We just lost Australia....

[ROBERTS]

Australia's government just passed the most strict internet censorship law known to humanity on Earth. It makes all online content depicting sex, violence, nudity illegal. The Brits send all their convicts to the other side of the planet, and this is what they end up like. Bigger prudes than the ass-hats in the UK who spawned them!

[Fcox]

Bad times to the individual freedom. Control of goverments about private activities is been too much hard in my opinion.

[Anton Lavey]

Ah! Shit! I live down under
I didn't vote for this Government!!

[Krimson-Rage]

Sex, violence and nudity combined, or all three seperately?
I mean, the former is bad enough, but if it's the latter then that's barbaric.

[ROBERTS]

From my reading of it, all of the above plus some. The law pretty much outlaws everything.

[Sandow]

It amazes me when a government tries to legislate morality. I might be overly pessimistic, but I'd expect that sort of thing from the U.S., but Australia? I guess a country that can be talked into joining the "Coalition of the Willing" can be talked into pretty much anything...

Still, with all the violent media content that comes out of our entertainment industry daily, you'd think that whoever was pitching the law to parliament would have a hard time keeping a straight face.

[ROBERTS]

Oh they don't want to kill off violent entertainment. They want to kill off the adult/porn Internet. It's selective enforcement of the worst kind. I had this conversation with a billing company rep just last month after he read me the riot act about Visa/masterCard having rules against billing for violent sexual content. I asked him if Visa/MC was used on mainstream sites renting and selling movies. Well, of course he said..So I named him a whole string of multi million dollar Hollywood and other films which have big scenes which violate those same Visa/MC rules, and asked him if billing would immediately be stopped for NetFlix and all BlockBuster traffic. Silence followed. I mean dude, go get "Hostel 2" and watch a naked girl bound and gagged, hung upside down get her neck arteries cut open so another naked girl can bathe and wallow in her blood. That's out there, but they're clamping down on porn cartoons online. It's selective, and it's quite deliberate. I don't think any of us will be doing this a year from now honestly. It's impossible to get paid, they're closing off more countries every day, regulation by the FCC in America is inevitable, Australia is gone and I know I have huge fans there. It's never going to end.

[Casotto]

This is sad, disturbing news. I hate it when people try to limit my freedom to enjoy myself.

[comicglutton]

Agreed. Where do these people think they get off by bringing in such ridiculous legislation. Do they really think it is going to make one iota of difference to sexual crime statistics. If anything it will make things worse. I'm surprised Australia, with its macho ethos, has surrendered this vital freedom without so much as a whimper. It doesn't bode well for other countries. It's just mad!
I wonder how they intend to enforce this policy. The porn industry is massive. They may try to target the banks, but where there's a will there's a way. People will find alternatives.

[arrakur]

comicglutton you are right. the only significant outcome of this ridiculous censorship for the public will be an increase of sexual violence against women.

consensual bdsm in relationships and bdsm-fantasies portrayed in prose, artwork or videos are an healthy outlet for urges and desires who had been part of our species since the dawn of time. We can´t deny those urges. But we are all responsible for keeping these urges and desires in check in order to do no harm to others.

Take a totally unimaginative guy who has these feelings but can´t find an outlet for them. His fantasy life is non-existent and there is no material whatsoever available which might help him "blow off some steam" and he will probably turn into a real-life r@pist.

In that sense, it is the height of irony that bdsm-artists are being shunned upon and even prosecuted while they are actually doing a significant service to our community...actually doing a service to the very civilization, in fact.

sad.