by Aoidin Scully
Irish Internet service providers (ISPs) have been berated by the Internet Advisory Board for not showing sufficient commitment to the industry's self-regulatory body. In a letter sent last week to prominent members of the Internet industry, chairperson Eamonn Barnes expressed concern over "indications of a lack of engagement by the industry in the arrangements needed to ensure that self-regulation is a success”.
Specifically, Barnes, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, said that he was alarmed about "a recent meeting between the industry and An Garda Síochána … at which no member of the industry attended". Barnes is now calling another meeting for October 3.
"It would be impossible for me to ignore a situation where a core piece of self-regulation infrastructure remained either non-existent or non-effective because attention was not drawn to the need for positive action," continued Barnes. "I am hopeful that these signals have more to do with logistical and communication difficulties, rather than with a lack of commitment by senior management in the industry."
"Some individuals, are not getting involved out of self-interest," said Alex Gogan of the Communications Interactive Agency. "But I think anyone who doesn't participate could jeopardise the future development of a self-regulated Internet in Ireland."
If the IAB does not succeed in implementing self-regulation in the industry, the Government has said that it will be forced to step in and apply regulatory measures.
However, others in the industry blame a lack of communication for the perceived lack of interest. "We have received no communication whatsoever up to this letter, so that might suggest why no one came to the meetings," said Michael Branagan, managing director of Internet Ireland. "I certainly think that self-regulation is an excellent idea but there has to be a chief watchdog, otherwise (a) it won't work and (b) the public will be extremely sceptical and that's not what we want."
The Internet Advisory Board was established by the Government in February to "oversee the self-regulation structures recommended by the Working Group on the Illegal and Harmful Use of the Internet." Its members include representatives of the industry, the Gardaí, the Film Censor's Office, the child studies unit of UCC and Barnados.
Last November the Internet industry established a public hotline, Hotline.ie, to report sites containing child pornography. However, Cormac Callanan, who runs the hotline said that it was receiving only a trickle of calls.
He attributed this in part to a lack of Government funding and partly to insufficient promotion of the line. When ElectricNews.Net visited the sites of the ISPs supposedly involved in the project, only Esat Net featured a link to the hotline on its home page. Other sites checked were Indigo, Ireland On-Line, EircomNet, Club Internet, and Oceanfree.
