Somebody Think of the Children
Censorship News Bites

Australian Classification Board website hacked

The website of the Australian Classification Board was hacked this evening. The identity of the individual or group responsible is unknown. At 8:19PM AEST the front page reads: Welcome to the Classification Website This site contains information about the boards that have the right to CONTROL YOUR FREEDOMZ. The Classification Board has the right to...

Morning wrap up: Mark Newton’s opinion piece

Check out Mark Newton’s article The Perplexing Internet Debate. In it Mark writes: In the past, politicians have been able to monopolise the debate by having disproportionate access to media. Not so for Mr Conroy, who has been so thoroughly discredited by the controversy that his press office has refused to comment to media outlets...

Mandatory filtering gets international coverage

Welcome readers of The Inquirer. You probably came here after clicking that strange picture of a large red rock on the side of The Inquirer’s website and are now wondering what on earth is going on? To put it simply, the Australian Government intends to censor Internet access down under. They are doing this despite...

Youth, tech and porn: ABC2 13th October

Tonight’s Hack Half Hour on ABC2 looks at how technology (aka the Internet) has changed the way we use and access pornography. Tonight we hear from connoisseurs of porn, and people who hate it. We’ll meet people who film their own, and others who’ve had to seek counselling because of it. We follow this debate...

PG porn at News.com.au

At around 3PM today this video was embedded in a News.com.au article called PG porn video made by Gilmore Girls star — a story about a humorous video made for people who like porn but are offended by sex. Above the video was a warning that it contained adult themes. After watching though, I didn’t...

Anti-gay bumper sticker: Free speech, hate speech?

The ugly side of free speech: This sticker was stuck on a car driven by Ron Owen, a gun lobbyist and publisher of ‘pro-militia’ magazine Lock Stock & Barrel. Understandably, lesbians from Gympie weren’t too pleased when they saw it so they took Owen to Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination Tribunal. The Tribunal found Owen guilty of inciting...

Are our censors deluded?

I just made my first post on NoCensorshipAus (a new collaborative blog) about News Ltd’s puff piece on Australian Classification Board member Alexandra Greene. Greene told the paper that she doesn’t consider her role at the ACB to be that of a censor, she merely informs people about what they are about to watch and...

Collaborative blog about censorship launched

NoCensorshipAus is a new collaborative blog open to anyone wanting to express themselves on matters of censorship. Worth keeping an eye on. Also, remember to check out the NoCensorshipAus YouTube Channel (there’s a condensed version of Salo and Baise-Moi, historical extracts from “The Book that Shook the World”, the Q&A games debate and lots more)....

Upcoming TV shows about censorship

A quick list of upcoming TV shows about censorship: Insight: The Naked Eye SBS 7:30PM Tuesday, 24 June, 2008 Jenny Brockie brings the Bill Henson debate to our TV screens. Guests include The Incredible Hetty, Tony Bond from the Art Gallery of NSW, Tamara Winkoff from NAVA, Connie Petrill, and model, Zoe Bailey. Jennifer Byrne...

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...

Officer please: Stephanie Rice FaceBook shots too hot for Swimming Australia

Photos on swimmer Stephanie Rice’s FaceBook profile have been deemed too raunchy for Swimming Australia. As a result, they’ve ordered all swimmers to make their Facebook pages private so only friends can view them. Talk about making a big deal out of nothing. Steph’s photos are extremely tame and are nothing more than shots of...

No gag order for Aussie Olympians

The Australian Olympic Committee has confirmed Australian athletes competing in Beijing will be entitled to speak on any issue, including human rights. However, all athletes will be required to sign an agreement asking that they only comment to the media about their own events, prospects and performances. This agreement has been in place for ‘several’...