According to the inquisitr.com, an Australian governmental committee is proposing a whole set of new rules on internet users, domain owners, and registrars.
“””The Hackers, Fraudsters and Botnets: Tackling the Problem of Cyber Crime report from the House Standing Committee on Communications Inquiry into Cyber crime makes 34 different recommendations””
Recommendation 20 of the bill states that domain name registrars must filter applications for domain names to attempt to identify any fraudulent uses for domains, and take down any name deemed bad by the Government.
Recommendation 21 notes that this regulation would be enforced by law.
Just yesterday we wrote about Law Enforcement wanting to place additional responsibilities on registrars to know there customers and clearly want the ability to quickly identify owners of any domain they deem to be engaged in criminal activity and to take the domain down.
At the ICANN meeting Law Enforcement predicted if ICANN failed to pass uniform rules on this then each government around the world would pass their own laws to regulate the issue.
Other proposed rules under this Australian Bill, include,
Requiring by law every Australian internet user to install and keep up-to-date virus scanners on their computer as a condition for internet access through their ISP. Users would also be forced to “take reasonable steps to remediate their computer(s) when notified of suspected malware compromise.”
Australian Government also wants to track every email and the browsing history of every internet user in the country.
That actually makes sense in one way. Users who make a decision to use sub-standard operating systems like Windows should be forced to bear the cost of extra virus protection, etc.
Of course the core problem is people who are tricked into willingly installing malware and toolbars on their machines. It’s impossible to legislate education in that regard.
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This does make sense. Also, Microsoft and other manufacterers of browsers ought to be taken to task for their ridiculous vulnerabilites, and, perhaps, required to provide virus protection for their customers (if it’s a paid piece of software).
We all need to take responsibility for safe surfing.
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here we go again. slippery slope. Now the government is going to tell registrars what domains are “bad” ? And do we need the government to mandate stuff like having virus protection? A government controlled internet really sounds like a whole lot of fun and don’t these Aussies have something better to do ? like practice their football skills maybe 😉
Next they will want to classify every website in Australia. Oh that’s right – they have already tried that!
The Australians are now and have always been VERY draconian and socialistic in their interpretation of internet technologies and usage. It is shocking to me how much like China (you heard me right) their policies and censorship actions mirror one another.
By Australian’s, I mean the policy makers. Many of their decisions are turned over after the general public and businesses have been able to weigh in.