ACMA

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Preliminary research commissioned by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) raises alarm bells for policymakers and regulators. Findings point to widespread consumer harm and deep mistrust in the telecommunications industry. The polling, conducted as part of the first tranche of ACCAN’s consumer sentiment research, highlights troubling experiences of telco behaviour and unmet expectations. “Given…

Read More Research highlights consumer distrust in broken telco system

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Australia’s peak communications consumer body, ACCAN, has today called for the weak and ineffective industry-drafted Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code to be scrapped in favour of robust and enforceable industry standards that better protect Australian consumers. Communications are an essential service – yet the rules which exist to protect communications consumers are failing in their…

Read More Time to scrap ‘consumer protection’ rules that don’t protect consumers

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The Digital Platform Regulators Forum (DP-REG) has published a working paper on multimodal foundation models (MFMs) used in generative artificial intelligence (AI). The latest working paper “Examination of technology – Multimodal Foundation Models” examines MFMs – a type of generative AI that can process and output multiple data types, such as image, audio or video…

Read More Regulators Release Working Paper on an AI Generative Model

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The ACCC response to the latest draft of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code validates long-held consumer concerns about the suitability of self-regulation to protect telecommunications consumers. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) welcomes and supports the comments of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on the May 20 draft of the TCP…

Read More Advocates Argue for Direct Regulation of Communication as an Essential Service

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The ACMA has today released a Statement of Expectations on the use of consumer consent to provide guidance to businesses that undertake email, SMS, and telephone marketing. The Statement sets out steps for businesses to ensure they have consumer consent before conducting telemarketing and e-marketing. It is an outcome-focused guide to better practice – designed to…

Read More Consent expectations for businesses using direct marketing

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The industry codes will start with banks, telcos, social media, digital messaging and search advertising services, and will require these groups to have measures in place to prevent, detect, disrupt, respond and report scams.

This will be complemented by strong regulator enforcement action, penalties for non?compliance, and victim compensation where wrongdoing occurs.

Read More Albanese Government to Introduce Mandatory Anti-Scam Industry Codes

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Below is the Centre for Media Transition’s website post on The Enforcement of Telecommunications Consumer Protections and the accompanying media release on the report by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN). The website posts were released on 3/04/2024 and are available here (https://www.uts.edu.au/research/centre-media-transition/projects-and-research/enforcement-telecommunications-consumer-protections) and here (https://accan.org.au/media-centre/media-releases/2288-uts-enforcement-report). As noted by both the report and ACCAN,…

Read More 13 Years of ACMA Telecommunications Enforcement

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Funded in the 2023 Budget, the Government’s Registry works by creating a controlled list of numbers of registered brand names, and preventing text messages from being sent using registered brand names unless the originating number matches the approved phone number on the Registry.
Feedback from consumers, industry, charities and government services will inform Government decision-making about next steps, including funding models for the finalised scheme.

Read More Stopping SMS Scammers Posing as Legitimate Institutions

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These rules have been developed by the ACMA in response to a direction from the Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP, to make an enforceable industry standard that will improve safeguards for telco customers experiencing financial difficulties.

The new Telecommunications (Financial Hardship) Industry Standard 2024 requires telcos to establish and promote clearly accessible written financial hardship policies. Telcos must do more to proactively identify customers experiencing financial hardship and prioritise keeping them connected to services.

Read More New Telco Industry Standard to Address “range of financial gaps”