The first of these key spectrum licences will expire in 2013 and the remainder by 2017. The prices have been set on dollars per megahertz per head of population basis, with the price differing according to frequency.

For example frequencies in the 800MHz band (825-845MHz & 870-890MHz) have been set at $1.23/MHz/pop but those in the 1800MHz band, where Telstra's new LTE service operates, at $0.23. The Government said it expected renewal of the licences to net it about $3b over the next four years.

Communications minister, senator Stephen Conroy, said: "This decision has involved a careful evaluation of how the public interest is served by allowing renewal of current licences, as well as identifying appropriate pricing for renewed spectrum...I have carefully considered input from all interested stakeholders and have made a final pricing direction on the value of this spectrum. The prices in the direction draw on economic analysis, discussion with industry and public consultation, and reflect the value of each band of spectrum."

The next step is for the ACMA to examine licences in the relevant spectrum bands to ascertain whether they have been used in the delivery of services specified in the instruments and are therefore eligible for reissue.

Ovum senior analyst telco strategy, Nicole McCormick, said: "The Government has reduced 800MHz spectrum renewal costs for Telstra and Vodafone, but with the industry having to find an estimated more than $3b collectively for mobile re-licensing, the Government's agenda is clear: maximise revenue from renewals and spectrum auctions."

She added: "Vodafone, which faces the largest spectrum renewal bill of around $1.5b, will likely have to call on its global parents – Vodafone Group and Hutchison Whampoa – to assist with financing."

Release of the plan follows a discussion paper on the NBN issued in April 2011. In his foreword to the plan the minister for government services, building industry and information and communication technology, Simon Finn, said: "The Queensland NBN strategic plan ...is targeted at five key areas identified by Queenslanders in their responses to our discussion paper: awareness; collaboration; digital literacy; emergency management and service delivery."

The Queensland Government has funded the Australian Information Industry Association to develop a toolkit for Queensland businesses to assist them to transition to the digital economy. It has also collaborated with the local ICT industry to raise awareness of the job and business opportunities the NBN may provide and says it will "continue to work with these ICT industry groups to support the development of digital economy plans in regional Queensland."

The government says also that it will "work collaboratively with the Australian Government to address gaps in fibre backhaul in regional locations, and with NBN Co, local governments and regional development groups to facilitate and extend the roll out of the NBN in Queensland."

The Queensland Government owned electricity utility, Energex also plans to work with NBN Co "to assess synergies during the roll out and operation of the NBN and electrical networks in new estates to improve energy management."

The Government allocated $7.5 million in the 2011 12 budget (including capital of $2.8 million) to finalise the PPSR, and support the four months of additional testing and capability upgrades that were deemed necessary before the system went live.

The total bill for the system comes in at well over $33 million.

Originally slated to go live in May 2011, the PPSR launch was subsequently postponed until October, and then again delayed until 30 January this year. The delay was slated to cost the Government a $3.5 million reduction in revenue in 2011-12.

According to the Attorney General’s department the PPSR system was expected to bring in more than $5million in receipts each year, and therefore required a cost recovery plan.

According to the Cost Recovery Impact Statement prepared by the Attorney General’s department late last year, the full $33 million is expected to be recovered by the end of 2014-15 thanks to the fees PPSR users are paying.

At the moment however some users must be wondering what value they are getting for their money.

The PPSR came into effect on 30 January, as a single national online national register for all securities related to personal property with the exception of real property. The paperless registry is intended to provide a streamlined system replacing multiple previous State and Commonwealth registers.

People wishing to buy assets, including land, will have to search the PPSR to find out what security there might be attached to that asset. At present however the searches, which cost $3.70 each, are proving relatively slow.

Similarly it’s taking some companies several hours to load up and transfer details of assets to the system. It costs up to $130 to register a financing statement online.

A number of other problems have also been identified with the system – for example when ASIC loaded up the data it previously managed to the new system it provided both Australian Business Numbers and Australian Company Numbers, but the PPSR was designed for only a single identifier meaning that some users have experienced problems when searching the database using the ACN.

A note to stakeholders from ITSA (Insolvency and Trustee Service of Australia) which has been set up to manage the register has already confirmed it could take weeks to resolve the issue, although in the meantime it is providing a file which will link ABNs and ACNs in order to facilitate search.

