It was confirmed by Australian Minister for Censorship that online games such as Second Life is banned in the country. There was confirmation from Censorship Minister Stephen “Goebbels” Conroy and according to his spokesperson it was added “under the filtering plan, it will be extended to downloadable games, flash-based web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that do not meet the MA15+ standard.” The MA15+ means restricted to those people ages 15 and above.
The Australian rating is different because it doesn’t have R 18+ or rating for computer games. All games for adult are place in RC or Refused classification. Last December 2007, the Australian Government censored online games and other R rated computer games because of its pornographic and illegal material. There are certain forms of ‘hate speech” found in them. Recently, last January 2009, they further put censorship to those dealing with political issues as well as copyrighted content.
It is surprising because this policy has always been known to everyone. When Conroy was asked, he didn’t give direct answer. The more Australian government confirms the issue, the more totalitarian the policy is becoming if compared to China.
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Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 12:00 (EST)
The Australian ban of Second Life and other similar sites sets a dangerous precedent that should strike fear into the hearts of free people everywhere. A "free" country that has a "Minister for Censorship!?" This is something we might expect from China, North Korea or Iran, but Australia!? The Nazis would be so proud! Those who call themselves "Christians" or "Moral," might see this as a "victory" over "evil." But for them, as well as all who applaud this travesty of freedom I will quote Benjamin Franklin, who said: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." It appears the people of Australia are still prisoners, exiled as were their forefathers and permitted only the "freedoms" their masters deem fit. It will be interesting to see if they accept this Orwellian destiny or rise up and demand the freedoms so many of them have given their blood to defend around the world. As for Second Life (SL) and its "danger" as a source of adult content; SL is no more or less dangerous than the rest of the Internet. Those who wish to can find virtually anything they want on the Internet, good, bad or indifferent. It should be up to adults and parents, not a "Nanny State," to take the steps necessary to limit exposure to content they deem inappropriate for themselves or their children. This can be done at the individual PC or user level. By banning access to Second Life, the Australian government is not only cutting off access to "adult" content, but also art, music, education and collaboration opportunities that have the potential to enlighten, inspire and improve the lives of its citizens, young and old alike. If the government of Australia succeeds in censoring SL from their citizens, those of us who work, learn and yes "play" in Second Life will miss the tremendous spirit and contributions our Australian brothers and sisters make to SL everyday. I close with a quote from another of our (American) Founding Fathers, that I hope will be taken to heart by all those who love freedom in Australia and around the world: ""The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson
Valiant Westland, Second Life, USA
Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 13:26 (EST)
Confirmed? Show me the press release from the Minister's office, that is the only confirmation that is valid. And what about the government agencies in secondLife now? The ABC and Bigpobd, are they aware?
Arabella Steadham, Canberra Australia
Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 13:40 (EST)
You're right, it is totalitarian. Basically Australia has never got over its beginnings - which is an open air prison.
Edward Metcalfe, Zeehan, Tasmania, Australia
Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 14:19 (EST)
Not a press release, but a government spokesman is quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald ( http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/web-filters-to-censor-video-games-20090625-cxrx.html);
Scott Mitchell, Canberra
Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 17:09 (EST)
The SMH is quoting gamer blogs, this is a classic case of the dog chasing its tail around and round. There has been *no* press release, there is the *mysterious* nameless spokesperson, but this is all simply blogs feeding off each other to bolster hit rates. I amazed the SMH fell for it, without doing basic verification od supposed sources
Arabella Steadham, Canberra Australia
Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 17:56 (EST)
Arabella, you can read the Hansard for yourself: http://www.aph.gov.au/Hansard/senate/dailys/ds220609.pdf Page 95 (PDF page 109), Scott Ludlam, Question 1496.13: "Will computer games exceeding the requirements of the MA15+ classification be RC and potentially blocked by ISPs on a mandatory basis for adults; if not, what other exceptions to RC would be similarly permitted." Page 96 (PDF page 110), Stephen Conroy's Answer: "Computer games that exceed an MA15+ rating are deemed to be RC content as there is no R18+ or X18+ rating. RC content will be included in the mandatory filtering of RC content under the Government’s proposal. Issues relating to the classification of computer games fall within the Attorney-General’s portfolio."
