TimeLine For Singapore
TimeLine for Worldwide
§ 1996:
· Victoria, WA and NT Internet censorship laws commenced (1 Jan 96)
· USA Communication Decency Act (CDA) enacted, US Court restraining order prevented its enforcement (Feb 96)
· USA Court ruled CDA unconstitutional (Jun 96)
· UK Government issued R3 Safety-Net action plan developed by UK ISP trade associations and agreed by Government involving industry establishment of complaints hotline and related take-down procedures for illegal Internet content, primarily child pornography (Sep 96)
· European Commission issued a Communication on illegal and harmful content on the Internet advocating the use of filtering software and rating systems, and an encouragement to self-regulation of access-providers. (Oct 96)
§ 1997:
· USA Supreme Court struck down the CDA (Jun 97)
· NZ Parliament rejected a Bill intended to censor Internet content unsuitable for minors (Jul 97).
§ 1998:
· UK Human Rights Bill enacted implementing the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
· USA Child Online Protection Act (COPA) enacted (Oct 98). US Court restraining order prevented its enforcement (Nov 98).
§ 1999:
· Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced it would not regulate the Internet (17 May 99).
· Australian Commonwealth Parliament passed Internet censorship Bill (26 May & 30 Jun 99)
· Australian State and Territory Censorship Ministers issued draft Internet censorship legislation for comment (Aug 99).
· NZ Court of Appeal overturned a classification of (offline) ‘objectionable’ material on grounds that the Classification Board had failed to demonstrate the classification was consistent with the NZ Bill of Rights (Dec 99)
§ 2000:
· Australian Commonwealth Internet censorship legislation commenced (1 Jan 2000)
· US Court of Appeals upheld injunction restraining enforcement of US Child Online Protection Act (COPA). (Jun 2000)
· UK censorship of sexually explicit material became less restrictive following an appeal case (Jul 2000).
· Australian censorship of sexually explicit material became more restrictive following a government decision to ban depictions of various types of legal activity between adults. (Sep 2000)
· UK Courts became able to test the compatibility of UK law with the European Convention on Human Rights (commencement of relevant provisions of the UK Human Rights Bill 1998). (Oct 2000)
· South Australian State Government tabled an Internet censorship Bill (Nov 2000)
· UK Government issued Communications White Paper indicating no intent to enact Internet censorship legislation and stating policy of supporting means of enabling Internet users to control their own and their children’s access, “rather than third party regulation”. (Dec 2000)
§ 2001:
· NSW State Government tabled an Internet censorship Bill (Nov 2001)
