Drowning in Codes of Conduct
Australians face a complex, confusing and often inconsistent environment when it comes to regulating how businesses and consumers should conduct themselves online, a new report has found.
Australians face a complex, confusing and often inconsistent environment when it comes to regulating how businesses and consumers should conduct themselves online, a new report has found.
Australians face a complex, confusing and often inconsistent environment when it comes to regulating how businesses and consumers should conduct themselves online, a new report has found.
Drowning in Codes of Conduct, by Chris Connolly and David Vaile from the Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre at the University of New South Wales, is the first report to comprehensively analyse self regulatory codes of online conduct developed in Australia.
It reveals a web of often contradictory codes, and questions whether the current model protects consumers – especially as many offshore providers decline to be involved.
The report examines 16 Codes of Conduct relevant to Australian consumers’ online activity. It compares these codes against four Best Practice Guidelines for codes from ASIC, ACCC, ACMA and 'the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner' (formerly known as the Privacy Commissioner). It also maps their coverage over the top 50 websites visited by Australians and top 19 ISPs.
Issues for consumers include:
The report was launched in Melbourne today at the national Consumers Forum, celebrating 50 years of Consumer Rights, on World Consumer Rights Day.
Media contact: David Vaile, d.vaile@unsw.edu.au