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 � Forwarded By : Bill Grimsley of 3:711/934.18
 � Original From: Trev Roydhouse of 3:711/401
 � Original Date: 18:51 on Tue, Oct 11, 1994
 � Original Area: ZONE3_SYSOP
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The Attorney-General has released the "Computer Bulletin Boards Task
Force Report" dated 8 August 1994.  

The 61 page Report makes the following recommendations: 

"(a) as an immediate resposne, the Government adopt Option A If option
A is not accepted, the second preference is for Option B1, the offence
provision forming part of the uniform censoreship legislation and
enforceable, as with other censorship offences in that scheme, by State and
Territory Law Enforcement Agencies; 

(b) any regulatory scheme adopted by subject, after a suitable monitoring
period, to review to allow the Government to make a reasssessment of the
issue of regulation in light of the Government's content regulation
policies for other forms of communications; 

(c) jurisdictions agree to review their relevant laws (ie, other than those
strictoy concerning censoreship), to ensure that appropriate offence
provisions apply to the illicit use of BBS (eg, as an instrument of fraud);


(d) in particular, jurisdictions agree to ensure that their offence
provisions concerning the possession, manufacture, distribution of child
pronography apply to material, manufactured or distribuited by means of
computer, or stored in a computer or on computer disc; and 

(e) relevant offence provisions be sufficiently broad enough to encompass
the imortation of the proscribed categories of material by means of
computer." 

"OPTION A: Development and adoption of Guidelines by the BBS
community. This would be capable of immediate implementation and would
require: 

* the facilitation of the adoption throughout the BBS community of current
best practicewithin the community; 

* the development of operator's guidelines for compliance with community
standards and the relevant laws, and of information kits for parents; 

* a complaints-based system of enforcement, mediated by the Office of Film
and Literature Classification; 

* an advsory body drawn from the BBS community to provide a channel for 2
way feedback between government and BBS operators/users; and 

* continued monitoring, examination of the exetent of the problem, and
consideration of appropriate legislation or modification of current
laws."   (Summary only) 

"OPTION B1: Application of partial classification to BBS.  This option
would involve legislation, and therefore significant lead-up time. Issues
of compliance, administration and enforcement costs would also arise.  

[...] 

A possible provision is set out below: 

(1)     A person must not use a computer bulletin board 
    (a) to transmit, 
    (b) to advertise as available for transmission, or 
    (c) to possess for the purpose of transmission 
        objectionable material.  

(2)     Proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) must not be
commenced until the material has been refused classification.  

(3)     It is a defence to a proecution for an offence under subsection (1)
to prove that the defendant, or the defendant's employee or agent (as the
case may be) took ALL REASONABLE STEPS IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES to avoid a
contravention of subsecton (1).  

(4)     For the purposes of this section, 

        "a computer bulletin board" means "a system of
el;ectronically stored information accessed by computer thropugh the use of
a telecommunications network which allows a bi-directional transfer of
files or messages between the user and the system"; 

        "a computer game" is a computer program and associated
data capable of generating a display on a computer monitor, television
screen, liquid crystal display or similar medium that allows the playing of
"an interactive game" as defined in the Classification
(Publication, Films and Computer Games) Act 1994; 

        "objectionable material" means material which: 

        (i) depicts or otherwise deals with matters of sex, drug misuse or
addiction, crime, cruely, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in
such a way that it offends against the standards of decency and propriety
generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that the material
should be refused classification; 

        (ii) depicts in a way that is likely to cause offence to a
reasonable adult a minor who is, or appears to be, under 16 (whether or not
engaged in sexual activity), to the extent that the material should be
refused classification; 

        (iii) promotes, incites or instructs in matters of crime or
violence to the extent that the material should be refused classification;
or 

        (iv) if a computer game, is unsuitable for a minor to see or play; and 

        the meaning of "to transmit" includes "to
obtain" or "to acquire".  

TREV.


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