Australia   : loves and hates

 Monday, 21 January 2002

Only in Australia... or North Korea. Two years ago, at the dawn of the new millenium, the Australian government introduced an online censorship law. Why? To stop cyberporn flooding into Australian computers at a single keystroke. As Lauren Martin recalls:

"All you have to do is press P," sputtered a quaintly outraged Senator Paul Calvert at a memorable hearing last century, and millions of porn sites would come across your computer. "Free of charge!".

Now, the Australian Broadcasting Authority, the government agency charged with restricting the Internet, refuses to disclose exactly what it's censoring.

2:46:09 PM    comments ()  

Hmm. Burningbird's a sucker for Australian accents.

1:49:16 PM    comments ()