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Should .au be open to direct registrations?

Details

.au Domain Administration (auDA) invited comment on a public issues paper about the way .au domain names are allocated and used. The paper has been prepared by a Names Policy Panel consisting of nominated members of the Australian Internet community who have expressed interest in helping shape policy for the .au domain space.

Funding for fixed wireless and satellite services

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nbn™ has been tasked with providing broadband to all premises at affordable prices, regardless of the cost to provide these services. This will result in a number of services that will be loss making or non-commercial (i.e. fixed wireless and satellite services). The current arrangement is for nbn™ to fund these services through higher costs for services over other parts of its network. However, the Government wishes for the funding to be transparent and for all network providers to contribute to these services, not just nbn™.

The Bureau of Communications Research (BCR) recently consulted on potential alternative funding arrangements for these non-commercial services. They posed a number of questions about how these services could be funded, to which ACCAN provided feedback. Our submission focused on four areas:

    • concern over the affordability of services;

    • equity of services between consumers in fixed wireless and satellite areas and those in the fixed footprint;

    • concern that the BCR was not focusing on consumers use of broadband; and

    • queried how commercial services offered over the fixed wireless and satellite network will be treated. 

Calling Number Display Code review

Details

Calling Number Display (CND) allows the people you call to see your telephone number displayed on the screen of their telephone. It applies to both mobile phones and landlines. If you don't have a silent line, unlisted number or have not blocked CND, the people you call will generally be able to see your number on their telephone screen.

The CND feature has important privacy implications because there may be times when consumers don't want their number identified to the person they are calling. Recently, the Calling Number Display Code was reviewed by the Communications Alliance. A number of changes were proposed, including downgrading the Code to a Guideline, which would not be enforceable by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

Website blocking bill

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The Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 allows copyright holders to apply to court to have piracy websites blocked by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The power can even be used to block websites which 'facilitate' infringement. Many Australian consumers use Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to by-pass geo-blocking restrictions and buy content from overseas. Copyright holders believe this practice breaches their rights under the Copyright Act and may use this new blocking power against VPN websites.

ACCAN believes consumers should have the freedom to choose where they purchase content. Improved choice will also address some of the problems around access, delayed release dates and affordability which fuel piracy.

NBN Co - Optus HFC

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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.

Copyright Notice Scheme Industry Code

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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.

ABS ICT statistics review

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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.

Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014

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The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014 was introduced into Parliament on 30 October 2014 and is currently being reviewed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

The Bill will require telecommunications service providers to retain telecommunications data (also commonly referred to as metadata) for two years. Metadata is information about communications (e.g. the time a phone call was made and its duration), information about the parties to the communication (e.g. the sender and the receiver) including account and location information, and the device used. It does not require that service providers retain the content or substance of a communication, but metadata can still reveal a lot of information about an individual and those they interact with. For example, revealing who a person is in contact with, how often and where, can help to paint a picture of that person's private political opinions, sexual habits, religion or medical conditions.

Telecommunications infrastructure in new developments

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The Department of Communications has consulted on an update to the 2011 Fibre in New Developments Policy. The consultation document sets out proposed arrangements for the delivery of broadband in new housing developments and the charges NBN Co can levy on developers and owners. This is part of a package of Government responses to the recommendations of the 2014 Vertigan review and cost benefit analysis. The update aims to promote competition among infrastructure providers, and new arrangements are to be in place by 1st March 2015. One significant change is that developers and owners will now have to meet some of the costs that NBN Co has carried until now (fibre roll out and connection).

Variation of Telstra’s Migration Plan

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How consumers are migrated from Telstra to NBN Co is set out in procedures in a Migration Plan. These were initially put in place in 2011 when the Government's NBN plan was to rollout fibre to the premises (FTTP). Since then the National Broadband Network (NBN) model has changed to be delivered using a Multi Technology Mix (MTM), using technologies such as fibre to the node (FTTN), fibre to the basement (FTTB) and HFC. The new range of technologies requires a revised Migration Plan. The Department of Communications ran a consultation over the Christmas/New Year period on principles to be used in the new Migration Plan, and ACCAN has submitted identifying some consumer issues to be taken into account.

Competition policy review - draft report

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ACCAN submitted to the draft report of the Harper review to provide feedback on recommendations to reform competition law and policy in relation to intellectual property (IP), institutions and governance.

Submission on the TCP Code and Operations Codes

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Against the background of the Federal Government's deregulation agenda, the telecommunications industry peak body, Communications Alliance, consulted on amendments to the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code 2012. This version of the Code had just finished being rolled out in September 2014. Since the Code was introduced two years ago Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman complaints have fallen by 28 per cent to the lowest point in six years. Our submission outlines why we don't think it is the right time to be taking away the very consumer protections that have led to reduced complaints.