ISPs need more oversight and regulation
- 19 May, 2009 10:30
- Comments (5)
The Internet service provider industry is a rats and mice business that needs greater regulation and oversight said Alastair MacGibbon, former director of trust and safety at eBay, and prior to that, the former director of the High Tech Crime Centre.
Speaking at this week's AusCERT security conference, held on the Gold Coast, MacGibbon says that ISPs have gotten away with "blue murder" for too long.
"They have gotten away with it without caring who they are dealing with, or what is transmitted across their networks," he said.
"The Internet should not be a wild west."
According to MacGibbon, ISPs should be subject to know your customer legislation, just as banks and telecommunications companies are required to know who they are dealing with.
"They need to know their customer, and take more responsibility both on a registration level, and also on a technical and educational level," he said.
He said that it is not acceptable that the Internet is such an unregulated place, a statement that is in stark contrast to comments made by ICANN CEO and president, Paul Twomey.
During his keynote, Twomey said that the greatest threat to the Internet isn't cybercrime, but excessive legislation by nation states that what to apply the laws of geography to a network that is essentially based on topology.
MacGibbon acknowledged his difference of opinion with Twomey, saying that ICANN does a good job, but that it takes too long to do it.
The recent moves to add new top level domains, for example, have taken several years, and guidelines are unlikely to be established for several months yet.
MacGibbon said it's unreasonable that anyone can become an ISP.
"If I was running a food store the local council would inspect my operations," he said. "But there's no one overseeing ISPs."
"The system needs fundamental change, and the time for that change is now," he said.
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Comments
Anonymous
"According to MacGibbon, ISPs should be subject to know your customer legislation, just as banks and telecommunications companies are required to know who they are dealing with."
Well, I don't really know about that. Look at how banks are ripping people off with unfair fees and charges. No-one regulates those.
ISPs aren't so bloody minded about ripping people off, (with the exception of Telstra and Optus of course).
If you really think about it, regulation and law have removed every real freedom we ever had, so i think I'll stay with the wild west thanks and like all good sheep, self-regulate.
Anonymous
ISP Rubbish
So I should pay a company for a service and they should be allowed to see where I'm surfing the internet in the name of Regulation?
I DO NOT F&*$ING THINK SO!
Telstra can't even listen to my phone conversations without a court order.
Anonymous
ISP regulation
By volume, 50% of Internet traffic is peer to peer copyright theft. Imagine if 50% of items in the mail were stolen goods! Governments need to clean up this wild west town.
gfrend
@ ISP regulation
If you're going to quote figures, you should use accurate stats and not the ridiculous ones you've just rewritten to suit yourself.
Still, shouldn't expect too much since you sound like one of the legal mouthpieces for the big content corporations.
Could there be any connection between such self-serving hyperbole and the intention of Conroy and Rudd to impose their brand of secret Internet censorship?
Mark
There is enough Oversight and Regulation!
Ummmmmmm, what do the following bodies carry out, the first two of which are driven by our government?
- Telecommunications Industry Ombusdman (TIO) - www.tio.com.au;
- Australia Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) - www.acma.gov.au;
- Communications Alliance Ltd - http://www.commsalliance.com.au/ (formally ACIF)
These relate directly to ISPs. Then add in the various Fair Trading bodies and the ACCC.
What we don't want are even more institutions claiming the right to direct and enforce - there must surely enough 'dung heaps' for the overly ambitious to climb already!
Maybe it simply a matter giving some teeth to the existing almost toothless tigers to enforce what they already are commissioned to do.
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