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Google Rejects Australian Censorship Proposal

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-blame-hormes dept.

Xiroth writes "Google has rejected overtures from the Australian government to censor YouTube clips that had been given an RC rating by Australian classification authority, the OFLC. According to a Google spokesperson: 'YouTube has clear policies about what content is not allowed, for example hate speech and pornography, and we enforce these, but we can't give any assurances that we would voluntarily remove all Refused Classification content from YouTube. The scope of RC is simply too broad and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information. RC includes the grey realms of material instructing in any crime from [painting] graffiti to politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia, and exposing these topics to public debate is vital for democracy.'"

4 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. I guess Google's gonna have to pull out of by wiredog · · Score: 3, Informative

    Australia, just like China.

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  2. Re:Can an Australian brother... by twidarkling · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation, the Australian government passes it off as "not censorship" because all they're doing is "refusing classification." Unfortunately, anything without a classification cannot be sold in Australia. So, they're not banning it, technically, they're simply making it impossible to sell in a legal manner.

    It's a shit politicians' trick, and it's worked for a while. Fortunately, much of the citizenship there seems to finally be waking up, if the repeal of the law that made it illegal to anonymously comment on politics due to public outcry is anything to go on.

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    Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
  3. Re:What is hate speech? by orgelspieler · · Score: 4, Informative

    In the US, anyway, it is closely related to "hate crimes" which are structured in a way such that the only victims are non-whites and the only perpetrators are white males.

    You are downright wrong about this. Of the 9,691 recorded hate crime victims in the US in 2008, only about half were targeted for their race. Of the racial victims, 16.8% were singled out because they were white. source

  4. Re:Can an Australian brother... by julesh · · Score: 3, Informative

    So, exactly, how gullible are the Australian people and/or how stupid are their politicians for anyone to think these two things are different from each other?

    Of course they're different. You can give it away free. You can import it yourself. Posession isn't an offence. All three of these would be illegal if it were actually banned.