A proposed Australian internet law could force Google to block under-18s from using its Gmail service, an Australia-based company policy head said on Monday, underscoring an industry warning that the draft regulation risks overreach.
\n\nUnder the Digital Duty of Care legislation, which has already passed Australia’s House of Representatives but needs cross-party support to pass the Senate, internet companies must show they are taking steps to weed out harmful content or face a fine of up to A$109 million ($75.1 million).
\n\nOnline companies and free speech advocates say the law could give regulators too much discretion to decide what is harmful, placing pressure on platforms to take down content. Google’s warning reflects concern that the law could filter into everyday parts of the internet.
\n\nA section of the law requiring age checks if there was a risk of a child seeing pornography ”could require us to age assure and block access to everyday communication services like messaging, email and private file storage”, said Rachel Lord, head of policy in Australia and New Zealand for Google’s YouTube streaming website, at a Senate hearing.
\n\n”We are talking about potentially intrusive monitoring within private communications or file storage,” she added.
\n\nRepresentatives from Meta…
Original source: https://www.cnbctv18.com/technology/