Such is the sluggishness of the system that the website has this week featured a warning about system performance, and thanks users for their patience.  There were at once stage 15,000 email queries queued in the system – although this is now understood to have been brought down to a backlog of around 500.

Other issues which have been raised by users of the system is the register’s inability to accept American Express payments. ITSA has indicated that this is being addressed, but could take up to a month to resolve.

Asked to respond to reports that Fujitsu had been asked to speed up the search capability of the database the company provided the following response via a spokeswoman.

“Fujitsu has been working closely with the Attorney General’s Department on the implementation and public release of the PPSR. The PPSR is a complex project that involves many parties for the supply of information, the integration of the systems, and the underlying network and systems infrastructure.

“Our relationship with the Attorney General’s Department requires Fujitsu to consult with the Department before providing any further information about the PPSR.”

The Attorney General’s Department has yet to respond to a series of questions posed by iTWire earlier this week.

Kirk Cheesman, managing director of National Credit Insurance Brokers, acknowledged that although there had been some negative commentary about the new register it would deliver benefits once it was sped up.  The company has worked with trade suppliers wishing to register their security over assets on the PPSR, and said that during this first fortnight it could take an entire afternoon just to load up the details of around 1,000 debtors.

He said that the problems of the last fortnight had been caused because; “Everyone has had to run through a little gap.”

Mr Cheesman said that although the system was perceived to be slow at present, he thought that it would be operating more smoothly in three months. “Everyone needs to be a little bit patient.”

Trade suppliers with existing assets to register have a little breathing space. Mr Cheesman said they had up to two years to get their data across to the PPSR – however any assets with security attached to them need which have been acquired since 30 January need to be detailed in the PPSR immediately.

Part of the problems seems to have been the lack of understanding about the extent of the changes.

A survey  conducted by Coface, a specialist in credit insurance found that at the end of 2011 76 per cent of Australian businesses did not have a strategy in place to deal with the change even though it was just weeks away. A whopping 74 per cent of the 500 plus companies surveyed said they weren’t even aware of the reforms.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) today 'outed' two Sydney-based businesses for spamming.

In the case of Select Print Solutions, marketing messages were sent without consent.  In addition to that charge, SThree Australia was also found to have sent messages that gave no indication as to how to unsubscribe.

In this day and age, there is no excuse for such behaviour.  The rules are widely known and in fact many businesses are so afraid of breaching them that they err very strongly in the opposite direction.

The ACMA noted that both businesses had been warned about their behaviour and had done little to move on from their errant ways.

A regular blog (www.spam.acma.gov.au) from the ACMA gives plenty of information for businesses and the most recent edition gives advice on what to do if a business is contacted by the ACMA in regard to a spamming complaint – one assumes that SThree and Select Print Solutions chose not to follow this path.

The ACMA advises that Email spam can be forwarded to their spam intelligence database at report@submit.spam.acma.gov.au, and SMS spam can be forwarded to the ACMA's Spam SMS service on 0429 999 888.

Conroy said "The limits have been set to ensure a level playing field for the three bidders most likely to participate in the auction - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia - without precluding a potential new entrant.

The allocation of 20MHz for transmission paired with 20MHz for reception will enable LTE to be deployed at maximum efficiency and deliver a theoretical maximum downstream speed of 100Mbps and 50Mbps upstream. However, it can operate in as little as 2 x 5MHz.

A total of 90MHz is being auction in the 700MHz band and 140MHz in the 2.5 GHz band.

Conroy added: "These limits are designed to ensure there is a choice of providers in the mobile sector for the advanced services that will be provided over the digital dividend spectrum. This is a good outcome for Australian consumers."

Conroy said his decision had been based on advice from the ACCC in consultation with the ACMA.

The review will be conducted by University of Technology Sydney Dean of Law, professor Jill McKeough. Terms of reference are yet to be released.

Announcing the review, attorney-general Nicola Roxon said: "The Gillard Government is determined to get the balance right between providing incentives for creators and innovators and encouraging new opportunities within a digital economy including via the National Broadband Network.

"The inquiry will consider whether the exceptions in the Federal Copyright Act are adequate and appropriate in the fast paced digital environment."

She added: "Professor McKeough's expertise in intellectual property, consumer protection and commercial law, make her eminently qualified to lead this in-depth review of the Copyright Act.

