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The Universal Service Obligation (USO) is a vital consumer protection in Australia. The USO ensures a standard telephone service (generally fixed line voice services) and pay phones are accessible to all people in Australia. It was formally introduced in 1991, but it has seen a number of changes over the years.
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With the change in the NBN policy (the move to the multi technology mix model), a number of arrangements previously approved by the ACCC have to be revised. One of these is ACCC's approval of NBN Co buying Optus' HFC (cable) network. The previous approval was for decommissioning of the Optus HFC network infrastructure after the roll out. With the change to a multi technology mix model, NBN Co has now applied to use the Optus HFC infrastructure in its roll out. ACCAN raised concerns that this may not be in consumers' best interest, as greater benefit may arise from the Optus HFC network competing against NBN Co at the wholesale level. However, without access to the detailed figures, it is not clear how much consumers or the NBN Co model would be impacted by not having the Optus HFC.
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The Australian Bureau of Statistics is reviewing what data is collected around information and communication technologies (ICT) and how it is used. ICT data is vital in ACCAN's work to measure and identify consumers who are disadvantaged by poor communications services, and are unable to afford communications products. There are a number of bodies that publish data regularly on telecommunications, but often different definitions are used making the data hard to compare.
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The recent Federal Court decision in the Dallas Buyers Club case is the first of its kind in Australia. The decision means that the internet service providers (ISPs) involved – iiNet and others – will now have to give the Dallas Buyers Club rights holder, Voltage Pictures, the contact information of account holders who allegedly downloaded a pirated copy of the film.
Once this information is handed over, Voltage Pictures is able to send account holders a letter about the activity they allege has happened. In this case the Federal Court is reviewing all letters Voltage Pictures will be sending to account holders to make sure there is no 'speculative invoicing'. This is a fancy name for a demand for money to be paid to the rights holder for pirating the film. These letters might say that the company will take you to court if you don't pay. Speculative invoicing has been used overseas in the US, Canada and UK to intimidate consumers into paying compensation for claims of illegal file sharing.
Read more: Online piracy and speculative invoicing
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In the light of the Dallas Buyers Club Federal Court decision, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is concerned that the Copyright Code will streamline 'speculative invoicing'. Speculative invoicing is the practice where a rights holder sends a letter of demand for payment of damages to an account holder who has allegedly engaged in illegal downloading.
ACCAN has been working with industry and rights holders to develop the industry Copyright Code which today has been submitted to the ACMA. The Code includes a Notice Scheme that will see consumers sent infringement notices if they are alleged to have downloaded pirated material. In our submission to Communications Alliance, we outlined significant concerns in the Code's consumer safeguards.
Read more: Copyright Code will streamline ‘speculative invoicing’: ACCAN
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The Federal Government's data retention scheme, enacted in March 2015, will come into effect between 13 October 2015 and 12 April 2017. Our fact sheet covers what consumers need to
know.
What is metadata?
Metadata, simply put, is 'data about data'. In telecommunications it is information about communications (e.g. the time a phone call was made and its duration), information about the people communicating (e.g. the sender and the receiver) including account and location information, and the device used. The scheme requires that service providers retain metadata but not the content or substance of a communication. However metadata can still reveal a lot of information about an individual and those they interact with.
Read more: Facts about the Federal Government’s data retention scheme
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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) would like to congratulate the Federal Government on its move to make registrations on the Do Not Call Register indefinite which passed through both Houses of Parliament yesterday. This is great for consumers who will no longer have to re-register their phone numbers on the Do Not Call Register.
"With more than 10 million registered numbers on the Do Not Call Register, indefinite registration is a win for consumers," said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin. "The high number of registrations reflects the preference of Australians not to be contacted by telemarketers."
Read more: Big win for consumers: Do Not Call Registrations now indefinite
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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is concerned that the proposed anti-piracy Industry Code has some serious flaws in its consumer safeguards. ACCAN has outlined its concerns in a submission to Communications Alliance.
The scheme includes a $25 fee to challenge a false claim made by a copyright holder. In Australia, these types of dispute resolution schemes have traditionally been fee free (for example the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman). While there is a provision for fee waivers ACCAN believes the process for applying will be overly bureaucratic and insufficient to improve affordability issues.
Read more: Consumers shouldn’t have to pay to challenge piracy claims
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The draft Copyright Notice Scheme Industry Code of Practice aims to drive down the rate of online piracy through a cooperative response involving Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Copyright Holders. ACCAN was one of the stakeholders involved in developing the scheme with the goal of driving down online piracy while at the same time providing appropriate safeguards for consumers. Our submission addresses how well the scheme achieves these safeguards and proposes solutions for the remaining shortfalls.
Copyright deserves strong protection in order to foster a vibrant market for content. However, ACCAN advises caution in pursuing a Code which may have limited benefit in protecting copyrighted material while adding significant cost for telecommunications consumers. The Code attempts to drive down the incidence of online piracy without paying adequate regard to the core drivers of infringement – a lack of affordable and easy to access content.
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The ACCAN event Rethinking the Universal Service Obligation (USO), held in Sydney yesterday, aimed to open up discussion about the USO, and unravel the issues confronting consumers, policy makers and industry in a rapidly changing communications landscape.
The USO is a fundamental consumer protection that ensures a standard telephone service (generally fixed line voice services) and pay phones are accessible to all people in Australia.
"As the technology we use evolves and is used to access more and more services, it's important to examine the current Universal Service Obligation to ensure it is still fit for purpose," said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin. "Our sessions throughout the day saw some interesting debate and discussion on what services consumers require today and into the future and how to ensure the right protections are in place. These discussions with stakeholders and key industry players will help inform ACCAN's work in this area."
Read more: ACCAN opens up discussion on the Universal Service Obligation
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Recent statistics show that almost two thirds of Australians are on Facebook, yet according to the 2014 Yellow Social Media Report, only 36 per cent of small businesses have a social media presence. And, despite investing their time in using social media to promote their business, almost three in 10 have no strategy to drive traffic to their sites.
In response to this gap, online training website, Digital Ready, has released a free guide for small business owners on how to use social media to their advantage. The free guide called 'Social Media for Business – a beginner's guide' was developed with small businesses, not for profit organisations and clubs in mind to help them better understand the ins and outs of social media and how they can use it to grow their business.
Read more: Too many small businesses aren’t using social media
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The Panel assesses applications to ACCAN's Independent Grants Program and recommends the strongest applications to the ACCAN Board for funding. The Panel meet to discuss proposals and hold separate reviews of grant applications as needed.