Mr X and the online ombudsman: It's time

James Riley
Monday, 01 March 2010 20:11

IT Policy - Regulation

South Australian independent senator Nick Xenophon is seeking a meeting with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to pursue the appointment of an online ombudsman to oversee complaints about content on mass-market social networking sites.

But while Senator Xenophon wants an ombudsman appointed with the statutory powers to force social networking sites to act faster in taking down offensive material, he remains opposed to the Rudd Government's mandatory ISP filtering plans.

Senator Xenophon last week called for an online ombudsman to be appointed in the wake of the incidents on Facebook last week in which the pages of two murdered Queensland teenagers were defaced with pornographic material.

The idea has already been given a sympathetic hearing from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who said at the weekend the proposal should be looked at.

"This is about ensuring that people have a single point of authority to go to in order to get action, especially where a social networking site is being slow to act," Senator Xenophon told iTWire.

"If a social networking site is slow to act - or is not acting reasonably - then you need to have an ombudsman who has the statutory powers to ensure some accountability for parents," he said.

"But I have to stress this is something completely different from the concept of the filter, which I have very real concerns about."