Somebody Think of the Children
Author Archive

Fielding beats Ludlam to a seat on Cyber-Safety Committee

Update 17 March 2010: Here’s some interesting news. Ludlam has now won the seat, previously reported as being awarded to Senator Fielding. Senator Fielding – 35 votes, Senator Ludlam – 37 votes. Was this a revote? Family First Senator Steve Fielding has won a seat reserved for minor party and independent senators on the Joint...

Classification Board squirms over vagina censorship in this Hungry Beast interview

The ABC’s Hungry Beast recently conducted an extensive interview with the Australian Classification Board’s Greg Scott about the censorship of the female anatomy, in particular the vagina. It’s part of a story on Labiaplasty. I suggest you watch it below and read the complete transcript here (as well as check out interviews with a doctor...

Classifiers refuse to comment on breast size specifics: Look young and you’re banned

The Australian Classification Board (ACB) has confirmed to Somebody Think Of The Children that a person’s overall appearance is used by the Board to determine whether someone appears to look under the age of 18 in a film or publication. A spokesperson for the Board said the overall appearance of persons in publications in conjunction...

Classification Board responds to small breasts ban

Important Update, 01/02/10: The Classification Board has confirmed that a person’s appearance is used when they determine the apparent age of a model. The ACB’s Director refused to comment on specifics about breast size. Read more. The Australian Classification Board (ACB) has responded to accusations by The Australian Sex Party that material with depictions of...

Australia bans small breasts

Important Update, 01/02/10: The Classification Board has confirmed that a person’s appearance is used when determining the apparent age of a model. The ACB’s Director refused to comment on specifics about breast size. Read more. The Australian Sex Party (ASP) said Wednesday that the Australian Classification Board (ACB) is now banning depictions of small-breasted women...

Great Australian Internet Blackout: Early numbers are in

As many of you know, hundreds of websites turned black this Australia Day (and many will remain so for the rest of the week) to protest the Government’s plan to censor the Internet. It might not have been as popular as beach BBQs or beer and the cricket, but initial numbers are a good sign...
Australia’s 20 Worst Cases of Censorship and Moral Panic in 2009

Australia’s 20 Worst Cases of Censorship and Moral Panic in 2009

20. Australia Post removes Lolita and other Penguin Classics from their shelves. PostShop outlets pull Popular Penguin titles such as Lolita, The History of Sexuality and The Delta of Venus from their shelves after customer complaints. Why? A spokesperson said the titles were inappropriate for a mainstream shop like Australia Post. I guess libraries and Dymocks...

Inadvertently exposed: the ALP’s obsession with universal censorship

by Jon Seymour When you are a Government of a Western nation about to introduce a mandatory censorship regime unlike anything in the else in the Western world it is a good idea to try to play up comparisons with social democracies like Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland and our Commonwealth cousins the UK and...

National net censorship protests: January 30 2010

Protests against mandatory Internet censorship will be held Australia wide on Saturday January 30, 2010. A Facebook page for the event has been set up, with over 1700 people already confirmed as attending. Specific protest locations are still to be announced, but one is planned for each capital city. I’ll update this page when I...

Net Censorship: Mark Newton talks to Sky News

Sky News Business channel speaks to network engineer Mark Newton about mandatory Internet censorship. Listen here. Sky is also running a poll to find out whether you support the Government’s policy of ISP level Internet filtering.

Australian Christian Lobby urges supporters to thank Conroy for ‘protecting kids’

Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, Jim Wallace, has urged his members to write to Senator Conroy and thank him for ‘protecting kids’ with the Government’s Internet filtering plan. Wallace says members of the sex trade and civil libertarians are violently opposed to the plan and it’s important Senator Conroy hears from them. Of...

Report on live ISP filtering trial released

Senator Conroy has released the long awaited report on the ISP filtering live pilot. Read it here. Minister’s Press Release EFA’s Response List of media stories More to come.