Australian Internet Censorship Bill
Ezekiel J. Krahlin
ax on any gay presence on the 'Net...because the majority has fallen
for the right wing fanatic's definition of pornography to include
words "homosexual", "lesbian" and even "gay". Now, my prophecy is
verified by the following article regarding an Internet cencorship
bill coming out of Australia; based on the phrase "content unsuitable
for children", and by the bill's claim that *police will be the final
arbiter on whether or not content is so unsuitable.
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South Australian Net Censorship Bill 2000
http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/sabill.html
Updated: 19 March 2001
An Internet censorship Bill was introduced into South Australian
Parliament on 8th November 2000 by the Attorney-General, Trevor
Griffin. Among other things, the Bill criminalises making available
content unsuitable for children online, even if the content is only
made available to adults. The Bill is listed for debate by the South
Australian Parliament during its sittings commencing 13 March 2001.
Overview and Background
An Internet censorship Bill was introduced into South Australian
Parliament on 8th November 2000 by the Attorney-General, Trevor
Griffin. Among other things, the Bill criminalises making available
content unsuitable for children online, even if the content is only
made available to adults. In other words, if you place "matter
unsuitable for minors" on a web page, even on a password protected
section of your site and give the password only to your adult friends,
you could be prosecuted under criminal law. The maximum penalty
planned is $10,000. The Bill covers content placed on the web
(including archived mailing lists), messages to newsgroups, etc.
"Matter unsuitable for minors" is content that is, or would be,
classified R by a majority (not unanimous) decision of the members of
the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) under
guidelines designed for classifying cinema films and videos. In
January 2001, South Australian police apparently tried to guess what
"would be" classified unsuitable for minors, but they were wrong.
According to the OFLC Annual Reports, the vast majority of R films are
so classified because they deal with social and political issues,
referred to in the Classification Guidelines as "adult themes". Adult
themes include: "verbal references to and depictions associated with
issues such as suicide, crime, corruption, marital problems, emotional
trauma, drug and alcohol dependency, death and serious illness,
racism, religious issues".
The SA Bill is expected to be debated by the South Australian
Parliament during its sittings commencing 13 March 2001.
Please contact SA Members of Parliament urgently and inform them about
the problems with this proposed law. You can help even if you live
outside South Australia, even in another country, by drawing SA
politicians' attention to the potential perceptions of South Australia
and damaging impact on the State's information economy strategy. For
info on what you can do, and politicians' contact details see EFA's
Action Alert of 3 March 2001.
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To read further details in this matter, go to:
http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/sabill.html
To read and participate in discussion of this matter, go to:
http://slashdot.org/yro/01/02/20/0250257.shtml
In light of our phony Prez. "W" and his right-wing team (Ashcroft, et
al), I have no doubt such an Internet anti-porno bill will pass in
this country (USA)...as well as sweep the globe. And if it doesn't
pass in Australia--or here, or anywhere else--the first time around,
rest assure that anti-gay bullies will persist in pushing this bill
until it is passed.
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Pennsylvania Dutch Gay Jesus Says:
"Throw the hetero over the fence some hay!"
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Lavender Velvet Revolution:
http://surf.to/gaybible