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Australia Considering iPhone App Censorship
srjh writes "Having raised concerns about 'the classification of games playable on mobile telephones,' the Australian government has now 'put the wheels in motion to address this.' Under current Australian legislation, video games sold in the country must pay between $470 and $2040 to have the game classified, and due to the lack of an 18+ rating in Australia, if it is not found to be suitable for a 15-year-old, it is banned outright. This is the fate met by several recent titles, such as Left 4 Dead 2 and Fallout 3. Over 200,000 applications are available for the iPhone, many of them games, and developers have raised concerns about the prohibitive costs involved, with many announcing an intention to drop the Australian market altogether if the plan proceeds."
Fuck you, Australia
What is with the Australians? This is just the latest in a long line of this sort of shit. Is this really what the average Australian wants? Surely the Assie public is not this stupid? They do elect their politicians, don't they?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
a fine example of it as only the big boys can absorb the costs and this effectively closes the market on their smaller competitors.
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
So the aristocratic pompous short sighted pricks who used to run the penal colony have ancestors who set the laws still? You'd think for such a drunken cavalier society (no offense just my observations whenever I was there) that the gov't would either wise up or get tossed on it's collective ass.
It's election time guys, have your say.
This is rediculous.
With another phone system, I can download my own apps without needing them to be approved by either Apple or the Australian Government.
If you want fast uncensored internet; Without having a clue as to what their policies are, I'd suggest voting Australin Sex Party this weekend.
$470-$2040 given to Australia to have my iPhone game sold there? Yeah, and then all the countries start following suit and it becomes prohibitive to sell games. Also these games are tiny, selling for $0.99, so need to sell 470 copies (excluding what Apple takes) just to break even with the low end of the game classification.
Aside from the government making money. Applications that get classified as RC wouldn't be affected by any of the RC restrictions. The biggest restriction is that RC material cannot be sold in brick and mortar stores. iOS Apps aren't.
Basically:
If the liberals/nationals coalition gets in, we are all kinds of fucked (they have become the religious extreme with their preferences going straight to the Christian Democratic Party and Family First after themselves)
If labor gets in again - we get the only visionary policy any of the politicians have to offer - the National Broadband Network, but they saddle it with filtering, censorship and the lack of an R+18 classification for games.
So the only decent vote left is the Australian Sex Party - which is a civil libertarian group who are anti-censorship, pro same sex marriage and also want to remove the tax exempt status for religious organisations.
Next election we will hopefully have the Australian Pirate party fully formed to be able to run a candidate.
This election is really a case of trying to pick a candidate that is the least awful.
Ugh
Your signature so succinctly shows how we ended up with Australia as a country to begin with.
This is growing up pains ...
...
None of all these things have come to pass.
They come up with them, the realise they don't work, and they let them go.
No better way to learn, it is the process of making laws.
What is an iPhone app ? They only reason they are attacking, is because they are contained by apple.
What next, webapps ? Android and HTML5 and FLASH will make them indistinguishable to a normal app.
I would much rather they try and get it out of their system, than winge for ever
Will that also apply to someone bringing in a Linux install CD that may have some games on it ?
Fun and games at Oz airports!
Change the app store NOT to be region specific. Then the government will have to choose to block Apple entirely, or not. Since this isn't Google in China, the chances are slim. (and it would be fun to see what would happen to the politicians if they did...). This isn't something Apple should be helping the government with. (i.e. make it the same as with web sites, if Australia wants to block them, they will have to do it the hard way).
When society creates too much government, it has nowhere to go but down. The economy will have nowhere to go but down.
It's because there are too many people, who become leeches on society, they are unproductive, they don't do anything useful and they start coming up with justifications for their own existence and leeching, they don't do anything useful anymore, they are just parasites.
Government is a parasite of society - produces nothing, takes away everything it possibly can.
You can't handle the truth.
That's the issue with representative democracy, party politics and lobbying.
Suppose 33% of the voters support A, 30% support B, 20% support C and 17% support D
Furthermore, suppose that unrelated to this general policy choice, 90% of the voters support X.
Now, suppose that the 10% that would lose when a policy favoring X would be in place, are actually rich enough to lobby parties A, B, C, and for all it matters don't bother lobbying D. For all it matters, party D can even find a niche in actively defending X.
This is how after the elections, anti X legislation gets passed. Sheeple live with it, party D opposes but nobody cares.
DMCA, HADOPI, PATRIOT are typical examples of this situation.
(emphasis mine)
They've delayed the decision for R18+ games once before. The next meeting was delayed because of the election... so now it will happen in November, and the issue will be discussed--if Labor is re-elected.
