Tag Archives: censorship

Australia’s contrary Internet tendencies

By Jens | Published: January 7, 2010
Australia is a weird country. Given that the country’s broadband is amongst the worst in the developed world, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a plan to build a national broadband network. The ambitious project will take up to eight years, cost $43 billion, create tens of thousands of jobs and will see fibre-optic cable laid out [...]
Posted in Communications, Jens Schroeder, Online, Politics | Also tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Left 4 Dead in the Aussie Censorship System

By Jens | Published: September 21, 2009
It looks like Left 4 Dead 2 has been banned in Australia. The reason: [C]lose in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore. This was not deemed suitable for 15-year-olds. Despite the [...]
Posted in Et cetera, Jens Schroeder, Video Games | Also tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Kiwi Government Censor: Prosecute Parents Who Give Violent Games to Kids

By Jens | Published: May 31, 2009
What’s up with the other end of the world all of a sudden? First Australia plans to spend millions of dollars on an inane net fiter that is perfectly suited to censor free speech and would make one of the slowest internets of the Western world even slower; then New Zealand contemplates to introduce a [...]
Posted in Et cetera, Jens Schroeder, Video Games | Also tagged | Leave a comment

A Liberal Democracy on Par With China and Saudi Arabia: Australia’s ‘Net Filter Plan

By Jens | Published: December 8, 2008
The internet: decentralised, largely unregulated, not belonging to anyone, knowledge flowing freely. Australia: Traditionally having one of the strictest censorships of a liberal democracy, banning R18+ video games and behind pretty much everyone else in terms of broadband speeds. How do these two mix? Exactly… The Australian Government under Kevin Rudd plans to impose a [...]
Posted in Et cetera, Jens Schroeder, Online, Politics | Also tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Australia’s R-Rating for Videogames (or Lack Thereof) – It could be worse

By Jens | Published: March 3, 2008
Australia is the only Western democracy without a 18+ rating for videogames (the highest rating is 15MA+). Despite talks about changing this, it looks like this is not going to remain the same – one of the main reasons being South Australian Attorney-General, Michael Atkinson. The problem is that all votes concerning a change in the [...]
Posted in germany | Also tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The German Left Party and its Understanding of Wikipedia

By Jens | Published: December 10, 2007
Considering that German conservatives have several issues with new technology – as for example evidenced in the discussion about the banning of so-called “Killer Games” – one might think that the other end of the political spectrum would be able to offer an alternative to this ungrounded, uninformed fear. But not only do the German [...]
Posted in germany | Also tagged , , , | 1 Comment

It’s Not About Manhunt it’s About Video Games

By Jens | Published: June 25, 2007
Manhunt 2, the latest brainchild of scandal-ridden developer Rockstar, got a hard time all over the world: the English BBFC rejected the title, Ireland and Australia followed suit, while the American ESRB issued a preliminary rating of AO (Adults only) which basically amounts to a ban since most US retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Target, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | 3 Comments