Slashdot Mirror
Australian Enterprises Block Sex Party's Political Site
schliz writes "Corporate web filters in some organizations are blocking web access to the Australian Sex Party, which is a registered political party that is contesting Australia's upcoming August 21 Federal Election. The site features policies and campaign material, including opposition to the Government's mandatory internet filtering proposal. Party convener Fiona Patten said that although the term 'sex' in the party's website URL could be responsible for its filtering woes, the party is unlikely to consider a name change: 'I think the fact that people are still blocking our site just because of the word "sex" in the name shows that we need this political movement.'"
Just because they think the reason it is bolocked is because of the word sex in the URL, dosent meen that is the reason.
You have 5 Moderator Points!
Which Helpless Linux zealot/MS basher do you want to mod down today?
I have to admitt that seeing www.sexparty.org.au does not make me think of politics at a first glance. But it's interesting however that filters will pick it up as adult content when i'm sure other sites contain sex somewhere in the url - for example deliveriesexpress.com.au. I assume since sex is the first part of the url it is picked up. What about sextantrepairs.com or any of these http://www.morewords.com/starts-with/sex/ ?
Those who can, do. Those who cannot, sue.
In the (Blacked out) of the [Censored].
I've been making plans to get a job in another country. This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or East Germany circa 1980, not Australia.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
From Wikipedia (ie. probably authored by them, but still they're obviously serious):
Censorship
* Bring about the establishment of a truly national classification scheme which includes a uniform non-violent erotica rating for explicit adult material for all jurisdictions and through all media including the Internet and computer games.
* Introduce an R and X rating for computer games.
* To overturn mandatory ISP filtering of the Internet (see Internet censorship in Australia) and return Internet censorship to parents and individuals.
* Oppose mandatory retention of all Australian users' internet browsing history and emails by ISPs for at-will inspection by law enforcement agencies, and support strong judicial oversight over the ability of law enforcement to access individuals' internet and email data.
Education
* To bring about the development of a national sex education curriculum as a first step in preventing the sexualisation of children.
* Development of a national internet education scheme for parents.
Equality
* To enact national anti-discrimination laws which make it illegal to unfairly discriminate against people or companies on the basis of job, occupation, profession or calling.
* To bring about equal numbers of men and women in the Parliament through enabling the Federal Discrimination Act to have jurisdiction extending to political parties.
* To create total equal rights in all areas of the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
* Overturn racist laws that ban Aboriginal people from possessing erotic and sexual media in the Northern Territory.
* Ensure the sexual rights and freedoms of the disabled and elderly.
Health
* To enact national pregnancy termination laws along the same lines as divorce law -- which allow for legal, no-fault, guilt-free processes for women seeking termination.
* The listing of Viagra, Cialis, and other drugs used to treat sexual dysfunction, on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
* Overturn restrictions on aid to overseas family planning organisations that reference abortion.
Protection of children
* Convene a Royal Commission into child sex abuse in the nation's religious institutions.
* Develop global approaches to tackling child pornography which focus on detection and apprehension of the producers of the material.
Workplace relations
* Ensure that the introduction of paid maternity leave is fair and equitable for small businesses.
* Abolish sex slavery and sexual servitude by introducing non morality-based immigration policies that allow bona-fide sex workers to work legally in Australia.
Other
* Ending the tax exempt status for religions.
I couldn't care if it was 14, 14,000, 14,000,000 or just 1 person. Blocking a political party because "sex" is in the name is wrong. If you can't figure out why, you're part of the problem with those that want to stomp on democracy.
Om, nomnomnom...
Australia may rank 16th on the Press Freedom Index, But unfortunately Australia doesn't have US 1st Amendment-like protection for political free speech. (The High Court has ruled that it's heavily implied in the constitution, but it's not absolutely stated). There's no "You can't block that, it's political free speech!" kind of laws.
Have a look at their actual website, if they are a 'joke party', I gotta say their policies look legit and sensible to me, but then I'm a sexual liberal, so what do I know?
"so I am not surprised if they get this sort of thing."
What sort of thing is that?
This is democracy at work. Dont vote for them then. Once you start suppressing who can run for parliament you may as well start putting out the tenders for Gulag construction now.
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
I can figure out why you think it's wrong. Perhaps you can similarly figure out why I think that forcing private companies to use their internet connections a certain way is wrong.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
"Prophylactic filters foil fornicators' free forum . . . film at five!"
So they're the exact opposite of the fundamentalists?
They have my vote then.
They sound astonishingly sane. Sadly, I don't think that they have a snowball's chance in hell of doing too well, as they're going to step on far too many toes. But this is still one of the sanest platforms I've seen.
The GP probably read the summary wrong like I did. If I had RTFA, I would have realized that it wasn't the great firewall of OZ blocking information about a political party (which would have been anti-democracy), it was instead a sensationalistic bit about a few corporate web-filters blocking the site.
refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
Had you thought that this might be the point of naming it so ?
Breaking down taboos about talking about such matters is ones of their aims. My daughter is 7 and long past asking such questions: she knows google and the internet and will look it up herself, even with filters on the PC. While most of the nastier bits of life have not been covered yet, kids at that age need to know the basics; what sex is, why you don't post personal details to the net, etc.
The idea of keeping kids ignorant until their 18 simply isn't an option, and honest, healthy discussion of such topics, rather than treating _adults_ in an infantile manner to preserve false innocence is part of the Sex Partys platform.
Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist
Do they have Aussie bestiality bondage? Tie me kangaroo down, sport!
Mod Me Up. You'll make a grown man cry.
Are you going to have 8-year-old asking, "Daddy, what does sex mean?" I'm not sure I'd vote for a party that put me through that kind of hassle.
"Sex is the difference between men and women. When you fill out forms, they have a question about sex and you answer boy or girl." Wow, what a hassle.
You can't take the sky from me...
From Wikipedia (ie. probably authored by them, but still they're obviously serious):
This looks like a copy-paste from the sex party's own web site, the text at a glance is identical as what I just read there. So this is surely authored by them.
And when it comes to the core points of what a political party stands for, asking them directly is of course the most reliable way to get trustworthy information.
Parties like this don't necessarily need to be elected to make an impact. If nothing else they force the status quo to:
A) Admit there's an alternative to what is commonly perceived as "the way things are"
B) Publicly take a stance on a number of issues.
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Are you going to have 8-year-old asking, "Daddy, what does sex mean?"
Pfft, as though it's uncommon for an 8 year old to ask that kind of question...or to hear the word sex used for that matter.
I'm not sure I'd vote for a party that put me through that kind of hassle.
Tough cookies. Your punishment for having sex is to educate the next generation about it ;-)
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.