ASIC attempts to regulate IRC

Stock tips delivered online have always been something of a sore point with financial regulators such as the American Securities and Exchange Commission and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Many attempts have been made to stop

Stock tips delivered online have always been something of a sore point with financial regulators such as the American Securities and Exchange Commission and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Many attempts have been made to stop the practice of unaccredited individuals giving stock tips online, but until now they have all been limited to bulletin boards and HTML based forums.

Now, our very own Australian Securities and Investments Commission has taken the fight one step further. Displaying the kind of ignorant arrogance normally associated with the American judicial system, ASIC has obtained a Federal Court order banning Brisbane man Alan Miller from 'posting any false and misleading information on his website or in Internet Relay Chat channels' without holding the appropriate liscenses.

Furthermore, Mr Miller has been restricted in the Meta Tags he is allowed to use on his website. Mr Miller has been forbidden from using the terms 'stock market advice', 'trading advice', Stock tips', 'online advice', and 'ASX'.

While the Meta Tag order may be easily enforced (at least on Mr Millers current site, Stocktracker), the IRC order is not. The court in question obviously held little real grasp of how the IRC protocol works and has attempted to regulate it as if it were a single entity. Quite aside from the fact that this order will be nigh on impossible to enforce within Australia, Mr Miller could simply join a non-Australian based IRC network and continue giving his 'tips' there.

We realise that the government must at least make a token attempt to protect consumers, but in cases such as these the situation is better left alone. If someone is so mentally deficient that they will place thousands of dollars at risk based on a tip received on IRC, they don't deserve to have money in the first place.