Toejam, Australia
Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 19:56 (EST)
This Policy on Censorship to Games like Secondlife makes a Mockery of Australia's Freedom of speech and expression. You ban one game you ban Hundreds more. Is it fair that the games in question are banned for questionable content even when they do have a Terms of Service Contract that everyone must accept before Use of Software. It is parents that should moniter what their children do on the computer.. Not the Government. From the australia's National Anthem "Australians all let us rejoyce For we are young and free" By banning these games, where is the freedom?? Censorship isnt freedom, its dictatorship.
Stephen James Magi-Sorge, Sydney Australia
Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 20:30 (EST)
Quoting above: "Confirmed? Show me the press release from the Minister's office, that is the only confirmation that is valid. " From Hansard, the transcript of the spoken words during a paliament sitting: Question No. 1496 "(13) Will computer games exceeding the requirements of the MA15+ classification be RC and potentially blocked by ISPs on a mandatory basis for adults; if not, what other exceptions to RC would be similarly permitted." Answer (by Senator Conroy himself - no fudging at all here!): "(13) Computer games that exceed an MA15+ rating are deemed to be RC content as there is no R18+ or X18+ rating. RC content will be included in the mandatory filtering of RC content under the Government’s proposal. Issues relating to the classification of computer games fall within the Attorney-General’s portfolio." You can download the transcript from aph.gov.au site here: http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/dailys/ds220609.pdf Start reading pages 90 onwards, particulary pages 95 and 96. Straight out of the mouth of Senator Conroy himself. No ifs, buts, maybes, caching errors or any other buck passing - Senator Conroy said. So no, no-one is making this up and it is on the official national record for the whole world to see. No intrepation needs to be made... "...Computer games that exceed an MA15+ rating are deemed to be RC content as there is no R18+ or X18+ rating. RC content will be included in the mandatory filtering of RC content under the Government’s proposal." Senator Conroy, Monday, 22 June 2009, The Senate, Australian Federal Parliament, Commonwealth of Australia. I think it is important that people understand that those were Senator Conroy's words exactly. No amount of looking sideways, up or down should allow anybody to pretend or suggest anything else. Oh, and "...Censorship Minister Stephen “Goebbels” Conroy ..." very much rofl! Thank-you your informative article, and for allowing me to post in reply to it.
h0mer, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 20:44 (EST)
For clarity, there is no current ban on Second Life in Australia. But the implication is clear. -The filter will be used to block Refused Classification content -Online games (due to the unpredictable nature of online interaction) are essentially 18+ rated or unrated. As Australia has no R18+ rating for games, this qualifies as RC -Ergo, the filter will either block the game or block the ability to get to the client/forums etc. Fyi, RC content is neither illegal to own or view in Australia, it is merely illegal to sell over the counter. So if you downloaded a client from a torrent etc you would not (yet) be in trouble playing the game via VPN. It is highly unlikely that the filter (which filters HTTP) would block the game. That being said, this is still a clear call to everyone that this filters intended goal, stopping child porn (laughable really because it won't stop it at all) is the thin edge of the wedge. If your form of online expression is inconvenient or not in tune with what Canberra believes to be the moral high ground, you could end up on the banned list. But just because things aren't banned now, please don't assume they won't fall under the eye of whichever politico get's control of this madness...
Asmodai, Cairns, Oz
Added: Monday, 29 June 2009, 21:00 (EST)
Hobo Junction Group Notice From: Dru Bracken - ABC Island Admin, Daveinoz, phoned Senator Conroys' Office just now and asked if Secondlife would be banned, They said, and this is a direct quote "Absolutely, Categorically not".
