Cyber Activists
The internet and activism
The relatively small amount of law regarding the internet primarily concerns commercial activities and pornography.
Defamation
This aside, recent cases have shown that the normal laws of defamation do apply to the internet and that simply because a site defames an overseas person or company the host is not absolved of responsibility.
In Gutnick v Dow Jones & Co. Inc. [2001] VSC 305 it was found that in regard to defamation and internet related content; the place which the material is down-loaded is the jurisdiction where defamation occurs. The internet can be a useful tool for providing information to protestors and rally groups but the same thin line between opinion and defamation applies to cyberspace just as it does to print media.
Powers to ban or ‘shut-down' websites
There are often calls for activist orientated or protest websites to be ‘banned' or ‘shut down' for a variety of reasons.
The Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth) prohibits internet content rated RC (Refused Classification) by the Office of Film and Literature Classification Board.
Under the Classification Board guidelines, material which provides “detailed instruction or promotion in matters of crime or violence” may receive an RC rating.
If the content is hosted in Australia, the internet content host can be directed by the Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA) to remove prohibited or potentially prohibited content.
ACMA does not currently have the power to “ban” or prevent access to content hosted outside Australia. However, ACMA can forward details of prohibited content to the makers of industry-approved filtering software. Under an industry code of practice, internet service providers have agreed to make this filtering software available to their customers.
“Objectionable” or “harassing” material
Under the Victorian Classification (Publications, Films & Computer Games) (Enforcement) Act 1995 it is prohibited to “to publish or transmit, or make available for transmission, objectionable material.” The definition of “objectionable material” under the Act includes material which “promotes, incites or instructs in matters of crime or violence”.
Under the Criminal Code Act 2005 (Cth), it is an offence to use a carriage service (including the internet) in a way “that reasonable persons would regard as being, in all the circumstances, menacing, harassing or offensive”.
In a 2003 media release announcing the introduction of these provisions, the Federal Communication and Justice Ministers said: “People using the Internet to advocate or facilitate violent protests, for example by spreading information on methods of violently disrupting international meetings and attacking police officers protecting such gatherings, including those using the Internet to harass or menace others are amongst those who could be prosecuted under the new offences.”
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