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Australian Idol And ISP Censorship

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the sex-censorship-and-a-land-down-under dept.

fembots writes "Teenage fans of the new Australian Idol Casey Donovan rushed to the homepage of a dead gay porn icon with the same name when a URL was advertised in major newspapers without the .au country code. ISP BigPond took matters to its own hand by redirecting millions of its subscribers' requests back to the Idol's website. On top of that, BigPond lodged a formal complaint with the Australian Broadcasting Authority on the basis Mr Donovan's site may contain X-rated material or material that would be denied classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification."

4 of 335 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Automated domain registrations by DrSkwid · · Score: 4, Informative


    whitehouse has been a pornographic magazine for over 20 years, their website is a natural extension of that hence the .com

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  2. Re:Yes and no.. by James+Foster · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, they do send you to a page informing you that you are being redirected:

    Please wait, you are being redirected to www.caseydonovan.com.au, the home page of Casey Donovan, the new Australian Idol.
    Please note that there is a US site with a similar address which contains adult content which is not suitable for minors. If you are over 18 and do not want to go to Casey Donovan's Australian Idol Site, please click here now www.caseydonovan.com

  3. Re:Yes and no.. by Shard013 · · Score: 5, Informative

    *cut*
    What we have here is a precedent where an ISP has decided not to show you the page you asked for, but rather the page they thought you should look at - and without telling you.
    *cut*

    They did infact tell you exactly what was happening. I am a Bigpond customer and they presented you with a nice clear page saying that you are being redirected to the idol site. It also says if you REALLY wanted to see the porn stars site, than click here. You only had about 3 seconds to read it all and click, but you still had the opportunity.

  4. Re:Paranoia by doowy · · Score: 5, Informative

    that's what they did. this is what users saw when they visited the printed URL:

    Please wait, you are being redirected to www.caseydonovan.com.au, the home page of Casey Donovan, the new Australian Idol.
    Please note that there is a US site with a similar address which contains adult content which is not suitable for minors. If you are over 18 and do not want to go to Casey Donovan's Australian Idol Site, please click here now www.caseydonovan.com

    --
    ..mork