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Online content to be rated like movies

by Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
! Australian providers of content - delivered over the Internet or to mobile devices - that would likely be rated MA15+ if it were in a movie - will have to have that content assessed and classified by trained assessors under a new industry code. Sleepy teens awake still hooked up to tech toys Amazon gets patent for giving reviewers a badge Mac OS X web share cracks 8 percent Chinese Skype spies archive a million conversations Silent Hill banning, now we play the ‘waiting game’ The requirement is part of an industry code of practice for providers of online and mobile phone content approved by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. It has been developed by the Internet Industry Association (IIA) and according to ACMA chairman, Chris Chapman, is the result of collaboration across a wide cross-section of industry. "ACMA is encouraged by the code's recognition that content regulation must be approached from the perspective of convergence between the two major platforms for delivery of online content, the Internet and mobile phones," Chapman said. The code requires that all content likely to be MA15+ or above must be assessed and classified by trained content assessors, hired by providers of online and mobile content. According to ACMA, this will assist both children and their parents to make informed choices about what is, or is not, suitable for viewing online or on mobile phones. The code also includes best practice guidance for those who provide and host content on how to manage and respond to customer complaints. And it contains information about online safety and the risks around the use of chat services for consumers. The code will form part of new rules, introduced in a new Schedule 7 to the Broadcasting Act 1992 that came into force on 20 January 2008, to regulate all content services delivered over telecommunications networks, including online and mobile content. It replaced interim content arrangements that applied to providers of mobile content under the Telecommunications Service Provider (Mobile Premium Services) Determination 2005 (No 1). Communications minister Stephen Conroy said the code was the first under the new Schedule 7. "The code is an important part of the co-regulatory approach intended by Schedule 7, and is part of the Government broader strategy to promote online safety for Australians." He added that trials of another, controversial, part of that strategy, the proposed mandatory ISP based content filtering system, would be piloted later this year. ACMA claims that the code is consistent with the emerging global approach to online and mobile content regulation as exemplified in similar guidance for interactive content services prepared by an international task force, in which it participated. The guidance was released in the UK earlier this year. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment! Tags See All Tags ACMA Censorship Mobile content Stuart Corner Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now