McKeough was appointed to her current role in 2005 and is also chair of the Council of Australian Law Deans. According to the AG, "Professor McKeough is an experienced researcher, writer and conference presenter, who is widely published. She has written and taught primarily in intellectual property (copyright, designs, patents, trademarks, confidential information, biotechnology and indigenous cultural heritage) as well as torts, commercial law, legal systems and legal history."

Initially up to 200 new migrants will participate in the trial, which will complement the Australian Government's existing Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP).

"The trial will take advantage of early NBN deployments to deliver online English language tuition, including virtual classes, to eligible migrants and humanitarian entrants, especially those in regional areas, for whom access to e-learning may not otherwise be a viable option," the Government said.

Communications minister, senator Stephen Conroy, said: "While all AMEP users with NBN access will be able to participate in the trial, there will be significant benefits for those clients in regional areas, as well as those who may have difficulty attending classes due to work or family responsibilities or health/mobility issues.

"The first phase of the trial will provide enhanced distance learning online resources for teachers and home tutors. The focus will then turn to delivering interactive and collaborative services to distance learning clients in NBN-connected communities. A comprehensive evaluation will be completed towards the conclusion of the trial in 2013-14.

"The trial will provide feedback on how these services could be delivered nationwide and is an important step towards the development of virtual classrooms and interoperability across a broad range of devices."

In November last year the ACMA completed its 18 month enquiry into customer service in the telecoms industry, 'Reconnecting The Customer' (RTC), putting the industry on notice that unless it could respond adequately to the shortcomings identified by the enquiry, the ACMA would impose regulation.

The TCP code was already under revision at the time but the ACMA's edict gave new urgency and a sharpened focus to that process. Communications Alliance released a draft of the new code in October and yesterday released the final version, simultaneous with its submission to the ACMA.

Comms Alliance said it was confident that the new code met the objectives set by the RTC Inquiry and those of the Section 125 notice. "Communications Alliance is equally confident that implementation of the Code will generate a greatly improved environment for Australian consumers," it said.

The Australian Communications Consumers Action Network (ACCAN) however says it falls well short of what is needed and it is calling on the ACMA to set standards. ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin, told ExchangeDaily "We believe the ACMA cannot register the code. It fails to implement the five RTC recommendations in full, particularly in the area of expenditure management and advertising."

She identified the two changes called for by the ACMA that the code had failed to address as being "Clearer pricing information in advertisements allowing consumers to more easily compare services." and "Tools for consumers to monitor usage and expenditure."

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ACCAN was one of two consumer representatives along with the Communications Law Centre on the code review steering committee and voted against accepting the revised code. "We did not take this decision lightly, Corbin said. We have been working with the industry for months developing this code."

However the decision to release the final version and submit it to the ACMA for registration is taken by the Comms Alliance board.

The ACMA issued a statement in which chairman, Chris Chapman said: "We will consider whether the proposed industry code will deliver on the outcomes mandated in the ACMA's Reconnecting the Customer Report. However, we do understand that Communications Alliance have carefully considered the ACMA's report."

He added: "We are under no time limit in which to assess the code although of course, we will do this as expeditiously as possible, given our focus is on materially enhancing consumer protections."

Comms Alliance CEO, John Stanton, told ExchangeDaily "I am disappointed that ACCAN code not support the code, There is no doubt that the code is consistent with the objectives of the RTC enquiry and we have demonstrated that to the ACMA."

He added: "In some cases we have taken the opportunity find alternative means to meet the ACMA objectives. We think the best outcome for consumers will be if we are allowed to implement this code."

A last-minute stay-of-execution means users' files on Megaupload are safe for the moment; they just can't be accessed.

Let's lay out the problems around the whole Megaupload takedown and shutdown.

1. The FBI has taken ownership of the megaupload.com domain and has disconnected it from its servers.

2. The FBI asked the New Zealand police to take the CEO (Kim Dotcom) into custody, along with sundry other people.  Despite various appeals for bail, Dotcom remains in custody.

3. At no time did Megaupload actually host their users' data, that was contracted to two hosting companies - Carpathia Hosting (in Virginia) and Cogent Communications (Washington DC).

4. With its assets frozen, Megaupload has no ability to pay its bills.

5. According to the Grand Jury indictment, Carpathia holds some 25 petabytes of data on Megaupload's behalf (and an undeclared but assumed similar amount at Cogent); however it is clear neither company seems inclined to continue hosting the data for any length of time without payment.

