According to the Inquisitr, new laws in Australia will mean that Second Life is banned on that continent.
The site reports:
“The Australian Minister for Censorship has today confirmed what I’ve been reporting for nearly two years: online adult games including Second Life will be banned in Australia.
A spokesman for Censorship Minister Stephen “Goebbels” Conroy confirmed that “under the filtering plan, it will be extended to downloadable games, flash-based web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that do not meet the MA15+ standard.” In Australia, the MA15+ rating means that the content is restricted to those aged 15 and above. Australia does not have a R 18+ or similar rating for computer games, with all adult games automatically being classified as RC (Refused Classification.)”
The report picks up from the Sydney Morning Herald, which explains the issue (emphasis added):
“Australia is the only developed country without an R18+ classification for games, meaning any titles that do not meet the MA15+ standard - such as those with excessive violence or sexual content - are simply banned from sale by the Classification Board, unless they are modified to remove the offending content.
So far, this has only applied to local bricks-and-mortar stores selling physical copies of games, but a spokesman for Senator Conroy confirmed that under the filtering plan, it will be extended to downloadable games, flash-based web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that do not meet the MA15+ standard.
This means that even Australians who are aged above 15 and want to obtain the adult-level games online will be unable to do so. . It will undoubtedly raise the ire of gamers, the average age of which is 30 in Australia, according to research commissioned by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia.”
They continue:
“Mark Newton, an ISP engineer and internet filtering critic, said the move to extend the filtering to computer games would place a cloud over online-only games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life, which aren’t classified in Australia due to their online nature.
He said the online distribution of such games has historically been exempt from customs controls on RC material because they have only ever covered physical articles.
“That exemption is the only reason why multi-player games with user-generated environments are possible in this country; without it, it’d only take one game user anywhere in the world to produce objectionable content in the game environment to make the Australian Government ban the game for everyone,” said Newton.
Nine ISPs are trialling the web censorship plan, which will block all content that has been “refused classification” by ACMA. Results of the trials are due to be published in July.”
wow we really are becoming like america…..and have no rights as adults……wow…..thought australia was a free country …. grow up … thats incredable…whats it worry ppl what others play games on the net at home….have u guys ever watched the simpsons…that so called cartoon show for kids ……damn amazing
further more that must also mean u have to ban all adult content from the internet….that means…australian economy goes down the tubes even more…..i play second life and curently have bigpond…nows theres a bill i get rid of…good luck bigpond and other internet surpliers….ohhh wait can we play simpsons online……unbelievable
Hey what are they going to do about people playing via proxy servers. Could be a big market for someone
@Tula:
“wow we really are becoming like america…..and have no rights as adults……wow”
Okay, blatant anti-American B.S.
1) Second Life is an American company, in America, and hasn’t been banned. Maybe America isn’t the one you should be concerned about right now. If you’re trying to point fingers at countries which have less rights, why not bring up Iran? Blatant violations there, right? Ah yes, but that’s so easy and if you did that…it wouldn’t be anti-American.
2) I’m American, I live in America, and I have tons of rights. I am not “less free” than in other Western countries. Right now, I’m visiting Paris. I speak fluent French, I know French culture, I taught myself the language over 10 years. I have lived in England and other places as well. I can tell you that I’ve never felt that America is “less free” than those other places. I think it’s BS how people spew this nonsense online as if it were true.
If I am reading the Wikipedia article about the MA15+ standard correctly, having age verification for online content provides an exemption; at least in the current system.
Technically, there are no new laws. Not yet, anyway.
Also, the the Inquisitr is incorrect, so far, nothing has been said about Second Life.
It is *likely* that Australians will be blocked from SL if the new system goes ahead as is currently planned, but it is not yet clear certain that it will do so, especially as there is a much more severe issue with the new measures.
Australians, you may like to contact your government representative about this at the earliest opportunity.
New Zealand went through a similar spell of madness to do with peoples rights online (3 strikes and you’re kicked off the net, I think it was) and that was overturned. The whole net chimed in on that issue and hopefully the same will happen again with Australia.
