Media reaction to filtering report
It’s a shame that some major news organisations were happy to run a rehash of Senator Conroy’s can-do-no-wrong press release about the Tassie filtering trial report. Thankfully, not all media was so accepting. In Crikey, Stilgherrian points out that even though the report found ‘most’ filters achieved over a 92% success rate in blocking sites,...
Conroy issues report on filtering trial
Just in: Senator Conroy has released a report on the Tasmanian filtering trial. Download the report as a PDF here. Update 29/07/08 2PM: I’ll post tonight about some of the problem findings in the report that aren’t making mainstream media.
Journos express anger at China’s net censorship
International news organisations in China preparing for the Olympic Games have gotten their first taste of net censorship. Word coming out is that journalists are finding news websites censored and Internet speeds up to 10X slower than those at the Sydney Olympics (that must be slow). SMH writes: ‘Organisers had repeatedly claimed that internet would...
Top 5 Big Brother Australia controversies
Big Brother is over. Let us now rejoice in the outrage it stirred up over the years. 5. Little people can be porn stars If porn scandals are ratings winners, imagine the magnitude of a porn scandal involving a midget? Too bad for the media though — their porn scandal turned out to be a...
Californication too sexy for TV
The ACMA has ruled Channel Ten breached the TV Code when it aired a sexy episode of Californication in October 2007. Threesomes, oral sex, rear-entry penetration, and female ejaculation proved too much for two viewers, who complained to 10 and later the ACMA. ACMA found that sexual activity depicted in a scene in the program...
Watch on Censorship criticises Salo decision
Turns out that seven members of a thirteen member classification panel voted no to releasing that awful ‘sadistic sex movie’ Salo. Like all of us, Margaret Pomeranz from Watch on Censorship isn’t impressed. Here’s what she had to say in today’s Brissy Times: “Salo is a film by a significant filmmaker but there are some...
Salo stays banned
Between 1993 and 1998, Salo was classified R18+ in Australia. You could see it in select cinemas. Before that it had been banned since 1976, and in 1998 the QLD Attorney General saw to it that be banned once again. Fast forward 10 years and nothing has changed. Shock’s submission to have the upcoming Criterion...
Chinese net censorship campaign, Game ban petition
Amnesty International Australia is launching a social media campaign aimed at getting Australian bloggers to unite and support their Chinese counterparts who have been banned or imprisoned by the Chinese government for expressing their right to freedom of speech online. Sophie Peer from Amnesty says a lot of Australian’s are concerned that Chinese style Internet...
ACMA approves Content Services Code to ‘protect children’
The ACMA has approved the Internet Industry Association’s new Content Services Code. It was required because of changes made to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 last year. The biggest of those changes was probably the new prohibition on MA15+ content delivered via Internet or a mobile services, unless it was subject to appropriate access restrictions....
Michael Atkinson responds: R18+ games, bad parents and protecting children
South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson is what most people consider a dickhead (and that’s by folks who vote for him). Gamers and anyone opposed to censorship aren’t so kind. They know he’s been blocking an R18+ classification for video games for years. Why? Atkinson swears blue children will be harmed by the introduction of an...