6. The FBI asserts that Megaupload was not only storing illegally copied material but was actively complicit in the use of its services for that purpose.

Over the page is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's reaction.

7. On the other hand, Megaupload was actively promoted as a general location to store files one owned, for sharing as one saw fit.  Many people used the site to host their own material to be shared with authorised persons.  Reportedly, this also included musicians and filmmakers cooperating on large projects.

8. The FBI has stated that they have copied sufficient material from the servers for their own purposes and that as of February 2nd, Carpathia and Cogent are free to erase and reprovision all servers currently hosting Megaupload data.

9. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has asked lawful users of Megaupload (who have now lost access to their own data) to make contact.

10. In addition, EFF and Carpathia have set up a website www.megaretrieval.com to manage the complaint process for US-based users.

11. According to a joint press release from EFF and Carpathia: "EFF is troubled that so many lawful users of Megaupload.com had their property taken from them without warning and that the government has taken no steps to help them," said Julie Samuels, Staff Attorney at EFF. "We think it's important that these users have their voices heard as this process moves forward."

Carpathia Hosting has created the website www.MegaRetrieval.com to help lawful users in the United States work with EFF to investigate their options for retrieving their legitimate, non-infringing files from Megaupload.

Although Carpathia does not have, and has never had, access to the content on Megaupload's servers, the hosting provider wants to assist lawful users of the Megaupload service by promoting EFF and its non-profit legal services.  Carpathia hopes the creation of www.MegaRetrieval.com will help drive awareness that Megaupload customers can seek legal assistance to retrieve their data.

"Carpathia does not have access to any data for Megaupload customers. We support the EFF and their efforts to help those users that stored legitimate, non-infringing files with Megaupload retrieve their data," said Brian Winter, Chief Marketing Officer of Carpathia Hosting.

12. It is clear that copyright owners would be very interested in accessing the servers in order to identify illegal copiers / downloaders of their material; one might expect that such people would be very happy to have all trace of the data wiped off the servers.

Read on for news of the 'stay of execution.'

13. Ira Rothken, Kim Dotcom's US attorney tweeted earlier today that both Carpathia and Cogent have agreed to preserve all stored data for at least two more weeks in the hope that some agreement may be hammered out.

14. Many have commented that the Megaupload terms of use have always stated very clearly that any data on the site may be deleted at any time and that users are exhorted to maintain their own backups.  It's a pity that it was the FBI, in clear violation of the US first amendment (according to EFF) that caused this to happen.

15. In the wake of this incident, many other sharing sites (here for instance) have completely disabled sharing, resorting to single account access only.

There is plenty more to hear in this sage.  What will become of Kim Dotcom and his arrested associates?  Will they be deported to the US to face trial?  Will the site's data ever be available?

Updates as they become available.

The plan was announced by the minister for disability reform, Jenny Macklin and the parliamentary secretary for disabilities and carers, Jan McLucas, in Townsville. They said a tender would be issued shortly to select a provider of the services.

The announcement was scant on detail. It said only that the money would be provided over three years to deliver services to about 125 additional children in regional and remote Australia and would on the 100 children already supported by the Government.

Macklin said: "If there is no specialist close to where they live, a child with disability can access 'real time' support and advice through these new online services. For example, a child will be able to meet with a speech pathologist in Brisbane and have a therapy session online through this new video conferencing service."

McLucas said the funding would deliver early intervention for children with disabilities. "We know it's critical that we support children with hearing or vision impairment as early as possible, because without it, they are more likely to fall behind at school and miss key development milestones," Senator McLucas said.

This funding is in addition to about $580,000 the Government currently provides to the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children for the Teleschool initiative each year.

Senator Stephen Conroy Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has announced that Telstra will be providing open access wholesale services through its fibre networks that are currently being deployed in South Brisbane and some new real estate projects that have been launched.

Telstra's new multi-coloured logos (Credit: Telstra)

Senator Stephen Conroy Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has announced that Telstra will be providing open access wholesale services through its fibre networks that are currently being deployed in South Brisbane and some new real estate projects that have been launched.

The new Telstra service, known as the “Fibre Broadband Access Service”, will provide a wholesale broadband service to access seekers on request in an open and equal environment and will be subject to oversight by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

According to Senator Conroy, “Provision of the wholesale service will support competition between service providers on these networks and offer greater choice for end-users,”.  Even though this opportunity for broadband to made available in this way has been provided, “the Telstra wholesale broadband service will still be subject to the ACCC’s scrutiny”.