Net filtering has been heavily protested, to no avail sadly.
Australians are being given no say in the matter really.
The irony about all this is that given the new implementations by Linden Labs regarding Age Verification AND the long existing Teen Grid… we still may be blocked out.
The obsession with trying to control the internet really comes down to controlling the people of course.. the things that are plastered all over the media to “inform” the morally upright citizen of the “evils” of the internet & games are scapegoats.
The really sad part about all this and something the goverment completely ignores is that many online gamers find social interaction that may be hard for them in normal life… whether they be lonely, disabled or marginalised in any way.. or maybe they can’t afford to go out to nightclubs given the current economic situation.
As a long term SL resident and an Australian, I will be doing my utmost to oppose these policies and shall encourage my friends to do the same.
Somehow I think this will lift what was already a big protest into a higher gear as online gaming is very popular here…let’s hope so!
I once heard someone say a bad word during a conference call. Someone should tell Australia they should ban Skype too. Oh, and WebEx. In fact, I once saw someone type a bad word using Microsoft Office. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, so it would be a game too, right? Have fun down under, everyone.
Oh, this better not be true! Second life is a huge form of income for me!
I will be finding more information on this and definitely get some people together opposing this before it goes too far.
LOL @ Robert, oh yes, that’ll be the way it does. Even neopets will be banned at this rate. I’m sure people have said “bad words” on there.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1229264#r1
@Tula Saros
I’m with Summer Seale.
I’m tired of statements like that going unchallenged. If you don’t like it, stop finger-pointing at some fantasy you have about a typical American. Present your grievance to your own legislature.
Im a secondlife user, although imnot in australia, a huge clump of my friends are. if this’s indeedtrue, theres gona be some serious bitchfits going on :/….
and those spewin anti-american bs, im with summer sis too… yall needa grow the f*** up… ooopsie i said bad word. oh wait, its not illegal in UK to swear. fuckin great.
I truly feel bad for you guys in australia..
It sounds like the Australian parliament could pass a law which distinguishes online environments like Second Life from games. Banning Second Life because it is used to depict sexual content is like banning Firefox for the same reason.
SL isn’t a game to many people. I’m not aussie, but my dearest friends and a woman I love very much are. SL gives me the opportunity to spend time with them on a more dynamic platform then skype, or msn could. I hope they realize that this kind of censorship won’t get rid of the mature content out there. people interested in that kind of material will always find access to it somehow. but many people will lose contact with friends and loved ones.
I said earlier:
“It sounds like the Australian parliament could pass a law which distinguishes online environments like Second Life from games. Banning Second Life because it is used to depict sexual content is like banning Firefox for the same reason.”
I did a little research:
I have little or no idea what the rules are for the Australian Parliament, even though I am a member of a somewhat simliar body in the USA, i.e., the New Hampshire General Court.
The House and Senate do not meet again until mid-August. A bill could (I am guessing) be introduced at that time, or maybe even earlier but then it has to go through committee in one house and then be passed and sent through a similar process in the other house before being signed into law.
It’s up to the Aussies to fix this problem: a well-intentioned law was written too restrictively and hopefully they will be able to fix it. It would be difficult to stop Aussies from downloading Second Life and playing it in the meantime.
Depending on what the law says, the Lindens could get an injunction. I suspect LL has lawyers and lobbyists in Canberra working on this even as we speak, since Australia is a major market for SL.
It is a good thing this isn’t happening in NH: we can only file legislation for next year during a single week in mid-September, and it can’t be acted on until January-June 2010.
I think Censorship Minister Stephen “Goebbels” Conroy should be examined very closely. It’s always the ultra conservative repressed gov. officials who try to “moralize” the public by seeking to control the public via religious based dogma derived from some archaic time in history and it’s these same self appointed moral control freaks who inevitably reveal themselves to be hypocritical significant pervs.