It feels like this will go on forever.
What else does Australia want to do for us normal people. The iPhones have been around for longer than 3 years now and there have been no issues with any of the games already. What makes the games so special now that they need to create a fucking censorship on mobile gaming. The politicians now days are stupid with all their stupid laws. 15-30 years ago there weren't as many laws as today and everyone I k know over 30 turned out fine. But now everything is a big deal. You watch soon they are going to make walking down the street a tax aswell.
Well, it's a step down from Richard Alston's wanting classification for every webpage in Australia...
Obviously the average Aussie is too drunk and/or lazy to actually to anything about it.
Bread and games. Remove either and the people will be unhappy!
Isn't this what the App Store is for?
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
iPhone users in Oz will just jailbreak and pirate. (Android users just need to tick a box in a menu, then pirate) This has far wider impact on Apple's App Store business model than just a few devs who abandon the Aussie market.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
I do not see what the title "Australia Considering IPhone App Censorship" has to do with the story. It's not about Apple nor about the iPhone or iPhone Apps and the title seems to refer to Apple's much discussed censorship on iApps which is not what this is about at all. Please change the title into "Game developers may drop Australian market" or something more appropriate.
Brazil has the same rules since the start, hence in Brazil the appStore does not carry any games.
What people do here is to have accounts in other countries, usually Argentina. Then the country looses the taxes...
Since taxes are outrageously high for video games in Brazil, this is probably better for the costumers here.
Speaking for the 75% of the country that was never a penal colony can I ask you to STFU?
I might also remind you that Virginia and Maryland were penal colonies long before Australia was "discovered".
This sounds like another medium getting a classification system. Over here, most people are fine with classification systems, and many need them to help determine whether something is appropriate for their kids. I don't see why iPhones should be given a special exemption from classification, if they're so popular with children.
The real issue here is an old one: the lack of a R18+ rating preventing certain games to be sold. This is an artefact from gaming's infancy. As adult gamers increase, this will inevitably change (I predict sooner than later).
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
Australian government soon to ban all forms of evil sorcery, including phones, television and the telegraph. Story at 6 on smoke signals and tam-tams.
>the problem arises when the children think it's fun/cool to use that language everywhere.
What problem? If that's how they want to express themselves, let them. They're just words for gods sake...
If people don't get offended about something, how can they feign injury and use that to justify their demands that others conform to their expectations? Why, they'd have to resort to being patient and tolerant (in the true sense) and to using their counter-example to protest against whatever it is they don't like. If that happened their egos might shrink and become less inflamed with fewer high horses to mount. They might see the petty power struggles for what they are, and they might enjoy life more once they stop participating in them and wasting so much energy on them.
Clearly we cannot allow this! We must reinforce the easily offended lifestyle. We clearly need to legitimize it with political power and by taking it seriously at all times. At all costs must make sure to never tell anyone to grow up and get over any otherwise harmless thing that offends them. Any authority figure must especially take seriously and whenever possible, kowtow to whoever screams the loudest with no regard for the actual legitimacy of their grievance. Young people must grow up seeing the repeated examples of parents, schools, and media who model this behavior and never question or critically examine it, because then it will be normal and all they've ever known. That's the precedent we want to set and the message we will send.
Otherwise people might adopt a "live and let live" philosophy otherwise known as freedom, and might get the idea in their heads that there's something wrong with so much concern for what other adults want to read, listen to, watch, or what games they play. Shit man, they might even think it's good enough that they can choose such things for themselves and that it's proper to allow other adults to do the same.
If we allowed that, then the next thing you know, entire political campaigns and party platforms will have to find some other basis. The tacit assumption that "they must be up to no good" might shift to the busybodies and away from those who want to be left alone by them. This could really spiral out of control! It would become difficult to try to legislate morality. It could even lead to more people believing that it's silly to blame any of our problems on inanimate objects, and with that goes the War on (some) Drugs and all the great justifications for expanded police powers that it has faithfully provided all of these years.
So you see, Australia must stay the course. If they allowed a category intended for adults and restricted to adults, it'd be a small and seemingly harmless step down a very slippery slope. Do you know what's at the bottom of that slippery slope? Why, a world where other people might say or do things that someone else doesn't like. Do you understand now the danger that we are in?
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
How did Australia devolve from the cool tough guys of Gallipoli/"That's not a knife" to this bunch of pussies?
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Instead of calling it a "game" place it in the "entertainment" catagory and refer to it as an "entertaining simulation app"? There's always a couple fingers to slip through in these kinds of rules.
