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Posts Tagged ‘telecommunications law’ACCC rejects Telstra ULL undertakingWednesday, April 29th, 2009 The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) yesterday announced it had rejected Telstra’s undertaking to charge competitors a $30 monthly fee to access ULL in metropolitan areas. The ACCC expressed surprise that Telstra’s $30 application worked out to be higher than the previous proposal of $30 for metropolitan areas, which was rejected in 2006. ACCC Chairman, Graeme Samuel, said following an extensive assessment of Telstra’s application the ACCC was not satisfied the $30 charge for metropolitan areas is reasonable.
In rejecting the undertaking, the ACCC also noted Telstra’s proposed monthly charge was significantly above estimates derived from benchmarking against comparable countries. This is the fourth time Telstra has submitted applications in regards to the ULLS service. One application was withdrawn while three have now been rejected by the ACCC because they could not be satisfied that the undertakings were reasonable. The two previous rejections were affirmed by the Australian Competition Tribunal on appeal. The next move is with Telstra, one can only assume that being effectively sidelined in the Government’s NBN construction process, has prompted them to take an tough approach against their competitors who in the absence of the NBN rely on the ULL for service delivery for the short to medium term. Tags: Competition Law, Telco Law, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers, ULL ACMA black list release prompts website take downTuesday, April 14th, 2009 German domain name regulator, DENIC, has taken down the popular website www.wikileaks.de shortly after it published ACMA’s internet filtering trial black list. Recent reports have emerged of the ACMA internet filtering trial black list having been published on different websites, potentially compromising the Government’s current internet filtering trials. One such website was www.Wikileaks.de. Wikileaks had been known for its collection of leaked documents, according to ARS Technica:
ARS Technica have also reported that German police raided the residence of the German domain name registrant Theodor Reppe who denies any involvement in the posting of leaked documents. The raids are reported to have come shortly after the ACMA blacklist was published. It is unknown at this stage, what involvement if any, ACMA had in closing down this website. Another mirror site of wikileaks.de, which is hosted on a different domain, still shows links to different versions of what they claim is the secret ACMA black list. Tags: ACMA, internet censorship, internet filtering, IT Law, IT Lawyers, telecommunications law Complaint handling tops the listWednesday, April 8th, 2009 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:
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:
It is also a requirement under clause 9.1.4 of the TCP Code that:
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 ACMA cracks down on compliance with TIO SchemeTuesday, March 31st, 2009 ACMA issues formal warning to Canberra ISP for failing to comply with the TIO Scheme. The ACMA have issued a formal warning to ByteCard, a Canberra ISP who was allaged to have failed to comply with the TIO Scheme. The warning comes after allegations that disputes raised with the TIO by customers remained unresolved, as a consequence of this ByteCard’s refusal to comply with the TIO Scheme. According to the ACMA:
Part 6 of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 (’the TCPS Act’) imposes obligations on Carriers and CSPs (who are referred to as eligible carriage service providers, as defined by s127) to (among other things):
In this case, the ACMA’s formal warning came about by the alleged failure of ByteCard (who is an eligible carriage service provider) to comply withe TIO Scheme. Unless a CSP is exempt under s129 of the TCPS Act, they must comply with their obligations under Part 6. Tags: telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers, TIO Westpac told: ‘Do not call’Monday, March 16th, 2009 The ACMA today announced that it has issued a formal warning to Westpac for breaches of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (‘DNCRA’). The ACMA reported that Westpac was the bank that had the greatest number of complaints made against it to the ACMA concerning alleged breaches of the DNCRA. The ACMA claim that although Westpac had a relationship with its customers, ‘its procedures for recording the withdrawal of consent had failed.’ Westpac was reported to have agreed to and implemented a number of measures to resolve the issue including ‘washing’ their call lists against the Do Not Call Register. The ACMA report that they have had a total of 40,000 complaints since May 2007 concerning the DNCRA, and noted a significant drop in the number of complaints from 2007 to the end of 2008. It is evident that the message is getting through, that its not okay to call people on the Do Not Call Register – awareness has been assisted by a number of tools available to businesses to help comply including IP Telephony systems that ‘wash’ numbers before they are dialled. We previously reported on the ACMA’s crackdown on compliance with the TCP Code, it is interesting to note that the ACMA has cast a wide net in its compliance enforcement activities. Tags: Do Not Call Register, Do Not Call Register Act 2006, telecommunications law, Telemarketing New Use and Disclosure ExceptionsWednesday, March 4th, 2009 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:
The Explanatory Statement to these new Regulations states that:
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:
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:
This Regulation is a welcome yet long over due regulatory development. Tags: isp law, ISP Lawyers, Privacy, Telco Law, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers TCP Code Complaince: ISP’s bewareWednesday, February 25th, 2009 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:
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 Is it really “unlimited” ?: Mistakes in advertisingThursday, February 12th, 2009 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:
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:
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:
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 Alternatives to internet filteringWednesday, February 11th, 2009 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:
It aims to do this by co-funding projects to :
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 ISP filtering trials to start in batchesThursday, January 29th, 2009 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 |
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