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Australia's Bizarre Classification System For Internet Censorship
stavros-59 writes "Australia's internet censorship watchdog, ACMA, uses an internet classification system originally intended for children's PC filters. ACMA has now made what must be the most amazing recent decisions of the whole bizarre censorship debate. The Register today has a story about ACMA's decision to force Apple to withdraw their ITMS gift feature from Australia on the basis that MA+ (over 15 and maybe sex) rated movies could not be given to children using the gift cards. The films are also banned on the internet but not at local video/DVD stores as detailed in this Whirlpool Forum post. At the same time, the photographic work of Robert Mapplethorpe (not for the fainthearted) has been classified as PG (Parental Guidance) by the Classification Board — which is not part of ACMA, but an agency under the Attorney General's Department."
Unless you want to see artsy goatse.
???
Don't know what PG means in .au, but around here it's generally accepted to mean "yeah, maybe a baby shouldn't see it, but basically kid-friendly; parents with particular sensitivities WRT what their child sees might want to keep an eye on it".
Most workplaces would have no problem with a news article about a gruesome murder or mass killings in some foreign country. Most workplaces would have a problem with a tasteful photo of naked breasts.
Regardless of whether you think that sort of standard is silly, it's the way things are. Violence is okay. Sex is not.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Does anyone know in the US if there is a legal requirement (anywhere?) and likewise in Australia are there restrictions on buying physical DVDs based on their ratings?
Nope, there are no laws that require a retailer follow the ratings on the game box or ratings given to movies in the US. Gamestop could sell M or AO games to 5 year olds if they wanted to. They don't because it would bad PR for business because the soccer moms would be outraged by such a thing as they continue to blindly not read the video game box or even take two seconds to think if the M rated game in their hand would be appropriate for their child. The government might also try and get involved then. (I don't know that it would stand up to a court challenge though)
You can't sell porn to minors under obscenity laws.
open source modern art: laser taggi
In the majority of human civilization, such pictures (the ones of mutilation) would not be regarded as artistic,
Incorrect; you have obviously never studied art history, not even taken a single class. The ancient Greeks and Romans had art that would turn your stomach (if you had a weak one), and even religious art from the dark ages and later in churches showed brutally obscene images (in the giuse of what hell was like, of course).
Free Martian Whores!
It wasn't actually goatse.
There are three images. One, a pinky inserted partway into a penis. Second, Saint Thomas inserting his finger into spear-wound in Jesus's chest. Three, a halfway-to-the-elbow anal fisting. That final photo was pretty much as "tame tasteful and artistic" as an explicit fisting photo can reasonably be.
By the way, there is a warning at the top of the page:
*FOR CLASSROOM USE ONLY*
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.