices Law | Comments Off

Despite massive public opposition to ISP level internet filtering, the Government is pressing on with its internet filtering trials. We don’t yet know what the result of these trials will be, but the Europeans have developed an alternate approach to the issue of protecting children from harmful content online.

Yesterday was Safer Internet Day across the European Union. The European Commission has developed the Safe Internet Programme which has a budget of 55 million Euros, and which has been running since 2004.  According to its website, the programme is aimed at promoting:

safer use of the Internet and new online technologies, particularly for children, and to fight against illegal content and content unwanted by the end-user, as part of a coherent approach by the European Union

It aims to do this by co-funding projects to :

• Increase public awareness;

• Provide the public with a network of contact points for reporting illegal and harmful content and conduct, in particular on child sexual abuse material, grooming and cyber bullying;

• Foster self-regulatory initiatives in this field and involve children in creating a safer online environment;

• Establish a knowledge base on new trends in the use of online technologies and their consequences for children’s lives.

The programme is impressive because it takes a cooperative rather than an imposed position upon website operators. This year’s theme was protection of children on social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and You Tube. This cooperative approach has seen 17 of the leading social networking sites across the internet commit doing more to protect younger internet users.

Is this the solution to all our online child protection issues – not it isn’t but it is a different approach, and may help contribute to the debate on internet filtering.

Tags: European Union, internet filtering, ISP Filtering, isp law, telecommunications law
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law | Comments Off

The Australian Newspaper is reporting that participants in the Government’s controversial ISP filtering trials will commencing in batches, instead of a universal commencement as originally thought.

Of the 16 ISPs that are taking part in the trial, the Australian is reporting that the batches of ISPs will have different start and finish dates for their 6 week trials, which are to either be (a) the black list managed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA); or (b) the clean feed option.

Tests of the ISP filtering are to be conducted by Melbourne based Enex TestLab.

Even before the trials have commenced numerous public campaigns against the filtering have emerged, with most experts questioning the effectiveness of ISP filtering, in light of the fact that most material of concern is transmitted through Peer to Peer networks.

Tags: internet filtering, ISP Filtering, isp law, ISP Lawyers, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law | Comments Off