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Converging content: diverging law

While traditional media continues to be available and to be regulated according to its specific formats, new media poses challenges for that regulation. Much of the content traditionally found and regulated in its distinctive formats is now also found in new media, and particularly on the Internet. This convergence of content, coupled with the divergence of content regulation, is the focus of this paper. This paper looks to some of the challenges faced in attempts to regulate new media in line with traditional media. It illustrates some current ‘offline’ controls to give a picture of the variety of schemes applying to traditional media. It then sketches briefly the content control regime for the Internet in Australia which was introduced by the Online Services Amendment (1999), and discusses its results. The paper then notes both regulatory and practical inconsistencies in the control of Internet content and content in other media. Finally, the paper looks to the possibilities, and the difficulties, of establishing more uniform content regulation for a variety of different media forms.