Australian Idol And ISP Censorship

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."

Comments

Paranoia

[gowen]

While fans of the dead Casey Donovan might be upset, this seems to be a legitimate thing bigpond to do. It's pretty clear that the vast majority got sent to the site they wanted to see, and in a few weeks/months everything can be returned to normal, and gay porn fans can get their Casey back.

It's not a desirable thing but I subscribe to the cock-up (for want of a less apposite phrase) theory on this one. No-one's getting stiffed (ditto), its just an horrendous accident.

Having said that, by own sensibilities mean I'm far more offended by Simon Cowell than I am by the goatse.cx guy.

Re:Paranoia

[garcia]

While fans of the dead Casey Donovan might be upset, this seems to be a legitimate thing bigpond to do.

Seems to me that if the Casey Donovan site was paying by traffic they really shouldn't be upset that they don't have to fork over the cash for THAT bandwith bill.

Re:I'd say...

[PornMaster]

I don't know the Australian legal system works, but I do recall cases where ISPs have used a "common carrier" defense (similar to telcos) to claim that they do not control what illegal uses their subscribers use the services for.

Does this make BigPond an "editor" for their users, thus nullifying the notion of their operation as a common carrier?