Just in the last couple of weeks here in the US, we’ve had two right wing conservative family values intolerant asshat politicians both get caught boinking their extra-marital twinkies.
And really, WTF? Why is gov. trying to parent here? The responsibility of what children see on TV, in films, in games and online is that of their parents, not the gov. Slap warning stickers on things — but leave the parenting to the parents. If the parents are too fucking stupid to responsibly parent their kids and block their computers with tons of software that is available or use V chip technology, etc., then have the gov. go after the parents and punish them for neglect, child endangerment, etc. Don’t punish responsible adults (with or without kids) who are perfectly capable of deciding for themselves (and their children) what content on TV, in films, games and the net they choose or don’t choose to view.
well what about my case I have a business in SL what happens to that
and a friend i know works for SL and its their job …will they lose their job!
why do aussie put up with such crap from teh government!!!!
we are still the only place in teh world who gets charged for internet data and gets capped !!!
I hope they ban this game.
I mean other than the adult content you have gambling/money laundering businesses disguised as skill game operators.
I hope the FBI looks into this.
Someone tell me what is so fucking bad about banning this game?
nick le some people make a living from this game like my friend who works for linden labs she will lose her job how how would you like it if you would lose your job because some moron decided that adults cant do adult things
Age verification is not an option for games, because there is no rating higher than MA15+ in Australia, and even for adult sites with approved ratings (e.g. R18+) the age verification has to meet conditions that webmaster outside Australia is going to bother with - it includes requirements for record keeping which probably fall foul of local privacy laws.
No legislation has been formulated yet, all we can go on is stated government policy. With a majority in the House and good party discipline there is no doubt that anything proposed will get through the House. The situation in the Senate is different - no party has a majority, and if, as is likely, the opposition conservatives oppose it, it has no chance, as the Greens are outright against it.
However, if rejected by the Senate twice, with an interval of three months, the government has the option of calling an early election for both houses. Assuming the government is returned, it could then hold a joint sitting of both houses, which could pass the legislation, assuming that the majority in the House is greater than the lack of one in the Senate.
This outcome is unlikely, because proportional representation in the Senate, coupled with electing a whole Senate (normally half at a time) would make it likely that there would be even more unaligned senators, a situation the government is unlikely to relish.
what is also in second life is people that have disabilities able to socialize and people making friends and creativity and in my case i make music so i play my music to the world and have concerts, there are people who have bad social skill being able to be more relaxed due to not having to be embaressed by their looks … a way to make international friends catching up with family from overseas or how about shift workers that get to socialise due to different time zone i know heaps of people who have found love in this game which has developed into real life relations and marriage . by the way gambleing has be stopped in SL so that is good so you can scrap that part from it and now SL is going to make the adult part of SL restricted from under age people so whats bad with that??
I’m not anti American I love them…most of my best friends are american and I met them online…..I love SL …..and I wasnt having a go at americans personally…..Just the some ppl in government who think they are do-gooders dictate to what other ppl can do
im on secondlife all the time i have met so many friends and have more ppl that feel like family to me why the damn hell ban something that is played in our own homes and if ur not smart enough to stop ur under age children playing games like this then thats ur folt im a full time mum of 3 and i love my second life its the only adult compoany i have during the day and keeps me from going nuts i know that their are alot of really pissed off aussies right now Plz do not ban sl it has made my life better and i know ppl actualy make money on sl so u would be killing ppls only income that just not right.
omg, I cant even grasp what our government thinks its doing??? If I wanted to live in a communist country I would move to china, where they even censor google. I mean come on politicians stop trying to be the all knowing. Its a knee jerk reaction to a world wide problem with pedo rings and such. But as an adult who has children, you learn fast about the newest technology so we can properly guide them. The parents need to be pro active, the government would be better in educating them instead of punishing the rest of the country. I have a business in Second life, a lot of my friends do as well. I have a good friend that works for Linden Labs, this would mean her job, and how she provides for her family. Just recently the community of Second life raised over $11,000 AUD in world for the bushfire appeal in Victoria. Not too mention all the other charity work that happen every day in world. Its just a joke really what our government wants to do , plain stupid. I cant believe they were voted in really. When does it stop?? do they pull the plug on the internet, like a parent punishing a naughty child?? Shame on you Stephen Conroy, shame on you
exactly what annoyed aussie says, sl is a social life normal ppl would not have in real life….for different reasons…..I’m very shy in real life but when Im in sl I have fun..listen to music dance and I dj on there, and I have millions of friends there I can talk to not only in America (where the majority of my friends are from)from all over the world….and I can get on sl and talk to them anytime I want….
