I know this is off-topic, but I'm so angry that I can't help myself.
The NSW Government in it's wisdom has decided to criminalise up-loading of certain material. In other words, the police can prosecute you for up-loading material that the police think might not pass OFLC classification. You then have to defend in court a policeman's idea of inappropriate. This includes not only Australian web sites, but also overseas sites, as well as mailing list archives or ftp sites. If you think this only applies to porn, think again. The movie "Saving Private Ryan" was originally classified "R" and would have been caught by this legislation. Virtually any worthwhile sex education would render an isp or web author liable to police prosecution. You couldn't have a newsgroup or mailing list thread on child sexual abuse, or domestic violence without risking contravening the legislation. You can't discuss the violence towards women or ethnic groups during war, or even realistic discussion of the war itself, because it's too explicit and little Johny might be traumatised. The legislation covers anything a policeman might think inappropriate for children OR adults. This sort of legislation represents a violent lurch to the right. As far as I know, even places like Singapore don't have this sort of thing. The legislation is being introduced by stealth. I've seen no press on it, even though it's passed second reading in parliament. My understanding is that it is likely to go through in about two weeks unless something is done. It goes without saying that it will have no effect whatever on what is available to minors from the international internet. If you feel as strongly as I do, fax your local member immediately, or phone, or both. Don't rely on email. We all know how easy it is to hit the delete button. If Alston is anything to go by, they probably don't know how to read email anyway. Faxes on the other hand stop other faxes from getting through and fill their baskets. If you feel as strongly as I do, you might like to pass this message on to any other lists you are on. If you think our political masters are above evil doing, remember that the Taliban and the Nazis and the Soviets were seen as saviours in their day, and they were all heavily into censorship too. For example, would a policeman decide that pictures of horrors in refugee camps somewhere on a pacific island was "R" rated? Please think about it. David McQuire http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/nswbill.html -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug
