Australia's largest ISP's get IIA seal of Approval
Australia's largest ISP's get IIA seal of Approval
Australians concerned about offensive Internet content should consider moving to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) who is compliant with Codes of Practice developed by the Internet Industry Association (IIA).
In March 2003, Australia's largest ISP's (collectively servicing the majority of the Internet users in Australia) and several of smaller ones registered under the IIA program and are entitled to display the Ladybird seal.
The ISP's displaying the Ladybird seal include: Albany Internet Services, Austar, Country NetLink, Optus, OzEmail, Planet Netcom, Telstra (Bigpond), True North, UQconnect.
For Internet users, the Ladybird seal signifies that their ISP is compliant with best practice standards developed by the IIA and endorsed by the government.
"The significance of the program to end users is that they now have ready access to tools and information to complement parental supervision in the home," said IIA chief executive, Peter Coroneos.
"ISPs and content hosts benefit from the fact that they are not required to block content hosted offshore, nor monitor all traffic on their networks - clearly difficult and costly tasks."
Mr Coroneos explained that ISPs and Content Hosts who complied with the IIA Codes would automatically meet their obligations under the Broadcasting Services Act relating to Internet content.
"The Codes take a very practical approach to the difficult question of regulating access to Internet content. At the end of the day, empowering users is their best protection against accessing unwanted materials online and the Codes are an important instrument in that empowerment process," said Mr Coroneos.
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