Well I and the 97% of the population who own phones that isn't an Iphone will be okay.
*RTFA*
Oh wait, it's all mobile phone applications, not just the Iphone. Yet another obligitary Iphone Product Placement, when the story has nothing specifically to do with the Iphone.
Given that this does affect any mobile phone, including those that aren't locked down feature phones like Apple's, this is a significant issue.
You assume that "nanny state" laws are responsible.
It could equally be true that many of the problems in the US are caused by the existence of a large poor underclass that has nothing to do with a nanny state.
The problem is that of course most people define "pragmatism" as "let me do what I want but anything I don't want to do that I dislike should be banned".
I've encountered people arguing that anti-gay laws are just "pragmatism" because of some garbled belief about STD's.
People who believe that "pragmatism" includes banning anything controversial from mass media because they're too lazy care for their own kids but sure pragmatism and it "takes a village" etc.
People who think "pragmatism" covers religious discrimination since they're sure we'd have much safer cities if everyone was a good *fill in whatever they believe the one true is here* and just went to *church/mosque/etc* every week and did what they were told.
In Soviet Russia, app censors YOU!
First I read a few months ago that Australia impounds cars for speeding (even if it's someone else's car) and cars are impounded permanently and auctioned-off (proceeds going to govt of course) making lots of money:
"Car confiscation is big business in Australia. The state of Victoria seized 3437 cars generating $1 million in net revenue between July 2006 and December 2007."
And now they're going after iPhone apps?
What gives Australia? Why do you hate your citizens?
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
AusFAILia!
I might also remind you that Virginia and Maryland were penal colonies
Yeah, and look at how well THAT turned out.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Fortunately Australia isn't a very significant market.
I propose that we all boycott Australia and simultaneously send letters (not emails) to the Australian government expressing your intent to boycott them until they stop it with this censorship crap.
Don't visit Australia on vacation. Don't buy any australian products. Don't visit any australian websites. Don't see any australian movies.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
That's the funniest thing I've read all day!
Facts have a liberal bias.
ahhhahahaha +1 for this anonymous coward
Please don't try to claim that Australia is a wonderful place to live because lack of 15+ computer games lower gun crime, and so forth.
Lowering gun crime was done by sensible laws. It's possible to have both sensible and stupid laws on the same books. Just because some are good doesn't make them all good, no more than the stupid ones making all the laws stupid.
Every country in teh world has some stupid laws as well as good ones (well, I don't have the research for that, but I think it's a fair assumption).
This thread is about trying to prevent a new stupid one, and suggesting some more good ones. i.e. Give out a R18+ or legal 'unrated' rating, not censor the adult population and claim it's for child safety.
To take this kind of lawmaking to it's logical conclusion, Australia would end up banning alcohol, driving, sex, and, um, in the end, voting, as none of these are appropriate for children under 15. And when they get around to banning voting, thats when things will finally stop, for obvious reasons.
"lt;dr" is the correct response to most of my posts.
U mad?
yes, u mad.
Ironically,
Mild coarse language is covered under PG 12+.
M15+ covers frequent coarse language.
So fuck you an the fucking horse you rode in you fuck.
Rated M15+
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Agreed and I would be hard-pressed to put it more succinctly. I'd like to add one thing to that: it follows that the more accurate term for this behavior is plain old "selfishness" and that this means most people are trying to legitimize it with the euphamism of "pragmatism". The irony is that an effort to legitimize something is an unstated admission that it is not legitimate. If they don't realize they are doing this, I'd call it denial. If they do realize they are doing this, I'd call it deceit.
In politics, the general pattern is that there are very large numbers of those in denial who are led by those who are deceitful. Since they are consciously aware of what is happening, the deceitful have the advantage. That's why they always represent what is institutionalized, established, and entrenched. Any feeble electoral backlash that may remain is neatly covered by apathy and with it, a sense of demoralization. Of course politicians lie. They all do, so what's the difference? Right?
If everyone learned to govern themselves they wouldn't need to be told what to do. That's what the sectarians refuse to understand. Laws and other forms of coercion are not needed by free people but free people are rare. Laws and religious authority and the like are for people who cannot control themselves and must resort to a fear of artificial consequences to contain their negativity.
"Government by the consent of the governed" and all similar ideas depend on the population never becoming so degenerate and selfish. Otherwise the saying that applies is the one about receiving exactly the kind of government we deserve.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
That's too much of Policing.
The christians are keeping me safe from my self - and my hairy palm.
.
Voting up, Voting down - If I really gave a fuck about your approval or not, I'd come and ask you.