Need For New Rules Has A Definite Ring

Dr Gerard Goggin (an Australian Research Council research fellow at the University of Queensland, who represents consumers on the Telephone Information Services Standards Council) has published an opinion pointing out that while the Australian government has finally gotten around to “clarifying its thinking” on digital television and radio the big media industries are now focussing on the mobile phone as a platform…which means the government hasn’t so much as missed the boat as arrived at the wrong dock.
Interestingly, it’s not just consumer protection and cross-media ownership laws that he brings up:

What can’t be so lightly wished away is regulation to ensure that social, cultural and consumer objectives are safeguarded. Regulators are needed not only to determine and safeguard universal access to important programs, services and content – and not only sporting events – but also to enact consumer protection that makes the rules of the market and responsibilities of the participants clear.

Many countries have ‘local content’ laws which require that media organizations (such as television stations and radio stations) have a minimum amount of content developed within the country. As well as helping develop a content industry within the country it helps prevent the local culture being swamped by the culture of wealthier nations.
So far I haven’t heard of these sort of laws applying to mobile content (I’m specifically thinking mobile TV here) but I suspect governments around the world will introduce them…although possibly too late.
Related stories:
China Crackdown On ‘Dirty’ Mobile Messages
UK Operators To Open Up Mobile Commerce
Ringtone Regulation

Comments have been disabled for this post