ACMA cracks down on potential leaks

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) today said it was talking to the Internet Industry Association (IIA) about what action it needed to take to make sure its blacklist stayed private under lock and key.

ACMA is discussing with the IIA what, if any, action it may need to take to help ensure that ACMA's list remain secure

ACMA statement

The comments came after whistle-blower web repository Wikileaks published what appeared to be ACMA's blacklist of banned websites; a list which Communications Minister Stephen Conroy later said was not authentic.

ACMA said it had provided its blacklist to 14 providers of filter software, tested and accredited by the IIA, and would now be looking to close any leaks.

"ACMA is discussing with the IIA what, if any, action it may need to take to help ensure that ACMA's list remain secure," the authority said in a statement. "ACMA considers that any publication of the ACMA blacklist would have a substantial adverse effect on the effective administration of the regulatory scheme which aims to prevent access to harmful and offensive online material."

"Such publication would undermine the public interest outcomes which the current legislation aims to achieve." The IIA did not return requests for comment in time for this article.

ACMA echoed Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's comments that the list which has been circulating today was not its own.

"The list provided to ACMA differs markedly in length and format to the ACMA blacklist. The ACMA blacklist has at no stage been 2,300 URLs in length and at August 2008 consisted of 1,061 URLs. It is therefore completely inaccurate to say that the list of 2,300 URLs constitutes an ACMA blacklist," the authority said.

It warned those accessing and distributing the links that they were committing an offence.

"Some of the URLs that remain active appear to relate to online depictions of child sexual abuse. Possessing, distributing or accessing such material may amount to an offence under the Commonwealth Criminal Code and relevant state laws," the authority said.