Very True Surreal
If I cant get on SL, i wont pay for internet…and from me bigpond gets $80 a month and thats just me …1 person….1 house….can u imagine how many Australians there is that will do the same ….
I’m an American currently living in Australia and I can tell you now, we have a LOT more freedoms than Aussies do. Sorry to say it.. but you Anti-American’s are dead wrong there. And our stores don’t all close at 5:30 either.. that’s a wash!
Eh, i’m still really annoyed about this. If they want to ban a virtual world, they better ban the real damn world too, where’s it’s a hell of a lot worse than SL.
I would go back and re-read Tateru’s comment I think she is on the money. Nothing to get hysterical about yet. The commentator in this article highlighted the idiocy of the legislation by mentioning SL and WOW. I’ll worry about it if it happens.
The Senator needs better advisors, it seems like he is being advised by people with no bloody idea. Again its a case of walking around with blinkers on just ignoring progress until it is upon them and they haven’t planned for it. SL has been around now for 6 years!!!! ok so we are slow to pick it up, but its our terrible internet that makes it very hard for people to embrace the internet as people do in other developed countries. The Howard Govt didn’t care about the internet and put it in the too hard basket and now its coming back to bite us in the bum, we should have got a better broadband 5 years ago! and now we have to wait for it, some of us another 8 years! gees…we will be Teleporting around the globe by the time that comes in!
I suggest they have some real expert advisors now to prevent such a stupid loss of opportunity happening again. Wake up guys the internet is here…its not going anywhere, can we please just get on board?
And yes my sentiments exactly about Net Nanny, I’m the Net nanny at my home to my 2 young boys, same as I am the Food nanny the sleep time nanny and the TV and Film watching Nanny its all about saying No and watching what your kids consume. I do not employ a Nanny to restrict my kids intake of anything! It aint hard folks…keep the computers in the family room and look over their shoulder from time to time and check history…If they purposely go looking for anything you don’t want them to switch it off! for a while, they will get the message.
Paisley
Senator Stephen Conjob, the Minister against Communications is a nutter. He’s just lost his struggle to impose mandatory internet filtering and this is just his latest rush of blood to the head. Not all ministerial press releases end up as legisaltion. Conjob’s chance of getting these laws is passed is zero, zip, nada.
There are more serious (and more senior) people in cabinet like Lindsay Tanner who are likely to block this sort of nonsense before it gets anywhere near the parliament.
Conjob opened a consultation blog in December to discuss Internet filtering and shut it down after 4 days when it became obvious there was almost no community support for his proposals and all the blog was doing was exposing the woeful technical ignorance of Conjob and his staff.
Tanner has just opened a new government blog within his own department and that is probably a good place to comment on the latest Conjob folly.
[…] http://dusanwriter.com/index.php/2009/06/25/australia-to-ban-second-life/ […]
Being that I don’t live in Australia, I did a little research. Seems you have the same issues we do with the moral majority right wing nuts seeking to foist their religious based moral ideology via politics and public policy onto the public.
While Conroy seems to be clueless, it appears that South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson is the man responsible for your vid game ratings FUBAR. And gems such as this one:
[[In 2002, Australia banned Grand Theft Auto III for allowing certain actions against virtual prostitutes; the game was later reinstated when this action was removed. Specifically, the player could solicit services from a virtual prostitute, and then kill her. The ability to solicit sex from prostitutes in the game was the action that was removed, but the player could still violently murder them.]]
