This appeared a few days ago announcing extended powers:
Online Safety Act to tackle cyber bullying and child sex abuse
Sexual predators and “vile” internet trolls will be targeted by tough online safety laws designed to crack down on cyber abuse.
January 23, 2022 - 11:06AM
NCA NewsWire
Social media giants, sexual predators and online bullies have been put on notice, with Australia’s eSafety commissioner granted greater powers to police the internet.
The Online Safety Act, which passed parliament in 2021, officially came into effect on Sunday.
Changes included in the Act include a world first cyber abuse take-down scheme to better protect children and adults from online bullying.
The eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has also been given the authority to order online platforms to remove the “worst of the worst” content – including child sexual abuse material and terrorist material – no matter where it is hosted.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the Act also gave the eSafety Commissioner stronger “information gathering and investigative powers” to obtain identity information behind anonymous online accounts used to bully, abuse, or exchange illegal content.
Ms Inman Grant has been reappointed for another five years in the powerful role.
She said the new laws cemented her office’s role as a “world leader” in online safety.
“They place Australia at the international forefront in the fight against online abuse and harm – providing additional protections for Australians in the fight against online harms through our approach of prevention, protection, and proactive change in the online space,” she said.
More here:
There is more coverage here:
Inman Grant's reappointment as eSafety commissioner comes with new powers
With the Online Safety Act now in effect, the eSafety commissioner can order social media platforms to more expeditiously take down cyberbullying content.
Written by Campbell Kwan, Journalist
on January 24, 2022 | Topic: Security
The federal government has reappointed Julie Inman Grant as the country's eSafety commissioner.
The reappointment comes simultaneously with the Online Safety Act, which passed last year, officially coming into effect.
"The Online Safety Act commences operation [on Sunday] and Ms Inman Grant's reappointment provides certainty, particularly to community organisations and industry who have been working with the office of the eSafety Commissioner for some time," said Paul Fletcher, the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts.
Inman Grant was first put into the role in 2016, months after the Office of the eSafety Commissioner was established under the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
During her tenure, the eSafety commissioner has steadily expanded from initially only protecting children to a remit of providing supporting mechanisms for all Australians online. With the Online Safety Act now in effect, Inman Grant has even more substantial powers, such as being able to order social media platforms and other websites popular among children to remove cyberbullying content within 24 hours.
If these entities fail to remove the content, the commissioner can issue fines of up to 500 penalty units, which equates to a maximum of AU$111,000 for individuals and AU$555,000 for companies.
More here:
There is more information in the most recent ACMA Annual Report:
See here:
https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/corporate-documents/annual-reports
Reading the report it seems clear that the agency is having considerable success with domestic offenders with bullying, child exploitation and image based abuse but the report is virtually silent on international problems and ‘dark web’ issues where one would suspect more nefarious goings on are located.
The other thing that struck me was, given the apparent prevalence of the domestic issues, that the overall numbers were so low. It is hard to be sure all this is not a sop to a middle-aged conservative technically illiterate heartland. That said the hard edge of the AFP legal enforcement and takedown of transnational cyber-crime is more than welcome!
I wish the Commissioner well but I have a strong suspicion we are not getting the whole story in reach and scale!
What do you think!
David.
From the same geniuses who brought us the white elephant called My Health Record.....
ReplyDeleteThe hotline at the centre of the government’s new Covid-19 strategy is staffed by casual workers with almost no training, employed by the company behind robo-debt. By Rick Morton.
The centrepiece of the federal government’s “Living with Covid” program is a call centre outsourced to former robo-debt collectors and staffed by workers on casual contracts with no medical experience.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2022/02/05/exclusive-robo-debt-call-centres-take-over-covid-hotline/164397960013268