South Australian Government Censors Internet Electoral Debate (Shit is Going Down) - Polidicks

[quote] [LIST] [*] Anonymous comments banned for SA election [*] Michael Atkinson says speech still free [*] Media says censorship is 'draconian' [/LIST] [B] SOUTH Australia has become one of the few states in the world to censor the internet. [/B] The new law, which came into force on January 6, requires anyone making an online comment about next month's state election to publish their real name and postcode. The law will affect anyone posting a comment on an election story on [I]The Advertiser[/I]'s [URL="http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26665381-5006301,00.html"]AdelaideNow[/URL] website, as well as other Australian news sites. It could also apply to election comment made on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The law, which was pushed through last year as part of a raft of amendments to the Electoral Act and supported by the Liberal Party, also requires media organisations to keep a person's real name and full address on file for six months, and they face fines of $5000 if they do not hand over this information to the Electoral Commissioner. [B]'Still free speech'[/B] Attorney-General Michael Atkinson denied that the new law was an attack on free speech. "The AdelaideNow website is not just a sewer of criminal defamation, it is a sewer of identity theft and fraud," Mr Atkinson said. "There is no impinging on freedom of speech, people are free to say what they wish as themselves, not as somebody else." Mr Atkinson also said he expected [I]The Advertiser[/I] to target him for sponsoring the law. "I am also certain that Advertiser Newspapers and News Limited will punish me personally, viciously for being the attorney-general responsible for this law," he said. "You will publish false stories about me, invent things about me to punish me." [I]The Advertiser's [/I]editor, Melvin Mansell, said: "Clearly this is censorship being implemented by a government facing an election. "The effect of that is that many South Australians are going to be robbed of their right of freedom of speech during this election campaign. "The sad part is that this widespread suppression is supported by the Opposition. "Neither of these parties are representing the people for whom they have been elected to govern." The Right to Know Coalition, made up of Australia's major media outlets including News Limited, publisher of [I]The Advertiser[/I] and parent company of news.com.au, has called the new laws "draconian". "This is one of the most troubling erosions of the right to free speech in Australia for many years," Right to Know spokeswoman Creina Chapman said. Ms Chapman also pointed out that newspaper blogs such as AdelaideNow were moderated and publishers and broadcasters took responsibility for the material they published. [B]Liberal doubts[/B] Opposition justice spokeswoman Vickie Chapman said yesterday while the Liberal Party had supported the amendment to the Electoral Act, she believed it would be too broad to implement if it included Facebook and Twitter. Ms Chapman said Mr Atkinson should introduce a regulation to limit its scope. "It is clearly not the intention of what we understood that to be," she said. The SA law - which could also apply to talkback radio - differs from federal legislation, which preserves the right of internet users to blog under a pseudonym. The law will apply as soon as the writs for the March 20 election are issued. The writs for the election can be issued any time between now and 25 days before the election. The law will then lapse at 6pm on polling day. Mr Atkinson said there was no intention to broaden the law to take it beyond the period of elections.[/quote][URL="http://www.news.com.au/technology/south-australian-state-government-gags-internet-debate/story-e6frfro0-1225825750956"]SOURCE[/URL] Atkinson has a horrible, horrible persecution complex, and yet he keeps believing he doesn't deserve all the shit he gets.

:wtc: Fuck Australia.

Fuck you Mr. Atkinson. Fuck you.

Australia what the fuck man.

Sweet. Australia, England and the U.S. governments are all united in the fight against personal freedoms. :dance: It's okay, though. You get used to it after a while and before long you will have forgotten what was taken away.

Fucking Australians censoring my internet!

[QUOTE=DiscoPony;19986505]Sweet. Australia, England and the U.S. governments are all united in the fight against personal freedoms. :dance: It's okay, though. You get used to it after a while and before long you will have forgotten what it was like to have freedom.[/QUOTE] Our founding fathers are crying in their graves at the hell we've created with ourselves.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;19986520]Our founding fathers are crying in their graves at the hell we've created with ourselves.[/QUOTE] Sweet, sweet tears of freedom. Tastes like hippy. :clint:

Looks like you Australia[i]ren't[/i] going to the internet today.

Anon's not gonna be happy about this... I think even the common person on the street is scratching their head saying, "Something's not right here..."

[QUOTE=Samiam22;19986545]Looks like you Australia[I]ren't[/I] going to the internet today.[/QUOTE] good pun needs work though

I'd say this sucks but then my government would find me and lock me up.

South Australia, meet China. I'll leave you two alone now.

FUCK AUSTRALIA! Ryan Duns 4526 Melborne Estate South Australia

Wow. I genuinely thought he was a well-meaning man going at this in the wrong way. Fuck Atkinson.

hangon, this just seems like they're banning anonymous comments on the official website

[b] Wait.[/b]. I'm an American, those pussy aussie laws don't apply to me. Link me to this site and I'll spam the shit out of it with Lolwutdude? as my username.

[QUOTE=lolwutdude;19989598][B] Wait.[/B]. I'm an American, those pussy aussie laws don't apply to me. Link me to this site and I'll spam the shit out of it with Lolwutdude? as my username.[/QUOTE] Yes, because spamming a site like a dimwitted moron instead of providing a well-written and coherent counter-argument always works. :madmax:

[QUOTE=Flitchaye;19989644]Yes, because spamming a site like a dimwitted moron instead of providing a well-written and coherent counter-argument always works. :madmax:[/QUOTE] hey. i was against that type of tactic because I believed Atkinson was a well-meaning tyrant going at things wrong. now its obvious

This Atkinson guy needs to be removed from office immediately. Shouldn't you Australians be blowing shit up in the streets? Censoring an electoral debate is a pretty fucking big deal.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;19989659]This Atkinson guy needs to be removed from office immediately. Shouldn't you Australians be blowing shit up in the streets? Censoring an electoral debate is a pretty fucking big deal.[/QUOTE] blowing shit up with what? everythings banned here :v:

[QUOTE=JLea;19989710]blowing shit up with what? everythings banned here :v:[/QUOTE] Do you got vodka and some rags?

I'd like to say to all the people complaining about australia, it's not Australia that's the problem, it's our shit government. This is complete bullshit. The worse thing is, the current government is better than the other major political party, the leader of that one is a complete fuckwit. So we don't have much of a choice.

[QUOTE=Keeshond dog;19989776]I'd like to say to all the people complaining about australia, it's not Australia that's the problem, it's our shit government. This is complete bullshit. The worse thing is, the current government is better than the other major political party, the leader of that one is a complete fuckwit. So we don't have much of a choice.[/QUOTE] the country was always good with a liberal federal government, and a labour state govt.

My plans for the future were to move to Australia, but I now doubt that I will, with all the crap going on with the government. Which is ironic, since my reason to move out of Finland is the Finnish government.

[QUOTE=JLea;19989789]the country was always good with a liberal federal government, and a labour state govt.[/QUOTE] Do you mean Liberal, as in individualist rights? Or do you mean the new Liberal people have forgotten the definition of and is really a Conservative?

This is why I vote independant

Shit is going to go down.

[QUOTE=Fables;19989722]Do you got vodka and some rags?[/QUOTE] Rags are banned

It was only a matter of time before they used the censorship powers they gave themselves to oppress their opposition.