That’s just insane — they make them remove the prostitution but the violent killing is okay. Typical rightwingnut ideology.
Here’s more about Asskisser and his handiwork:
[[He is seen as a mentor to younger members of Parliament, particularly those within the right faction, and has a particular interest in world history and Christian values.
Atkinson is responsible for maintaining Australia’s status as one of the few Western countries without an “Adults Only” rating for video games, despite overwhelming demand for such a rating. Due to this, Atkinson is often at the receiving end of criticism from the international Video Gaming community. Other related consequences include the sale of what are rated “Adult Only” games in other countries to minors and repeated inconsistent decisions from the OFLC who are “stuck between a rock and a hard place”. He has withdrawn his support for a discussion paper and public consultation on the subject of an “R18+” rating, although the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General still has this issue on its agenda, it is improbable that there will be unanimity which will result in introduction of the rating being almost impossible.
The M rating is recommended for mature but moderately young audiences, around the teen years. Language is relatively free, but “aggressive or strong coarse language” should be infrequent, and sexual innuendo is freely thrown around and sex may be mildly implied, and there is slightly more violence present. Sexual violence is not allowed. Drug use can be depicted in context. This was formerly known as “M15+”, but was changed to M to be consistent with film ratings. This rating is not restricted.
The “MA15+” rating is restricted to those 15 and over meaning those under 15 cannot legally play or buy the game without being accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. It can contain strong gruesome violence if justified by context, strong implication of sexual activity, much coarse language (though “very coarse language” should be infrequent), and “strong themes”.
There is no R18+ or X18+ rating for video games, meaning that any game that exceeds the MA15+ classification would be automatically Refused Classification and banned.
SNIP
The lack of R18+ and X18+ ratings for games has been the subject of complaint in the gaming community, particularly on the basis that there is no reason why adults should not be able to see content in games that they would see in a film. One of the main opponents to the introduction of a R18+ rating for video games is the South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson who has vetoed every attempt to induce one.[13][14] Although recently Australian video game show Good Game announced that a meeting of the Attorneys-General in March 2008 resulted in a decision that the Australian public would be consulted before a final decision on the status of a R18+ rating for video games would be made.]]
Time to run this dinosaur out of dodge and find someone who has one foot firmly planted in reality and the other in the future.
I am an SL player, im disabled irl. Im not trying to get sympathy but that game is my life ive established my friends and even create in there. Are they going to pay m my loss when they cut this off to me?
If they had half a brain they would just change the rules for australians and SL. Make australians need a LICENCE NUMBER on signing up for age verification. As it is Linden labs are already moving all the adult sims to a redlight district. Couldnt they just ban us from there? I dont know how they lay straight in bed at night, thinking they are doing better for all of us. I can tell you now this isnt better for me, and my friends will miss me dearly all because of one snotty nose rich f*** who will make up AN ADULTS MIND FOR THEM.
I WANT MY FREE COUNTRY BACK!
This is a real worry. I have a back issue and I am unable to work in most jobs. I have started to make a comfortable hobby income from SL and soon planned to make it a job/pay taxes ect. If they plan to ban me from SL I will loose my only income and my home. I do not want to become a doll bludger, I am an artist and enjoy what I am doing.
This is disgusting, I hope they dont pull through!
This is also sounding very much like what china dis. Since when was Australia a communist country?
Do all you people seriously think they are going to stop censorship so you can continue making your tax free income. No one give s a shit about your inworld profits, nor do they mine. Its alot deeper than that. Stop being so self-representing and look at the big picture.
Australia is not a communist country, no legislation has yet been passed or even presented to parliament. A majority of the Senate will oppose Conjob on this proposal as they already have on his mandatory ISP filtering scheme. The very last thing that will help keep the senators onside is overheated stuff about whether we are a communist country or not.
There’s already some fairly overheated stuff on other blogs that demonstrates more about what how little the commenters know about Australia than anything else.