Telstra is striving to provide more options for its customers as it recently changed its layout and format for its bills as one of its ways of assisting the company become more customer friendly.

The provision of the wholesale service that Telstra will be providing was a condition of the networks being exempted from regulatory arrangements, section 7 and 8 of the Telecommunications Act 1997.

Senator Conroy has stipulated that the arrangements for the wholesale fibre networks would be provisional, pending the rollout of the National Broadband and Telstra’s long term structural separation relating to networks that Telstra had been contracted to build before sections 7 and 8 of the 1997 Act were put it place.

The arrangements for this new service will come into effect in April of this year.

VHA said its principal concern with the SAU was that "It does not provide for sufficient ACCC involvement and oversight in the negotiation and ongoing application of the wholesale broadband agreement (WBA)."

A joint submission from law firm Herbert Geer on behalf of iiNet, Internode and TransACT agrees. It warns: "Part XIC of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) sets up a legislative hierarchy with access agreements at the top and ACCC access determinations at the bottom."

The submission adds: "Our clients believe that this problem is of fundamental importance, and consideration of NBN Co's SAU cannot take place in isolation from consideration of this problem."

Telstra agrees, saying: "The framework proposed by NBN Co involves terms of access being governed by both the NBN Co SAU (at a 'principle level') and the WBA (at the 'detail' level). As a consequence, retail service providers will not be able to acquire services over the NBN under the terms of the NBN Co SAU alone and must first enter into a WBA with NBN Co, the terms of which may be determined solely by NBN Co without any regulatory oversight by the ACCC. This is unreasonable."

Macquarie Telecom also believes that the SAU has the power to undermine the ACCC's authority. "Macquarie is concerned that the SAU proposes to dictate how the ACCC can make decisions and resolve disputes. The ACCC's functions and powers for decision-making are provided for in legislation, principally the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Any role that the ACCC has in resolving regulatory disputes must in principle be dealt with in accordance with the ACCC's legislative authority."

The ACCC will undertake at least two rounds of formal, submission-based consultation. The first round is intended to give the industry an initial opportunity to identify general issues with the SAU. The second round will focus on specific issues and the drafting detail.

It will be headed by the member for Bradfield, Paul Fletcher, former head of regulatory and corporate affairs at Optus.

Coalition leader, Tony Abbott, said the group would "consult with key technology, education and cyber-safety leaders, parents and young people, as well as other interested parties, to further develop its online safety policy in the areas of education, regulation and enforcement."

Abbott said: "The Working Group will also work closely with shadow ministers with portfolio responsibility for online safety, particularly the shadow ministers for education and communications. It will undertake roundtables and community forums across Australia as well as a series of events online. It will report back to me by mid 2012."

A major role for the group will be to invite comment on and review previous Coalition online safety policy.

Public hearings have been scheduled in all capital cities and submissions are invited by 20 April. The terms of reference and other details are available here.

Twitter has revealed that it has implemented a system to selectively withhold content from particular countries.

The problem for businesses like Twitter is that - as other Internet giants have discovered - different countries have different laws. A well-known example is the way France and Germany take a strong line on pro-Nazi content.

Whatever you think about free speech, it's hard to argue that you should be able to use someone else's soapbox for prohibited speech if they're the one that is liable for prosecution.

So Twitter now has the ability to withhold a tweet from users in a specific country while keeping it available elsewhere. And providing your country permits access to chillingeffects.org, you'll be able to find out the nature of what was blocked by visiting chillingeffects.org/twitter.

Twitter also intends to let users know when their tweets have been blocked, and will mark blocked tweets and the reason for the block.

The change could mean that Twitter is allowed to operate (or to continue to operate) in countries that would otherwise have blocked it, but the company noted "As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there."

Regulation would enable the ACCC to specify the capabilities of the service and the price Telstra could charge. Telstra, not surprisingly ins opposed to regulation.

The ACCC has released public versions of submissions to its wholesale ADSL declaration enquiry from Telstra, Optus, AAPT, Macquarie Telecom and TPG and a combined submission from law firm Herbert Geer on iiNet, Internode, Adam Internet, Primus and TransACT.

