Core Principles for a safer internet
Today ALIA joined with another not-for-profit organisation, the Inspire Foundation, as well as internet giants Google Australia and Yahoo! Australia to release a joint statement of Core Principles to further engage in the community debate against proposed mandatory ISP internet filtering. We have been working with these organisations to encourage the government to make amendments to their proposed legislation, being tabled at the Autumn session. Read the ALIA media release and the Core Principles statement at http://www.alia.org.au/internetfiltering
ALIA has been lobbying on this issue for decades, but really it goes back to the core values of libraries and library staff - the two key points that relate to this issue from the ALIA Constitutional Objects and our Core Values are :
“To promote the free flow of information and ideas in the interest of all Australians and a thriving culture, economy and democracy” and “Promotion of the free flow of information and ideas through open access to recorded knowledge, information, and creative works.”
We are concerned that URL filtering is only one very small part of removing illegal material that assists in child protection. We know that most of the activity relating to child pornography and child abuse occurs with direct contact, chat rooms and peer-to-peer networking - that’s why we want a greater increase in funding for the expertly trained AFP Child Protection unit.
ALIA will continue to work with ACMA on educating library staff, children, parents, carers and the community on safer internet surfing. The http://www.cybersmart.org.au website should be high on all of our Favourites list and spread amongst our networks. The videos for library staff are a great professional development activity. We know that parents and carers want more information and sessions to update their knowledge to assist children with creating a safer environment in the digital economy. As the Education Revolution laptops roll out to each school, a comprehensive national education program on cybersafety should be joining them. This means additional government funding to internet safety education.
For an excellent summary of the proposed filtering and RC Classication, and what other countries do to reduce illegal internet material, take a look through Untangling the Net.
We recently asked our members to submit feedback to the RC Classification submission, and members can continue to take the opportunity to comment through our advocacy@alia.org.au email. Look out for the notifications of forthcoming submissions during the year. We also thank our partner library associations who joined with us for this submission.
Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director