Inquiry into the Telecommunication Act
Monday 21 July 2014 @ 10.30 a.m. | IP & Media | Legal Research
The Australian Federal Government has founded a committee to inquire into current law enforcement’s use of section 313 of the Telecommunication Act 1997 (Cth). The committee was established on 16 July 2014 specifically to look at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Federal Police. In the past, both agencies have used section 313 to shut down multiple websites causing episodes of online disruption.
Section 313
Section 313 provides that an ISP must do its best to prevent telecommunications networks and facilities from being used in, or in relation to, the commission of offences against the laws of the Commonwealth. The section further provides that carriage service providers are obligated to cooperate with legal authorities in enforcing the criminal law and safeguard national security.
The use of the section has been condemned as risking the stealth implementation of a de facto internet filtering regime in Australia. Independent MP Scott Ludlam has in the past said if agencies like ASIC and the ACCC are going to use section 313 to block websites, there should be a public debate around the issue, which should include public consultation and ISP involvement.
Background to Inquiry
Section 313 was infamously used in the spring of 2013 by ASIC to attempt to allegedly block access to fraud-related websites. This led to the accidental blocking of 250,000 other unrelated websites. The mass blocking of the websites occurred when ASIC blocked an IP address, with the other websites also hosted on the IP address. ASIC defended itself by insisting that that around 99.6 per cent of the blocked sites contained no substantive materials and were not from a .au domain.
Further to this, it was proposed in 2013 by the government to establish a mandatory ISP filter. This was heavily opposed to by the public and civil libertarians. The proposal dissipated after public outcry, but many service providers and online industries accuse recent government activities under Section 313 as a covered-up means of creating a de-facto filter.
Current Inquiry
The inquiry’s goal will be to examine how law enforcement agencies use section 313 to disrupt illegal online services and other issues that may result from this. The inquiry will examine which agencies should be permitted to make use of section 313, how much authority should be required for the use of section 313, what "illegal or potentially illegal online services" should be subject to action under section 313, and the "transparency and accountability measures that should accompany such requests".
The committee has set a deadline of 22 August 2014 for public submissions on the issue. The inquiry is due to report to parliament by 1 July 2015.
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