@Bud We pay tax on our SL incomes, thankyou very much.
@Alberik: Well said, thankyou. What concerns me, however, is how the scheme seems to be expanding, apparently with the intent of gaining *more* support with the Senate. Look at how successful certain game-related legislation is in the USA… despite serious flaws, more more people vote for legislation that apparently controls mature games than other forms of mature media.
@ bud as Tate says, most pay taxes on their incomes. Thus it is a legitimate job with a legitimate income. And we are looking at the bigger picture, thus why we are concerned?
OMFG good on the Aussie’s to be the 1st in the Internet BULLSHIT game…I sucessfully play Second Life and have a business in there too which generates money to Australia.. HOW STUPID is our so called non-informed head hunters? Yanno as Michael Jackson said not EVERY1 thinks with their minds in the gutter…Have another BONG parliment watch ya PORNO’s and leave the intellegent people handle the internet… What a load of WANK… AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE ___________FAIL!
The title is misleading.. The Australian Government’s plan is to implement it’s own ‘Great Firewall’, effectively controlling internet access. Started a couple years ago with the “We want to block porno” saying - currently in a closed beta test, with a handful of users/ISPs participating.
————————
‘Great Firewall’ reference: http://tr.im/pSd9
@Tateru
I would not think the average senator is sufficiently aware of Second Life or virtual worlds for this to be a move to expand support. The only senator, apart from Conroy, who gets excited about this stuff is Fielding and he is already firmly in Conroy’s camp. The Opposition and the Greens are not interested in supporting the filter and banning online games gives them no reason to change their position.
The senate rejection of the filter has been based on an overreach argument with Conroy refusing to define dangerous phrases like ‘other unwanted content’. Conroy’s only public appearance in defence of his plan was QandA on the ABC and they received more critical questions directed at Conroy than they ever had for any other panelist. Expanding the filter to a whole new area is the last thing that would make it saleable.
It’s just another spectacular Conroy blunder, like his announcement on his blog last December that he would be filtering all data, not just web data.
Afterthought
As Tateru said on her blog, and I agree, I would be entirely unsurprised if this is a result of someone reading about Zindra. I’d be equally unsurprised if other political advisers in other countries are not reading about Zindra also. This is the sort of thing that happens when LL decides to shoot itself in the foot.
@Alberik: Oh, there’s a high level of awareness in the Oz senate just now. A lot of recent talk about terrorist bombings in SL, and of course sex.
I think, though, what would get this legislation over the line in the senate right now is the current expansion to encompass games. Mass Effect (the so-called sex-simulator for kids), Second Life, the recent RapePlay thing. Sex and games (or things that superficially resemble games if you stand far enough away from them) are a strongly coupled unit in the minds of politicians right now.
First thing *WE* Australians should ban the ISPS that test and support this stuff, there are plenty of others that have refused to participate.
Cheers Linz
This sounds like a sensationalist journalism beat up. Lets remember that some significant institutions in Australia has a presence within Second Life including Telstra Bigpond and the Commonwealth’s own ABC or Australian Broadcasting Commission, amongst a number of Universities.
@Tateru
The search: AuthorSpeakerReporter:”second life” Dataset:hansards in the Senate Hansard gives 0 results.
I can’t beleive you guys would really do this im a mother of 1 at the moment and i love to go on “Second Life” when my son is sleeping thats wat i do in my free time.. why would you take that away from us there are soo manny australians that go on SL..
Or is that why you want to do it cause Australia didnt come up with the Idea 1st!!!!
LOL! Australia is becoming the shittiest developed nation in the world. Might as well be a theocracy or China.
Well gee Funny, I’d have though it was a fair distance from a press release to a bill that’s unlikely to pass the parliament to Tienanmen or Teheran but evidently you know a lot more about these things than the rest of us.
I think the Australian Government should keep their hands out of Secondlife. My feelings as an american is that the ADULTS can do what they want with their time… I mean does Australia ban movies that are rated R (movies that are violent or sexually charged like say, “Die hard”)