Arduenn Schwartzman, The Black Forest
Added: Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 11:26 (EST)
Thanks for posting that, Arduenn, but if you read carefully, all they've said is that SecondLife would not be *BANNED*. Conroy's Rabbit-Proof Firewall isn't about *BANNING* anything, only *BLOCKING* it. ACMA don't actually have the authority to ban anything - that's up to the Classification Board (and for that matter, Conroy's office doesn't have the authority to speak on behalf of the Classification Board, either!). All the ACMA can do is add website URLs to a blocklist if someone complains about them and ACMA takes an arbitrary *GUESS* that the Classification Board *MIGHT* classify the page in question as RC, X18+, R18+ (if not behind a sufficiently draconian age verification system) or MA15+ (if being sold for profit). And as has been repeatedly demonstrated, they can rarely even manage to get that right! So while this means that Second Life itself is unlikely to be blocked, it throws a great deal of doubt over Australians' future options when it comes to importing original games from overseas. Not to mention that there is still a huge cloud of uncertainty surrounding the legality of selling physical copies of online games, such as World Of Warcraft, which are currently able to evade classification. All it takes is one hysterical citizen to complain, and one faceless bureaucrat to agree with them. And they don't even need to be separate people.
Toejam, Australia
Added: Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 11:32 (EST)
The real problem in all of this is that Australia does not have a uniform classification scheme across all states and across all mediums. So for computer games and online content you have an upper level of MA15+, in films you have R18+ if you live in one of the states or x18+ if you live in the Territories, for publications you have Category 2 Restricted if you live anywhere but Queensland where you only have UNrestricted. And on and on the madness in policy continues. For TV its different again and on telephones none of these ratings apply unless you're on a premium rate service. If K Rudd can stop Australia from falling into recession surely he can develop a clear and logical set of classification guidelines for all Australians that flow across all media. This is one of the main policies of the Australian Sex Party and one that no other party in Australia thinks is worthy of floating. Censorship is a big deal to Australian people and the major parties will ignore this growing disenchantment on the issue at their peril.
robbie Swan, canberra australia
Added: Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 18:40 (EST)
Firstly, As a secondlife participant I can assure you it is in fact not banned, people need to listen to facts not rants from those who have know knowledge of the truth. Secondly, Secondlife is not R18+, nor is it a game, its a social network where people may advertise business, attend virtual churches, seek counceling, attend virtual classrooms, all very beneficial to those who may otherwise be unable to do such. Then theres the roleplay, acting a part you may never be able to in the real world such as doctor, presidant amongst many other things. This ban wont even go through, if by chance it did I personally know a 100 ways to bypass it. People worried about their children need to stop being so lazy and instead look after them thereselves not expect the rest of the country to effectively babysit them for you, wake up. All this is, is a way to make sure he gets elected next time however its only going to backfire, force people to comply to whats essentually becomming something of a totalarian regime is not Christian in the least, in fact its the complete opposite, God gave us choices...this man pretending to have this faith isnt, says a lot of his values in my opinion.
Felicity, Bunbury, Australia
Added: Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 21:48 (EST)
Everyone is making such a big fuss about China and their compulsory web filters. Australia has been working on one for longer and nothing has been heard of outside of the Australian news sites. And now this kind of censorship just confirms the government in Australia is not so unlike the Chinese government in these ways.
Sean, Adelaide Australia
Added: Wednesday, 1 July 2009, 21:10 (EST)
I believe your information is incorrect. I am reading this article whilst sitting in my Second life house so its still up and running. I believe it would be funny for the government to speak out against SL when the Government itself pays via our tax dollars for 2 islands in there, namely Big Pond and ABC TV/ triple J . Maybe they should look at using this platform to help with tourism
W, Australia
Added: Monday, 6 July 2009, 16:07 (EST)
It’s already happened, I verified my age and everything is there, but I cannot access any adult areas. When I do it crashes the whole SL Client, if I try to login from last location it screws up and crashes until I tell it to go to a PG area…
Linda, Sydney
Added: Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 22:27 (EST)
Minister of Censorship? hah, more like Minister of Dictatorship
Danny, Plover, USA
Added: Thursday, 17 September 2009, 13:58 (EST)
No its not banned, the age verification system is put in place recently by linden labs to pevent minors from entering adult areas. If your of age and have verified but still cant get into mature sims you may want to support a ticket.
Felicity Dean, Bunbury, Australia
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