Boys in blue raid Perth’s Sunday Times
Police from the WA Major Fraud Squad have raided the offices of the The Sunday Times in Perth after a complaint was made by the Department of Premier and Cabinet. According to News Ltd, Sixteen officers executed a search warrant looking for documents connected with an article written by reporter Paul Lampathakis in February, about...
First they feared Elvis shaking his hips, now video games
Leslie Benzies, President of Rockstar North (developer of GTA) says that some of those who criticise his games are unnerved by progress. There is a big fear factor here. It’s the coming of the railways, it?s Elvis shaking his hips. It’s cars going over 25 miles per hour and making people explode, he said. The...
Ban GTA IV, astronauts: Family First NZ
Just quickly (as I’m attempting to move house this week): Family First NZ want GTA IV banned. What’s new. National Director of Family First NZ, Bob McCoskrie, says it’s completely unrealistic to believe that young people will not be influenced in their attitudes and behaviours by constant exposure to this type of material. Their press...
ACMA investigating Underbelly after Festival of Light complaint
The ACMA is investigating claims by extreme-right Christian group Festival of Light (FoL) that the Nine Network crime series Underbelly breached television classification guidelines on five different occasions. According to News Ltd, the FoL complaint suggests strong coarse language, drug use and nudity have all been aired at an inappropriate time. They want Underbelly reclassified...
Internet Industry Association releases draft code of practice
Just briefly, the Internet Industry Association of Australia (IIA) has released a draft code of practice for internet content providers for public comment. The deadline for responses is 15 May 2008. You can download the draft code here as a PDF. Details of how to respond here.
Princess Di and Kings Cross Police Targeting Fat Chicks t-shirts ‘tasteless’
Sydney based t-shirt designer, GoatBoy, is copping flack for selling shirts with slogans such as ‘She’s Dead – Get Over It’ and ‘Kings Cross Police Now Targeting Fat Chicks.’ Eva Cox from the Women’s Electoral Lobby told the media that the t-shirts are tasteless, crappy, crass and stupid and if people want to be seen...
Terror threat used as excuse to invade employee privacy
New laws allowing bosses to read your private emails without your consent could be passed as early as next year in order to protect Australia from terrorist attacks. I kid you not. Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland told the media he is aware of the potential invasions of privacy that the proposal could allow, but insisted...
Fielding forces filterted web access upon Senators
Family First’s Steve Fielding is at it again. According to Crikey, he’s convinced Senate President Alan Ferguson to filter every Senator’s Internet access at Parliament House (except the library). Why? To stop them looking at inappropriate content. Senator Lyn Allison says sites relating to reproductive health, the sexualisation of children, drug abuse and rehabilitation, the...
Treadmills want to kill you and your cat
Calling for stricter regulation of treadmills because children have been injured by them is like calling for stricter regulation of kitchen knives. They are both items intended for adults. Any injury a child sustains from them is likely because the parent wasn’t supervising them or didn’t take proper measures to prevent access to it. You...
