Report on Adelaide Consumer Consultation Meeting, 27 March 2003
The meeting was held in Adelaide, at the Directors Hotel, on 27 March 2003.
Our thanks to ISOC-AU Director Gerry White for facilitating this
meeting.
Participants were advised that this consultation process is supported by
funding from the Department of Communications, IT and the Arts.
Below is a report of our discussion.
Spam
Participants reported that SPAM is a leading issue for SAIA and ISPs and that all have anti SPAM in their acceptable use policies. SPAM can make an email address unusable. It was reported that NOIE found that SPAM was at the top of the list of user issues of concern. The potential for commercial law solutions was discussed including the potential to send a bill to the spammers at the end of each month. The linkage of SPAM to pornographic material was also discussed.Action so far has been on the censorship front rather than addressing the SPAM dimensions that can place unwanted information into inboxes. There is potential for ISPs to be able to differentiate SPAM, and ISPs may be already filtering 50% of SPAM, but filters are difficult to keep up to date. There are implications for international productivity because Australia pays both ways across the Pacific, however, passing on the cost to US ISPs would be a disincentive.
Users need to avoid responding to SPAM because the price of addresses
can go from 15 cents US to US$33 when they are verified as live. There
are standard lists of advice for users in respect of avoiding SPAM
(see www.isoc-au.org.au).
Broadband
Broadband is seen as being essential in a mobile business environment. The education community is committed to rollout of broadband, including commitment by all state ministers. Education and Training is building an intranet and there is a need for household higher-speed access as the basis for online education and training. Web sites being deployed today are limited by access speeds in the home. Other drivers for home bandwidth are business (eg corporate executives) and home business.Participants wondered if Australia's low population density was a factor increasing the cost of broadband. It was noted that always-on is as just as important to users as bandwidth. However, cost can still be a significant barrier to take up, with an example quoted of dialup cost of $20 to $30 a month compared with $90 to $300 a month for broadband. Advertised prices can be misleading when they don't include all costs, eg $500 set-up. Nevertheless, people are starting to use it at home.
Schools still typically operate on single 64k ISDN link. In this situation, regular business is hampered as soon as digital objects are created, because they will not fit within these sized links. The Broadband Advisory Group report has assisted the situation with education & training, intranet, network of networks, but more needs to be done beyond implementation of the BAG. States and territories need to be engaged to initate, followed by a sustainable model to maintain. NSW and Victoria are taking bandwidth more seriously but smaller states are lagging, particularly where investment is required. Recently $42.5m was allocated by the Federal Government to upgrade university links.
Local authority action on wiring fibre in neighbourhoods is a viable
option being adopted overseas, and potentially along the lines of the
TransACT model in the ACT.
Peering
The meeting noted an oversupply of international bandwidth which means that domestic bandwidth is more expensive now than international bandwidth. In the wholesale and corporate environment, the days of 19 cents a meg are well gone. The current situation is that cheap bandwidth lands in Sydney or Melbourne and it costs more to move it across the country.
Wireless
Views were expressed that 802.11 is not a carrier solution due to concerns about proximity and security.
Competition & Regulation
The meeting noted that proposals for structural separation of Telstra were being considered again.
Copyright
Digital world does not deal with the notion of physical objects but the concept was not transferred to the online environment. Briefings are currently being held - ISOC-AU should advocate a different concept, not the print model, positive example Lawrence Lessig: Creative Commons.
Access-driven Models
Authentication is critical and not currently in a stable situation. Stable online identities could be a government function, drawing on current identity documents. However the need for multiple digital identities was noted, combined with a need to include digital identities easily into browsers.
Tony Hill
President ISOC-AU
27 March 2003