Australian Internet Censorship - Similar to China
 

http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/...93520&region=7

"The federal communications minister, Senator Helen Coonan, says the Government passed laws last week to put anyone posting racist material on the Internet in jail."

Damn glad I am part of the so called 'free world'. I wonder how many European nations also have these laws?

As long as animal sex is legal in The Netherlands I have no worries. :winkwink:

-edit-
That doesn't mean I have something to do with it.

well.. propagating racism ( or fasism ) materials is like child p*rn - it's simply a crime in many countries, so you go to jail for doing it

yes thats just like China

Enlighten me as to how 'racism' (a subjective term which is widely overused) is similar to 'child porn'. What a ridiculous comment. For one, the issue of speech is that 'racism' (again, who decides what is racist) should not be subjected to legal rammifications. What is the world coming to when a person can not even profess his anger at mass-immigration?

People are trigger happy when it comes to limiting speech that they don't like. Comparing 'racism' to child porn is ridiculous, and is similar to comparing communism (which is legal throughout Europe and Australia) to raping donkeys. Remember, freedom of speech is meant to exist to protect those UNpopular thoughts, not simply those popular ones. 60 years ago similar arguements where used to suppress other lines of thought.

When posting a word on a website gets you a jail sentence, than yes it is comparable to China and other Stalinist type states.

well you do have an election in a month to get rid of the current legislators.

I did not know racism was a problem in China :rainfro

And who should we replace them with? The ONE other alternative they ALLOW us? Their legislation is exactly the same, and I think they even wanted to bring in anti-porn laws too. I guess we could always go out and demonstrate right? But perhaps mum and dad won't like it when the mass-media displays their face on TV and claims they are KKK-Nazi-Fascist-Haters, or perhaps the media will just ignore it all together. Ah freedom...

well you're free to emigrate to new zealand :)

You are showing your ignorance. Not that this is what the thread is about, but 'racism' (at least with regards to todays use of the word) is a large issue in China, and has been for hundred's of years.

You think it is any different there? lol.

of course, born in australia lived 15 years in new zealand, it's much more liberal.

I could contradict you right now if you want? They have VERY similar laws over there with regards to censorship on and offline (except for the use of jailing being less common). I thought you where from Germany anyway? I was about to give a recent example we learnt at Univesity about the owner of an Australian based website being made to remove his website because it questioned the number of deaths of Jews in WWII. Quite ridiculous when you really think about it, people can't even question history (note that I neither care for or dispute what happened than).

No its not because in the free world you have to be proven guilty in a court of law. And if enough people dont like the law you have the means to change it.

In America you can go to jail for posting on the internet the source code to DeCSS as per the DMCA
So is that also like China ?

ok
I think racism is bad - making racism illegal is not the same as taking away peoples freedom. Just my opinion....
However how strict they will use it, is another issue.

Doesnt matter now what i think, fact is that if f.e you say the same things Hitler said 60 years ago, in many countries you can go to jail for it.

this is a lot more worrying in my eyes..
australian to be extradited

Ok show me where you can get jail time in New Zealand for racist speech.

Yes it's a thing called travelling. Just because I am located in Germany does not mean I've lived here my whole life :winkwink:

In my country, Denmark, we have a nazi organisation, and it is fully legal. They have their own radio broadcasting that was until recently financial sponsored by the government, i.e. tax payers money. After they lost their support, private (many anonymously) persons sent enough money to sponsor them.

Should I be glad?

Guess my grandpa died in 44' for nothing......

Actually I agree that some kind of material shouldn't exist

Weird. Usually all I hear in here is people saying "hey look this is an Al-Qaeda website. They should shut it down."

that's right.

it's the principle of self defending democracy.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBu...20030312a.html

Not EXACTLY what you are looking for, but it is the exact same thing really. They are trying at least to ban speech based on the premise that it is deemed 'hateful' - though in this example of similar laws to Australia. Hopefully you are right and it does not reach the stage it has here.

Very poor attitude to have really. It doesn't matter if we protest the war in Iraq for my opinion won't change anything anyway, right? People fought for freedoms in Europe in similar manners to the ways they fought for freedom in the US. If today they could see that even arguing the merits of very minimal immigration on the basis that it will preserve a nations culture and identity is considered illegal (as it is in Norway and other European nations) I am sure they would be sickened.

It is not the matter of whether you are saying what Hitler has said, for most speech deemed 'hateful' is far far from what Hitler proclaimed. Yet on the same level, a man responsible for as much bloodshed as Hitler, and an idealogy responsible for as much human loss as Nazism (i.e. Stalin and Communism) are still quite legal? People must remember that freedom of speech applies to all opinions, and not simply those that are popularised by the mass-media, and global culture.

That is a VERY dangerous approach to take. Remember when you say that, that millions of people would love to censor porn online also. Saying such things leads us to a slippery-slope of oppressive behaviour.

What a ridiculous comment. Why not illegalise communism, or other such idealogies that don't follow exactly the trends that people deem appropriate. Hang on, that would kind of contradict what democracy is all about, right?

p.s. this board moves too fast and I don't visit it too often. excuse the bump with this reply.

I'm confused.

So is raping donkeys legal in Cuba or not???

Tell me. I have to know this tonight

Does this mean I can't criticize the Versailles Treaty like he so often did?

Yes, it is the same thing.
Calling it racism to question pop culture is not freedom.

:(

We showed weakness, and the weak are beaten.
Valdimir Putin