Facebook Organised Protests

Facebook events are being organised to protest against this in Australian Capitals

Facebook's Brisbane Event >

Finland

Finland obligates ISPs to block a list of sites. A review of the sites reveals that the list is inaccurate.

SlashDot story >
Electronic Frontiers Finland >

Censorship

We are sitting here watching Crocodile Dundee. It's about 9pm. We get to the bar scene when Mick Dundee feels the cross dresser up after his new taxi driver friend tells him the girl he's been chatting up is a man.

We move straight to the scene with the prostitutes. They say "Well we might have to give you one for free."

5 minutes later they're at a party and Mick grabs an older woman on the crotch. Everyone looks suitably shocked. The older woman says she'll have to go to Australia.

Same party he ruins a batch of cocaine. The scene closes with Sue telling Mick what he'd done.

These scenes were hacked out of the movie.

WTF!?!

Guess what was left in. All of the violence with Mick bashing people who slight him and an attempted armed robbery foiled by a bigger knife. Killing animals indiscriminately. The politically incorrect remarks. Everything else was OK just as long as it wasn't sexual.

Now, to my point. Once the prudes start censoring they can't stop. They will never be satisfied until everything is so straight laced that it's not worth watching.
These were sexual reference. Very modest. Not explicit at all. They were contextual. It was 9pm. If children are young enough to be "upset" by these references they would probably be in bed.

Parents shouldn't be so frightened of the questions that issues like this bring up. If the kids understand these references and ask questions parents should not see this as an embracing thing they should see it as an opportunity to educate their children.

It is normal for young people to be curious and sexual knowledge is empowering.

Dawkins

I'm reading "The Selfish Gene" at the moment. Dawkins (I think it was in this book - I might be confused) outlines the idea that our evolved brains can't differentiate between things presented by the news and things that are really happening to people in our immediate lives. We evoled to live in a world where we have contact with a few hundred people in the whole of our lives. If one of those few hundred people see a tiger walking about we need to be on tiger watch so that our kids don't get killed and eaten.

When we watch the news we are presented with disasters that have happened to someone somewhere in the world so we think that there is an immediate threat to us whereas there is very little real risk to us. I'm not saying that we shouldn't empathise with people outside of our immediate social network. I am saying that getting all worked up about it and carrying your tiger shooting riffle is an inappropriate reaction.

Climate Change??

There are murmerings about how we can't afford to change climate change now that we are in an economic crisis. Where will the money come from? I've got an idea. Stop wasting time and money on junk like this and set up an Australian owned industry that makes electric city cars. It will probably do just as much to protect children from internet predators.

Information Laundering

Until today I'd never heard the term 'Information Laundering'.

This article offers an explanation as to where the statistics come from and how they gain undeserved credibility as they make their way from one supposed expert to another. It covers statistics on the number of children effected, thne amounts of money involved, the number of images available and the number of sites available.

Lies! Damned lies and statistics.

Money would be better spent

Instead of wasting my tax money on this clean feed idea I think we would be better off funding police units that can make a real difference fighting child abuse.

GetUp makes the paper.

GetUp finally joined the fray yesterday.
SMH's article.

Another SMH Link

SMH Coverage

I don't want to be a fundamentalist christian thankyou very much. If Steve Feilding from Australia's "Family First" wants to fool himself into believing in Jesus Pty Limited that's fine. That doesn't mean I have to follow him into this folly and it doesn't give him the right to tell me what to do. He forgets the political process. Politicians are elected to represent me. That means listening to what I want and I have to say this in no uncertain terms: I don't want this!

I don't want public time and money wasted.
I don't want my internet ruined.
I don't want my country to be prudish.

This SMH article tells how the government is trying to suppress the extent to which this fool's idea will disrupt the function of the internet.

Fortunately the Liberals and the Greens are opposing the idea in the senate but Family First like the idea because the religious right want the bible to be the only X rated material allowed.


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