Telstra argues that the broadband market is already highly competitive. "There is substantial facilities-based competition, particularly in CBD and metropolitan areas. Telstra's competitors actively and aggressively compete with Telstra on a national basis using alternative technologies (including the Unconditional Local Loop Service (ULLS) and Line Sharing Service (LSS), both of which are declared, as well as wireless technology) and offer the same retail products as Telstra does across a broad geographic footprint."

It claims that declaration of the wholesale ADSL service would only serve to limit the incentives for access seekers to invest in DSLAMs and other alternative infrastructure."

Its competitors, however argue that, in regional and rural areas it would be uneconomic for them to compete using their own DSLAMs, that the wholesale offering from Telstra does not enable them to compete with Telstra's retail offering and that it lacks functionality.

The CCC - a group representing telecommunications carriers other than Telstra - is complaining about yesterday's decision by Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, to grant Telstra certain exemptions from 2011 laws that require anyone building a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network to operate it in the same way as the NBN.

"The so-called open access arrangements approved by Minister Conroy yesterday is vastly inferior and more limited than that offered by NBN Co, and is less competitive to the service Telstra is required to offer over its copper network," said an anonymous CCC spokesperson.

The CCC is highlighting seven specific points:

• "The arrangement will not provide competitors with access to the same services that NBN Co will be offering, making it difficult for them to transition to the NBN;

• "Of the three speeds offered by Telstra, the 8Mbps option does not meet the national commitment for 12Mbps;

• "There is no commitment from Telstra that the wholesale services will be equivalent in any way to Telstra Retail services, opening the door to a return to the worst competitive abuses of the past;

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• "There is no requirement for Telstra to provide a wholesale equivalent of any other retail service it offers over the networks;

• "The wholesale services are inferior to the services that could be offered through the ULLS, because Telstra has to provide only three wholesale service options that limit competitors’ ability to provide different and innovative retail products;

• "The wholesale services Telstra has offered do not include a symmetrical service, despite the Government having repeatedly said that this was a key reason for preferring fibre to the home as a technology, and;

• "The affected communities will not be covered by the new obligations Telstra will face if its own Structural Separation Undertaking is accepted by the ACCC."

The issue has been triggered by Telstra's decision to deploy a fibre service in South Brisbane after scrapping the old copper-based network and exchange to make way for the new Queensland Children's Hospital.

The ACMA says it went after Nokia following complaints from customers that they could not work out how to unsubscribe from the ‘tips’ sent by Nokia. In particular, the messages did not include details of how Nokia could be contacted, as required by the Spam Act 2003.

Furthermore, the ACMA says its investigation found that some of the 'tips' went beyond providing factual information and amounted to promotion of Nokia’s products and services, including mobile phone accessories, and the messages therefore needed to include an unsubscribe facility.

Nokia has paid a penalty of $55,000 to the ACMA and given enforceable undertakings that commit it to:

- appointing an independent consultant to audit its systems and processes;

- developing a plan to carry out the independent consultant’s recommendations;

- training its employees engaged in SMS marketing about complying with the requirements of the Spam Act.

Nokia is not the only company that appears to be ignorant of the requirements of the Spam Act. The ACMA says that in FY2011 there was a 370 percent increase on the previous financial year in reports from the public about SMS messages believed to be spam.

The service, dubbed 'Fibre Access Broadband' will be available to access seekers on request, on an open and equitable basis and will be subject to oversight by the ACCC.

"Provision of the wholesale service will support competition between service providers on these networks and offer greater choice for end-users," said Senator Conroy.

Telstra's scrapping of its copper network connected to the South Brisbane exchange and decommissioning the exchange to make way for the new Queensland Children's Hospital. Replacement of the copper access network with fibre has long been a sore point with wholesale customers of the copper network. They have no option but to migrate services from the copper to the fibre, but have claimed that Telstra has not offered an equivalent service.

Last September, iiNet director regulator, Steve Dalby announced on the Whirlpool Forum that iiNet had signed an agreement with Telstra to use its fibre network in South Brisbane but said: "The agreement is unsatisfactory and is signed with the knowledge that we have no choice, given Telstra's massive power and the option of 'sign before we cut your customers off'."

