Posts Tagged ‘Australia’
July 6th, 2011
Australian service providers, including Telstra and Optus, will
voluntarily block websites deemed by the government as showing and disseminating child pornography. Those who attempt to access the blacklisted sites will be redirected to the site of the International Criminal Police Organisation. Wikileaks revealed that on the blacklist are some gay and straight porn sites, fringe religious groups, and Wikipedia sites.
October 12th, 2010
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has renewed her support for a controversial new web filter, saying the measure was driven by a “
moral question“. The proposed filter will block access to material such as rape, drug use, bestiality and child abuse. Internet giants
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have criticised the plans, saying they set a worrying precedent for further censorship. There are also
fears that the restrictions could be applied to legitimate information on issues such as euthanasia, abortion and drug addiction, as well as media reporting on criminal activity.
September 13th, 2010
The government has opted to
outlaw a pro-euthanasia advert on the grounds that it promotes suicide. The advert shows an actor speaking of suffering and disease, asking the government to listen to those who want to practice assisted suicide. It has been more than ten years since a pro-euthanasia advert was broadcast in Australia.
August 17th, 2010
Australia’s ruling Labor party has called for
smartphone applications and games to face the national censor. A loophole in the Classification Act (1995) means that games distributed or playable on mobile phones, including the Apple iPhone, are not submitted to the national
Classification Board, which classifies films and computer games before they are released to the public.
August 6th, 2010
The
Indonesian government has placed a ban on the screening of the Australian feature film Balibo due to its sensitive issues.
The film tells the story of 5 Australian based journalists who were killed in the town of Balibo in Timor Leste in 1975. The Film Censorship Board in Indonesia argues that it could ‘reopen old wounds’ about East Timor. A screening of Balibo was orginally scheduled at the 11th Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest) but was cancelled after the festival committee received notification of the ban on Tuesday.
August 2nd, 2010
Canberra’s idea of an internet filter that has proved unpopular with its citizens. Quentin McDermott reports
(more…)
April 26th, 2010
Stephen Conroy has
come under fire for not revealing information about his recent discussions with the US State Department over Australia’s controversial mandatory ISP filtering plan.
US Ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich recently criticised Conroy’s plans on an Australian news programme, stating that
“the internet needs to be free”. In a
letter to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, Liberal senator Sue Boyce criticises Conroy’s refusal to publicise any information, claiming that ”[i]t is a deplorable situation when Australians have to rely upon the frankness of a foreign diplomat to provide information about bilateral discussions on a very important matter because relevant Australian ministers either dissemble or just refuse to say anything.”
April 9th, 2010
A draft decree by the Fiji’s military-backed regime calls for
tighter control of the media and increased press censorship. The proposals, announced on Wednesday, would require daily monitoring of all news stories, as well as new restrictions on cross-media ownership. This would directly affect Fiji Times, one of the nation’s oldest and largest newspapers which is owned by the Australian company News Limited. Breaches of content regulation could result in media organisations, publishers and journalists being fined and imprisoned for up to five years.
