Disrupting access to illegal online services

A new federal government inquiry will examine a mechanism that is already in place under the Telecommunications Act 1997 and which can be used by government agencies to disrupt access to illegal online services.

The House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications will investigate the use of subsection 313(3) of the Act, following a referral from Communications Minister the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP.

Subsection 313(3) of the Act provides Commonwealth, state and territory agencies with the ability to obtain assistance from the telecommunications industry when upholding Australian law.

The section has a range of applications, but the committee’s inquiry will focus solely on the use of the subsection for the purpose of disrupting illegal online services. This includes:

• which government agencies may make requests under the subsection;
• what level of authority should agencies have to make such requests;
• the characteristics of illegal or potentially illegal services that should be subject to such requests; and
• what are the most appropriate transparency and accountability measures that should accompany such requests, including how these should be implemented.

Committee Chairman Jane Prentice said the inquiry provides an important mechanism to gauge industry and community expectations about the types of services to which subsection 313(3) applies.

“The inquiry is an important step towards providing clarity about the use of the section to disrupt illegal online services,” she said.

The committee has issued an invitation to interested persons and organisations to make submissions to the inquiry addressing the above terms of reference. Submissions close on Friday, 22 August 2014.

Further information on the inquiry, including the full terms of reference and how to prepare a submission, can be obtained from the committee’s website at www.aph.gov.au/section313.

Image courtesy Robert Pfeifer under CC