Under current Australian legislation, people of all ages are being treated unfairly by an outdated video game classification system. Unlike movies which can be rated R18+, video games can only be rated as high as MA15+. Most of the problem can be laid at the feet of South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson who is even blocking debate on the subject.
To help with the campaign for a R18+ rating, my friend Tim has created an advocacy site to keep to up with the latest news on the issue and help educate people on the issue. The site is: www.r18games.com.au, pass it on.
Now that is a completely separate issue from the Australian Government’s proposed legislation to censor the internet. The exact details are still being kept under wraps, which I believe would be illegal in the U.S. But it is basically yet another example of a government spending millions of tax payer dollars, 44 million budgeted so far, to turn Australia into a nanny state.
Internet providers and the government’s own test have already been proven to not do a very good job of stopping people from accessing illegal material and will slow Australia’s already abysmal internet speeds by an additional average of 30 percent!
The latest spat being their attempt to censor critiques of the system.
A good site to keep follow to keep up with what’s going on with that front and information about what you can do to stop it is: www.nocleanfeed.com/
Another site that mocks the whole thing with a parody type send up is: www.netalarmed.com/. However I think the whole issue of how big, tough Australia holds up against violent video games was summed up best by GU Comics.
2 comments:
I think the term 'nanny state' does not really convey the real danger that this legislation poses.
Australia has no Free Speech laws, which means that religious views, political views or other things which are considered Protected Speech in the US are not protected in Australia. This means that there is nothing to prevent authorities using the filter to stifle this type of information.
The child pornography line will be used to push the legislation through, and then we will be firmly on the way to living in a big brother state, or something worse.
In the article I read, included among the "illegal material" were websites on anorexia and euthanasia.
It's not about protecting the children, it's about controlling the people.
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