News: Jail terms likely for mobile phone porn ( Australia )
 

Jail terms likely for mobile phone porn
Wednesday Jun 14 17:23 AEST
Sending pornography on mobile phones will attract a jail term or harsh fines under laws to go to federal parliament later this year.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan said the new laws, which would also apply to subscriber-based internet sites and handheld devices, were intended to protect children from exposure to porn.

The latest mobile phones can receive voice, text and video, with some companies now offering streaming TV-style content.

The minister said while new technology such as the internet and mobile phones had their benefits, there were also pitfalls.

"Scammers, con artists, thieves, fraudsters and, worse, paedophiles and pornographers ... can quickly adapt to using more treacherous and sophisticated methods of committing their crimes," Senator Coonan told the National Press Club.

The laws will include harsh fines and jail terms for breaches.

Senator Coonan said the government was also looking at ways to improve the filtering of internet content, but she was yet to be convinced of the argument put by Labor, some coalition MPs and pro-family groups that internet service provider (ISP) filters, known as "clean feeds", were effective.

The minister said while there had been no prosecutions of ISPs over offensive content, more than 340 notices had been issued by the media watchdog to take down offensive websites.

She said filters installed on home computers and parental guidance still provided the best way to ensure children did not access offensive sites or become the prey of paedophiles.

"You wouldn't send your child out to ride their bike without a helmet, let them get into the car without putting on their seatbelt or jump into a pool if they don't know how to swim," she said.

"So why would you be content to let your child venture into cyberspace with no protection or education about the dangers?"

The minister said she had recently fallen foul of internet filtering, which often involves a computer identifying offensive words being typed in, when she tried to contact global investment and advisory firm Babcock and Brown.

Opposition communications spokesman Stephen Conroy said the minister's approach to the issue was flawed.

"Clean feed is an essential additional layer of protection for Australian children," he said.

"The government's reliance on PC-based filtering ignores the fact that two-thirds of households don't have these filters installed on their family computer."

Family First leader Steve Fielding said the government should go further and ban access to mobile chat services by anyone younger than 18.

It should also ensure service providers inform parents about the risks to children and how to reduce them, he said.

"A recent study by the University of Western Sydney found the average age for a child to own their first phone is nine," Senator Fielding said.

"Parents cannot always supervise mobile phone use and have no idea what their kids might be exposed to."

Very interested to see how this turns out.

thank heavens i'm no Aussie

Fuck them. Let them try to come to America and arrest me. Fuck you Austraila.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

dam, what sucka's