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G4EBT > PACKET 31.08.09 15:06l 181 Lines 6269 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : A11063G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: GB v VK (Ray, VK2TV)
Path: IZ3LSV<IK2XDE<F8KFY<ON0AR<GB7FCR
Sent: 090831/1023Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:31326 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:A11063G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : PACKET@WW
Ray, VK2TV wrote:-
Quoting someone else who wrote:
> >Are the few remaining BBS SysOps really running their BBS to carry this
> >rubbish?
I don't know whether that was a G or VK - it doesn't matter.
Ray:-
> I run mine to carry any legal traffic that is uploaded or forwarded to
> it.
Exactly as it should be, though "legal" can be a grey area. EG: At
what point does robust banter (legal) become defamation (illegal).
When it's lies or defamatory, I'd say.
Most users don't understand, and don't need to understand complex
regulations to stay on the right side of the law - all they have
to do is to conform to social norms.
But for anyone interested in this complex topic, in the UK or VK, these
notes may be of interest. They're for info - not to start an argument.
All I need to concern myself with is my own output, and to make sure
it's well within the law.
I hope we can keep this topic on a sensible level.
Yes, it's dull, rambling and boring.
But the VK regs to which I'll refer amount to some 500 pages, of which VKs
only see 43 pages, (only one of which is relevant to message content).
I'll give the links to the regs and treaties for anyone as sad or bookish
as me, who might wish to read them.
If people don't want to read this, then don't.
But please don't trivialise this important topic.
I'm not expressing opinions, I'm explaining the law. Not as some think it
is, or might wish it to be. Not folklore - the law of the land. The land
down under, that is. (I don't need to live there to understand its laws).
I've underpinned this by a response to paper to the Federal Attorney
General of Australia, which I have on record. And before anyone says
(as one did) "the only AG he has to concern himself with is the one
in his state", that uninformed view isn't correct.
The VK amateur radio regs are a federal matter.
The Federal Attorney General's Office drafts the terms of the Licence
(and Radiocommunications Act) which the ACA is required to administer
and enforce.
I thought VKs would know that.
Sometimes users let sysops down by posting bulls which aren't legal,
contravening their licence, the libel laws, and if uploaded by internet,
the terms of their ISP.
And they know this when they do it.
It ought not to be for sysops to second-guess whether info in a
bull is truthful - they may not know. They take users on trust.
VK - what's "legal" and what's not?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It may surprise Australians that they have few rights enshrined in law.
Such rights as they do have stem only from five UN Conventions.
Even though Australia has signed all five international treaties that
make up the International Bill of Human Rights, none of these treaties
are legally binding in Australia.
Nor is there is a Bill of Rights in the Australian Constitution.
This means that unlike other developed countries, the fundamental rights
and freedoms of everyone living in Australia are not protected by the law.
I wonder if many Australians realise that?
I'll explain that separately, as it goes far beyond amateur radio.
But in short, when I put a paper to the VK Attorney General in 2006
asking his views on a range of issues, I asked whether Australia's
National Framework for Human Rights had any legal standing.
His answers were interesting.
Quote:
"It [the National Framework] is not in itself a legally binding
document...it sets out the treaties to which Australia is a party,
as well as policies to advance and promote human rights..."
End quote.
I'd cited the Framework and National Action Plan (excellent far-sighted
documents, as is to be expected from HREOC - the international benchmark
for human rights and equal opportunities) but suspected it might not have
the force of law behind it. It doesn't.
So no - Australians don't have many legal rights.
I'm sure this will be on Kevin Rudd's agenda.
Such rights as Australians do have on Freedom of Expression, on or off
packet, are not underpinned by law. They're part of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, [ICCPR] protected by law in the
UK, US, Canada etc, but not in Australia.
Think about it:
John Howard got Oz drawn into an illegal war in Iraq, to help deliver
rights to Iraqis that Australians don't even have, through the bomb
bays of US planes and down the barrels of tank guns.
How bizarre.
What VKs can say [though as I've stressed, not underpinned by Australia's
domestic law] derives only from the ICCPR, which the licence makes no
reference to, or cites any text from.
It didn't say this in the UK licence either, so having been on the
receiving end of bothersome inept RA/Ofcom beaurocrats, I put a paper
to Ofcom in 2005 to say that as written, the UK licence terms were
barely legal.
After much corrspondence, Ofcom conceded this, and incorporated the
wording in the licence in 2006. ["Seek, receive and impart information and
ideas of all kinds"].
Quote:
Article 19:
1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right
shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of
all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print,
in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.
3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article
carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be
subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are
provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others;
(b) For the protection of national security or of public
order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.
End quote.
Source: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm
In the next bull I'll mention the relevant aspects of VK amateur Radio
Regs, and relevant parts of the 400+ page 1992 Radiocommunications Act,
with which amateurs must comply, but don't get a copy of.
No wonder some get it wrong.
Best wishes
David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 09:58 on 2009-Aug-31
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