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                 Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc.

Media Release
29th August 1999

                 Australians reject Net censorship

An international survey has shown that the Australian public does not
support government censorship of the Internet, according to Internet
regulation watchdog Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA).  

"Senator Alston claims community support for his controversial law,
but this survey shows that the Minister is sadly out of touch," said
EFA Executive Director Darce Cassidy.

The survey was conducted in Australia, Germany and the USA by the
Bertelsmann Foundation, in conjunction with the Australian
Broadcasting Authority.  The results show similar trends in all three
countries, with the majority of parents being quite confident about
their ability to control their children's access.  

However, one vital question was eliminated from the Australian survey.
This question asked whether it is best for parents or the government
to decide what children should see on the Internet.  "The omission of
this question by the ABA is deeply suspicious," said Cassidy.

The survey result, released in Australia last Tuesday, comes on top of
damning criticism of the Australian legislation by the visiting
President of the American Civil Liberties Union, prominent US lawyer
Nadine Strossen.  The government was further embarrassed last week by
a report from the National Australia Bank which cited the Internet
censorship legislation as a barrier to the development of the
information economy.

"The Minister's office seems to have adopted a bunker mentality on
this issue," claimed Cassidy. "An extraordinary media release from the
Minister's office last week not only attacked the ACLU viewpoint in a
disgraceful manner, but also distorted the results of the ABA survey
in a deceitful attempt to bolster the government's position."

"It's time to end the charade over this inept piece of legislation.
The Minister knows that this law won't protect children, yet his
office continues to bluster with empty political rhetoric and
thin-skinned reaction to legitimate criticism," said Cassidy. 

EFA believes the only way forward is to repeal the Act and proceed
with a comprehensive access management education strategy targeted at
parents and supervisors.  An education strategy was recommended by the
ABA in 1996 and has been promised by both ALP and Coalition Federal
Governments over the past four years.

[ENDS]

      --------------------------------------------------------------
      Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc  --  http://www.efa.org.au/
      representing Internet users concerned about on-line freedoms
      --------------------------------------------------------------
     URL of this release: http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/PR990829.html


Contacts

       Kim Heitman                         Darce Cassidy
       Phone: 08 9214 2204                 Phone: 08 8362 5183
       kheitman@iinet.net.au               Darce.Cassidy@efa.org.au


BACKGROUND

Bertelsmann Foundation Survey (released 24/8/99)
Available from:
   http://www.aba.gov.au/whats_new/index.htm

Senator Alston's Press Release (24/8/99)
   http://www.dcita.gov.au/cgi-bin/trap.pl?path=4226

Govt marked: must do better (SMH report 27/8/99)
   http://www.smh.com.au/news/9908/27/business/business2.html
"The National Australia Bank, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Melbourne
law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler have jointly released a wide ranging
report card on the actions taken by the Federal Government to position
Australia for the coming e-commerce boom..... 
The 21 recommendations include: Australia should not seek to control
offensive material on the Internet in the manner proposed in the
Broadcasting Services Amendment Act but help coordinate other
approaches at an international level and pursue child-safe mechanisms
at the level of home computers."

Internet censorship laws condemned - University of Melbourne (30/8/99)

http://www.unimelb.edu.au/ExtRels/Media/UN/current/internetcensorship.html
"The Federal Government's Internet censorship law provided an
open-ended licence for whoever enforced the law to inject it with
their own values, according to prominent American civil libertarian,
Professor Nadine Strossen."