Report on Hobart Consumer Consultation Meeting, 17 March 2004
The meeting was held at the Department of Premier and Cabinet offices at 4:00pm on 17 March 2004. ISOC-AU would like to thank Cath Parker, Director Standards, education.au limited, and Michelle Synott of DPAC for their assistance in organising the meeting. Attendees were advised that this consultation process is supported by funding from the Department of Communications, IT and the Arts.
Participants had a wide range of Internet interests and had also been involved with organisations such as the Tasmanian Linux Users' Group (TASLUG), the Australian Computer Society (ACS), Australian Unix and Open Systems User Group (AUUG) and the System Administrators' Guild of Australia (SAGE-AU).
This was a lively and informative meeting, with participants drawing diagrams on the whiteboard to helpfully illustrate issues such as NAT addressing and peering in Tasmania.
Usage of the Internet
Participants were using the Internet privately - for instance auction sites - and professionally - consulting, Web development and architecture in education, network management in government and in academic systems. The main topics were spam, bandwidth, service limitations (NATs), peering and community usage.Spam
- Spam, popups, mouse hijacking, are still ongoing problems. One user has five different levels of spam protection locally and at the ISP, yet still receives far too much rubbish.
- One participant usually tries to track the source of the spam and complains, so does not get much at the moment. A drawback is having to buy software with licences that demand consent to further marketing.
- Reservations were expressed about the recent anti-spam bill that provided so many exclusions to political and religious groups.
- A study has shown that the amount of spam received is a function of the exposure of an email address on high-volume sites, newsgroups and mailing-lists - which naturally has a chilling effect on the usefulness of Internet communication.
Bandwidth
- One user is only 15-20 km from the GPO but can only get dialup - an acquaintance lives even closer and cannot even get that!
- The view was expressed generally and forcefully that the government should sell off the Telstra retail business and keep and invest more in the infrastructure.
- A problem with line speed measurements - Telstra will only sell broadband if the line reaches the maximum speed, yet it would still be useful at lesser speeds.
- Bandwidth is essential for the school sector, it determines what teachers and students can do, can be a barrier to the technology, and dealing with the limitations is a constant difficulty.
Service limitations, NATs
- Private sites, archives and services are being blocked by ISPs using Network Address Translators.
- People cannot run their own sites from home any more via ADSL - it is now actively blocked as Telstra policy - anyone wanting to run a site has to buy one as a separate service from an ISP.
- This seems to be a marketing decision to force purchase of services from ISPs rather than allowing people to run systems themselves - inhibiting learning, experience and future potential of the Internet.
Community issues
- Over-regulation is a problem - governments are not comfortable with the flatter power structures and anarchy (in positive sense) of the Internet. The collaborative spirit of the Internet is blocked by regulation - this is counter-productive.
- Concern was expressed that there was little Federal commitment to IT funding in education, yet this is supposed to be a knowledge economy. Where will the next-generation educated workforce come from withour rural and remote infrastructure funding?
- Example of successful project in north Queensland, children at boarding schools use Internet to keep in touch with their Aboriginal communities.
- Isolation is not just physical remoteness, may be social - people in city retirement homes and hospitals at distances from families and friends - video over the Internet could be an excellent community tool.
Peering
- Big issue for Tasmanians is getting data across Bass Strait - major costs involved. Data from one ISP in Tasmania often flows to mainland, then back again, to get to someone else in the same city.
- Some smaller ISPs have now set up successful peering points using the commercial provider PIPE, with data between them often passed for free.
- Who is missing from this picture? Telstra, University of Tasmania, Networking Tasmania - all major content providers.
- Another example - the ABC in Sydney is a major content provider, but although it has the infrastructure to peer right now, it refuses to do so as policy - increasing costs to everyone including itself.
- Publicly owned organisations (ABC, universities, government departments, etc) should use peering wherever it is practical, in order to make their content more accessible to all Australians.
Hopes for the Future Internet
- It would be good if greater influence was given to technical rationales for decisions rather than marketing ones, which often have damaging consequences.
- We need well-informed decision making that has a basis in social justice.
- We need the cooperative democracy of the Internet and a freeing up of the possibilities without compromising duty of care.
- Creative anarchy is still essential, otherwise blocks and controls will dominate.
- An Internet without spam!
Kate Lance, Executive Director ISOC-AU
17 March 2004