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Posts Tagged ‘IT Lawyers’Victorian Government Releases ICT StrategyTuesday, February 12th, 2013 The Victorian Government today released its ICT Strategy at a AIIA function in Melbourne. The strategy sees a dramatic altering in the landscape of government ICT delivery in Victoria. The strategy sets out 8 ICT decision making principles:
The strategy also signals a change in the central shared services provisioning model administered by the trouble plagued Cenitex.  Tags: ICT, ICT procurement, ICT Strategy, IT Contracts, IT Law, IT Lawyers, Victorian Government Communications Authority launches new regulatory pushTuesday, September 13th, 2011 Retail internet and voice service providers are about to see the next wave of regulation from the Australian Government. This time, it is the Australian Communications and Media Authority (‘ACMA’) that is driving the changes. ACMA is demanding a series of major changes to advertising and sales practices, as well as billing and complaint handling. It is allowing the industry a short time to adopt the changes ‘voluntarily’ via an updated Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code. If that does not happen, it will enforce its requirements using its own powers. Quoting ACMA: The ACMA is giving industry five months in which to develop a revised code dealing with the matters that it considers must be changed. If those changes cannot be made within that time, the ACMA will intervene directly to implement its proposals by way of a standard. Unless the industry adopts the ‘proposals’ in its Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code (‘TCP Code’) , ACMA will mandate them. Chris Chapman has now been reported as saying: “The industry [is] ‘formally on notice’ to reflect the proposed changes in the new TCP code. If the industry doesn’t develop a code that addresses ACMA’s concerns, the ACMA will mandate changes through direct regulation.” ACMA’s new ‘proposed’ rules
Comment Initially, it will be up to the industry (through Communications Alliance) to redesign its TCP Code to satisfy ACMA. If that fails, a mandatory new industry standard is inevitable. What should service providers be doing now? First, it is important to realise that the main points are all locked in – as far as ACMA is concerned. Consultation on the changes is finished. There is room to refine the details, but the headline elements listed above are not negotiable for ACMA. Second, you should consider whether you want to engage with Communications Alliance about any changes to the TCP Code. These changes will affect you and your sales and delivery processes. If you want to influence the TCP Code process, you’ll need to be prepared. There are only five months left for Communications Alliance to produce a document that satisfies ACMA. Third, you should start to think about how your business will comply with requirements along the lines of those outlined above. What will your marketing / sales / delivery / complaints handling look like in 2012? Will you be well positioned to prosper in the new environment? How? Tags: ACMA, IT Lawyers, technology lawyers, Telco Lawyers, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers R18+ on the waySunday, July 24th, 2011 All states and territories of Australia (except for NSW) have agreed to introduce a new adult R18+ category of classification for computer games. It is anticipated that current M15+ classified games, which are inappropriate for children will be reclassified to a new R18+ rating. Justice Minister Brendan O’Connor today said that the new classification was required to protect children from adult content, and that the existing refused classification system would be maintained to ensure that the most inappropriate content was not classified. There has been significant debate on the introduction of a new adult category for computer games, with strong lobbying from the computer games industry. The debate has been ongoing for approximately 9 years. It is expected that NSW will review and consider the agreement reached including amendments included in the draft proposal. Tags: classification of computer games, computer games, computer law, IT Law, IT Lawyers, technology law, technology lawyers auDA Calls for Public CommentTuesday, May 3rd, 2011 auDA, the Australian Domain Name Regulator has today released the draft recommendations of the 2010 Names Policy Panel for public comment. The 2010 Names Policy Panel (“the Panel”) have considered the following policies (as part of auDA’s request for a review):
Public comment on the draft recommendations will be open until Friday 10 June 2011. A full copy of the draft recommendations are available from the auDA website. The draft recommendations clearly show a reluctance by the auDA Panel to change the excessively regulated .au domain space. Among some of the draft recommendations, the Panel has recommended that:
The public are encouraged to provide feedback to the Panel – a copy of the draft recommendations can be found here. Tags: auDA, domain law, domain lawyers, domain name lawyers, domainers, IT Law, IT Lawyers, technology lawyers Sony apologises for Playstation hackTuesday, May 3rd, 2011 Sony executives have apologised for a security breach, which occurred in April 2011, in which approximately 1.5 million Australian Playstation user accounts were compromised by hackers. It has been claimed that hackers reportedly stole close to 280,000 credit card numbers from Playstation users, who have accounts to enabling online game play. Following the security compromise Sony shutdown the system on 20 April 2011, but has only now admitted to the security compromise which has shaken the confidence of Playstation users, and has prompted concern by the Government and privacy authorities. In recent days, claims have arisen that, the stolen credit card information has been offered for sale in underground hacker forums. Tags: Hack, IT Law, IT Lawyers, Playstation, Privacy Law, Privacy Lawyers, Sony ICANN Releases new GTLD Applicant GuidebookTuesday, April 19th, 2011 ICANN has released the eagerly awaited revised draft of the Applicant Guidebook for new GTLDs. This draft document has been released for public comment. As part of its timeline for the launch of new GTLD domains, ICANN’s release of the Applicant Guidebook is a critical part of the process. The development of the Guidebook has at times seen hot debate about the process for new GTLD applicants. The Guidebook is made up of 6 modules. The draft Guidebook is also accompanied by explanatory memorandum to assist in interpretation, with ICANN stating:
ICANN plans to release the final version by 30 May 2011, prior to its 20 June 2011 extraordinary meeting. A full copy of the draft Guidebook and explanatory memorandum is available here. Lawyers and other domain industry participants are encouraged to make submissions on the draft documents. Tags: domain law, domain lawyer, domain name law, domain name lawyer, ICANN, IT Law, IT Lawyers, New GTLD More Posts Coming SoonTuesday, December 7th, 2010 We have more IT Law, Domain Law and Telecommunications Law posts coming soon. Watch this space. Tags: domain law, domain name law, IT Law, IT Lawyer, IT Lawyers, telecommunications law Australia gets tough on cybercrimeTuesday, May 4th, 2010 Australia will strengthen its stance on cybercrime by signing the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. The move will see Australia join the European Union (EU), the United States, Canada, Japan and South Africa. The EU is pushing for the convention to become an international standard. Twenty-seven countries have so far signed the convention, however, more than 100 are using it to reform domestic laws. Key points of the convention include:
Australia’s signing of the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime follows our involvement in negotiations for the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and several national cybercrime attacks involving Federal Government websites and sites of major corporations. Signing the convention is one of many initiatives Australia is making to reduce our exposure to cybercrime and other potential cyber risks. Tags: Cyber Law, IT Law, IT Lawyer, IT Lawyers ACMA issues landmark proceedingsTuesday, March 2nd, 2010 In a landmark move, the ACMA has for the first time brought an action in the Federal Court against Telco GoTalk for an alleged breaches of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006. The ACMA alleges that GoTalk via its two offshore calls centres called 40,000 numbers contained on the Do Not Call Register. Breaches of this kind have proven to be costly for infringing companies in the past, with Dodo Australia being issued a fine of $147 400 in 2008 for its call centres ringing 67 de-listed Australian phone numbers. This isn’t the first sign of trouble for GoTalk. Last year the company accepted undertakings by the ACCC to record telemarketing calls and to monitor conversations at random to ensure compliance with the TPA, in response to allegations that its offshore call centres had misrepresented information to consumers, including pricing and terms and conditions. The matter is listed for directions on 29 March 2010 in the Federal Court in Sydney. Tags: ACMA, Do Not Call Register, Do Not Register Call Act, GoTalk, ISP lawyer, ISP Lawyers, IT Lawyers, telecommunications lawyer, Telecommunications Lawyers iiNet wins landmark caseThursday, February 4th, 2010 Justice Cowdry of the Federal Court of Australia this morning brought down judgment in the iiNet copyright case, in which the Australian ISP was successful. It was alleged by 34 applicants made up of film studios such as Sony and Warner Bros that iiNet had facilitated copyright infringement, by allowing customers to use peer to peer software to download pirate versions of movies and other copyrighted material. The Court held that the law did not impose a positive obligation upon iiNet to prevent copyright infringement. The result comes as a slap in the face to the big film studios who had vigorously pursued this case. This case had attracted international attention and had resulted in legislative changes in jurisdictions such as the UK, where ISPs have an obligation to disconnect customer who infringe copyright. ISP Lawyers and Telecommunications Lawyers have for some time been debating the merits of this case – some commentators don’t think that this is the end of the matter, with the films studios having the ability to appeal the judgment on points of law. More to follow……. Tags: iiNet, isp law, ISP Lawyers, IT Lawyers, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers |
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