Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: Making a List, Not Bothering to Check It

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  • ali bramwell,

    ...implied sexual activity, drug use or violence...

    implied as opposed to actual.
    well you know the slopes of the North Otago Hills are quite suggestive of female curves. surely that listing should include any online reproductions of McCahon paintings. quite a few landscape images imply sexual activity come to think of it. because a curvy line is a bit like a tit innit? and a deep fern bounded v shape of a bush waterfall ...crikey Im going all unnecessary just thinking about it. (although I definitely dont intend to imply that I am becoming sexually aroused)

    and what about images of humourously shaped vegetables? clearly morally dangerous.

    this is a completely meaningless standard, so of course it produces bizarrely erratic results.

    that poor dentist. and the cafeteria consultants!!...that one is totally doing my head in... school cafeterias are violent drug dens and sex pits obviously so the banned activity is implicit whenever you mention the phrase 'tuck shop'. I get it. NOT.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2007 • 33 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    but think about the children! - we want them to eat their veges ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    You Dunedin people are pervs.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    So, what does being on the blacklist mean?

    Does canteens.com.au get any Australian traffic? Or is it something less insidious?

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Like our Dunners brethren, I suspect it's the evil veges.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew Stevenson,

    You can just see the line of thinking developing in the 'mind' of the committee that created this.

    We have a list of suspect sites
    We must protect the public from suspect sites
    Ergo, we cannot show the public the list of suspect sites 'cos the great unwashed will want to look at them

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    implied as opposed to actual ... this is a completely meaningless standard, so of course it produces bizarrely erratic results.

    Really? I'd have thought most stuff (well much of it anyway) didn't involve actual sexual activity, drug use or violence. You see people having sex, or doing drugs in a Hollywood movie and it looks real, but obviously isn't.

    I don't really want some movie producer to be able to say, no this shouldn't be R18 because they weren't actually having sex, it just looks like it.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    and what about images of humourously shaped vegetables? clearly morally dangerous.

    To quote Baldrick: "it is if you sit on one".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    LOLnui

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    Depressing.

    I'm off to re-read Kafka's 'The Trial'.

    If memory serves, Josef K ends up completely exonerated and marries the judges daughter after a humerous interlude in court involving ladies underwear, strangely-shaped vegetables and trousers that keep falling down.

    That should cheer me up.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Patrick,

    So, what does being on the blacklist mean?

    Does canteens.com.au get any Australian traffic? Or is it something less insidious?

    That's pretty much what it means, yes - Australian ISPs are supposed to block traffic from their subscribers to all the sites on the blacklist.

    Rangiora, Te Wai Pounamu • Since Nov 2006 • 261 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    Do they have to give the Christians *actual reason* to feel persecuted? It's tiring enough dealing with the delusions.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    So, what does being on the blacklist mean?

    Does canteens.com.au get any Australian traffic? Or is it something less insidious?

    Currently, it means that anyone using filtering software on their PC can't access the site. Also if the site is hosted in Australia, the ACMA can issue fines and take-downs.

    Once the testing that was supposed to start right after Christmas and still isn't underway is completed, the ACMA blacklist becomes the list all Australian ISPs will be required to apply to all their connections. Then those sites will receive no Australian traffic, regardless of where they're based.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    implied as opposed to actual ... this is a completely meaningless standard, so of course it produces bizarrely erratic results.

    Really? I'd have thought most stuff (well much of it anyway) didn't involve actual sexual activity, drug use or violence. You see people having sex, or doing drugs in a Hollywood movie and it looks real, but obviously isn't.

    I don't really want some movie producer to be able to say, no this shouldn't be R18 because they weren't actually having sex, it just looks like it.

    Anything rated R18 for sexual content should contain actual sex, I would hope. The 'implied' sexual activity comes from the description of the M15+ rating - the same one received by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire .

    In practical censorship terms, 'implied' sexual content doesn't mean 'simulated', it means a scene which is cut so that it is clearly implied that two of the characters had sex, even though you didn't see them do it. IMO, ali is correct to suggest that 'implied' is a subjective term.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Joanna,

    it means a scene which is cut so that it is clearly implied that two of the characters had sex, even though you didn't see them do it.

    So any of the episodes of the early X Files, cos Mulder and Scully were like, totally doing it? And the same with Ali and Marcus on Newsnight ?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • Jo S,

    I heart Stephen Fry

    Although sometimes I think it is unfair that one person can be so clever and talented :)

    is it autumn yet? • Since May 2007 • 80 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    So would this blacklist prevent any connections to the server? Because it strikes me that the first thing you might know about it, if you were one of those innocents caught out by it, would be when you couldn't establish an SMTP connection to your mail server... or FTP any new files to your website... or view your own web page... without any warning and with no way, since it's a secret blacklist, of finding out what the hell is happening to you. A bit mad isn't it?

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    There's an AU$11 000 fine for linking to a site on the banned list.

    The daily fine is a risk once you've been informed that you're linking to banned material, and fail to remove the link. It's still a stonking great sum of money, but it's not quite as ridiculous as the hysteria has portrayed. You're given a chance to fix the problem before they start whacking you with enormous penalties.

    So would this blacklist prevent any connections to the server? Because it strikes me that the first thing you might know about it, if you were one of those innocents caught out by it, would be when you couldn't establish an SMTP connection to your mail server... or FTP any new files to your website...

    It's only HTTP, as I understand it. So you'd not be blocked from sending email, or uploading content to your alleged porn site.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Implied sexual activity? That means no pictures of Mums and Dads with, God forbid, Children?

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    I imply sexual activity just by walkin' down the street, dawg.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Heather W.,

    about half of the sites on the list are not related to child porn and include a slew of online poker sites, YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions such as satanic sites, fetish sites, [and] Christian sites

    So most of Wordpress will fall off the Australian Internet then. This for example. (Relatively safe for work though some filters may block URL for the nymph word, site also has external links that definitely are not safe for work).

    North Shore • Since Nov 2008 • 189 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    I don't quite understand. Is this a hosts file that is Govt. approved that you can have on your machine if you chose. Or a hosts file that an ISP can attatch to your account if you so wish. Or is it a compulsory hosts file that ALL ISPs must use on penalty of prosecution?

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Initially the first, coming up soon, all ISPs will apply it compulsorily.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    I heart Stephen Fry
    Although sometimes I think it is unfair that one person can be so clever and talented :)

    It hasn't all been easy for him

    Fry has been diagnosed with cyclothymia, a mild form of bipolar disorder.[40] He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1995 while appearing in a West End play called Cell Mates and subsequently walked out of the production... ...Fry went missing for several days while contemplating suicide. He abandoned the idea and left the United Kingdom by ferry, eventually resurfacing in Belgium.

    Fry has spoken publicly about his experience with bipolar disorder, which was also depicted in the documentary Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic-Depressive.

    I saw the documentary one day while home sick and he was amazingly open and frank about his experiences.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    And Australians are prepared to put up with that?

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

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