Although the minister has just announced availability of the Fibre Access Broadband Service, Telstra Wholesale announced the service in the March 2011 edition of its customer newsletter, saying: "The launch of FAB will support the migration of services currently delivered over copper in the South Brisbane exchange area to FTTP, with a staged migration commencing in August 2011."

iTWire has sought comment from Telstra on how this announcement relates to today's announcement by the minister, but we had received none at press time.

By now, everyone will have read of the FBI's action to shut down the site megaupload.com last Friday, having determined that it contained illegally copied works.

As part of that action, New Zealand police executed 10 search warrants against Kim Dotcom (nee Schmitz) who lives in a luxury mansion north of Auckland, and who apparently ran to a safe room upon their arrival.  It seems the room had to be cut open to extricate him.

New Zealand police also seized as much as $11M in local currency and 18 luxury vehicles.

Dotcom, a convicted hacker and inside trader (and citizen of Germany and Finland) was legally living in New Zealand after investing $10M in government bonds and making a substantial donation to the Christchurch recovery fund.

Just like DropBox, Rapidshare and other similar services, the primary focus of Megaupload was to act as a file sharing tool for users to store large amounts of data in the cloud for others to share.  One example quoted was of a Perth-based university lecturer who used the site to store files for his students to share.  Steve Su said, "It's like confiscating everyone's mobile phone because terrorists used them.  I don't think it's correct to penalise the technology because, based on that logic, shouldn't the internet be taken down, as this is how people infringe copyright?"

The site takedown had its origins in a complaint by US-based copyright holders asserting that users of the site had deprived them of over $500M by illegally taking their works.  Never mind that such estimates seem to be based on a full-retail price of every work multiplied by every download, yet a huge proportion of such copies would never have been made if a fee was involved.

Many have suggested that there are grounds for some kind of class action against the US Government.

Wielding such a blunt weapon as a full takedown of the Megaupload site leaves many owners and users of such services very nervous, and very confused. 

Confused as to how they could be essentially convicted of some kind of complicit behaviour in copyright violation and be permanently deprived of access to their own data.  Their own data.

Nervous because this could happen to every other similar web site.

Was there actual copyrighted material stored on Megaupload?  Almost certainly - too many people use these sorts of services to store such material for later use (or to share) without any complicit involvement by the sites owners (iTWire is unaware whether this is true in this case, but the generalisation is valid).

But if that were true, the same can be said of YouTube, Facebook and just about every other site which permits uploading of material.

The FBI has charged that the site was a front for major worldwide conspiracy to rob legitimate copyright holders of their income and the seven executives were arrested in various parts of the world on that basis.

Oddly, the company's CEO was not arrested - could it be that he was too close to the copyright holders and his arrest would actually undermine their case?  In case you don't know, the CEO is singer Alicia Keys' husband Swizz Beatz.

One has to ask, if YouTube and Facebook (to name just two) are able to survive by acting on copyright-holder initiated 'cease and desist notices,' why was the same luxury not afforded by them to Megaupload?

If this is how the FBI can act now, what will life be like if SOPA and PIPA are passed in the US?

Of course this action must be viewed under the steely light of the impending SOPA and PIPA legislation, which by the so-called Free Trade Agreement will also flow to Australia, which will enshrine these actions in law.

SOPA and PIPA are essentially constructed to say that copyright owners win.

Or, to put it another way, they are built to ensure that in any dispute over the use of copyrighted material, the FBI will do the copyright owner's bidding, never mind the facts of the dispute.

We are left a little scared that if this is the kind of action permitted (perhaps it isn't) under existing legislation, what lengths will the copyright owners go to once the PIPA / SOPA acts are merged and passed?

Be aware, they will be passed. 

There have been far too many campaign donations made and favours owed for this legislation to fail.

It's quite amazing the lengths to which large companies will go in order to protect their business model.

Health minister, Tanya Plibersek, and communications minister, senator Stephen Conroy, said the $20.6m program would deliver services to patients in NBN rollout areas and provide feedback on how it and other health care measures could be delivered nationwide.

Plibersek said: “The NBN Telehealth Pilot Program will provide to eligible participants in NBN early rollout areas a range of innovative services delivered through pilots funded under the program. These will include having health indicators monitored remotely – for instance, your doctor being able to take your blood pressure online while you are at home – or receiving medical consultations and healthy living support in the home.”

Conroy said he expected services would start from 1 July. The Government has released draft guidelines at www.health.gov.au. Final guidelines will be released when applications open in February or March.