vigilant TV

The South Australian state government has passed an internet censorship bill that prohibits the publication of material unsuitable for children, even if minors are prevented from accessing it.

Thus, even if content which could be rated R is put up on a password-protected region of a site, and the password is provided only to adults, one could still be prosecuted under criminal law. The maximum penalty is $10,000.

The bill covers content placed on the Web (including archived mailing lists), messages to newsgroups, etc.

A practically identical bill was introduced in South Australia in November 2000 but was not passed by either house of parliament in February 2002, just before the last elections were held in the state.

– The Age, SA passes Net censorship bill.