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This week
IN THE NEWS: eSafety issues takedown notices over violent content, ACCAN announces new CEO, and Australia to receive Amazon LEOsat products early
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The eSafety Commissioner has issued notices instructing Meta and X (Twitter) to remove material depicting “gratuitous or offensive” violence on their platforms. The orders are in relation to a stabbing that occurred in a Western Sydney church on Monday. At the time of issue, videos of the attack could be found on both platforms, although Meta had covered videos with a graphic content warning. The relationship between X and regulators has been on the decline in recent times, with the platform reinstating banned accounts and firing safety and compliance personnel since its purchase by Elon Musk. [The Guardian]
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For readers who had not heard the news, last Thursday, 11 April, the Board of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) announced the appointment of Ms Carol Bennett as Chief Executive Officer for the organisation from 8 July 2024. Carol is a highly respected leader with a remarkable track record of delivering positive change for consumers and communities in all her previous CEO roles. Read more about Carol’s background, and hear from her and ACCAN Chair Prof. Julian Thomas, at our media release (above). [ACCAN]
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Australia will be among the first countries to receive Amazon’s Kuiper low earth orbit satellite (LEOsat) service. The announcement, first covered by CommsDay, was made by Project Kuiper executive Hannah Williams at an event in Sydney last week. Customer trials are expected to begin later in 2024, followed by a mid-2025 customer rollout in North America, Europe and Japan. An Australian rollout is anticipated shortly after the initial launch. [Shipping News; CommsDay initial coverage]
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A report from the Connectivity Innovation Network, an initiative of the NSW Telco Authority and the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer, has explored how new and emerging technologies could greatly expand connectivity to rural and remote areas of NSW. Incorporating insights from the NSW Digital Connectivity Index, the paper considers how LEOsats, high altitude platform stations (HAPS), large-area Wi-Fi and 6G mobile solutions may play a role in achieving ubiquitous connectivity across the state. [Connectivity Innovation Network]
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eSafety has published resources to help Australians deal with distressing content online. Advice is available for parents, carers, educators, and children. An important reminder – eSafety can issue takedown notices to remove the worst forms of online material, but it is vital that consumers first report it to the Commissioner. See more on the eSafety Commissioner website above. [eSafety]
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The ACMA has released a report into its crackdown on illegal gambling websites. The Authority launched a campaign to act against offshore and unlicensed wagering sites around the 2023 Women’s World Cup. 18 services were found to be in breach of Australian laws, resulting in 3 withdrawing from the Australian market and the remaining 15 being blocked by ISPs at the request of the ACMA. Since 2019, more than 900 illegal gambling and affiliate websites have been blocked at the ISP level. [ACMA]
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Streaming service Roku has disclosed that, in the course of investigating a smaller cyber breach (approx. 15,000 accounts affected), it discovered a second cyberattack which impacted 576,000 additional accounts. Roku has assured customers that payment information was not compromised and has implemented two factor authentication across all accounts. [Seven News]
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A new report into telecommunications enforcement actions, commissioned by ACCAN, was launched in a public webinar on Thursday 18 April. Report authors Karen Lee, Derek Wilding and Kieran Lindsay spoke to key findings and data in the report (available above), including an account of which provisions attracted the highest number of enforcement actions, noting that public information regarding enforcement actions is lacking, and could be made more transparent. [UTS]
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Privacy Awareness Week (PAW) is an annual event run by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to raise awareness of privacy issues and the importance of protecting personal information. PAW will run from Monday 6 May to Sunday 12 May. This year’s theme encourages people to ‘power up your privacy’. Consider if your organisation or business can support Privacy Awareness Week and learn more at the link above. [OAIC]
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In this article, the ABC shares the story of a Queensland business owner who had his Optus account hacked twice in as many weeks. After Andrew Ryder’s phone number was compromised, scammers stole $10,000 from his bank account (now, thankfully, being refunded by his bank). Having reclaimed his number with Optus, he found soon after that the scammers had once again changed his contact number, having never lost control of his Optus account. Read Mr Ryder’s story at the link above. [ABC]
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If you are Deaf, or have a hearing impairment or speech impairment, you can contact us on 02 9288 4000 through your preferred National Relay Service call number or access point.
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Although we take care to direct subscribers to sites with accurate and reliable content, we advise that ACCAN is not responsible for the content within external sites and has no control over the views, services or information contained therein. Information contained on external sites may not necessarily reflect ACCAN's policy, standards or beliefs. The information contained in or attached to this message is intended only for the people it is addressed to. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure or copying of this information is unauthorised and prohibited. This information may be confidential or subject to legal privilege. If you receive this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the e-mail and any attachments. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network does not warrant that the information in this e-mail or any attachments are free from any viruses, defects, errors, interception or interference.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network's representation of residential and other consumers' interests in relation to telecommunications issues is supported by the Commonwealth through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.
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