Pirate's Cove

Like New Zealand, Australia also has massive bans and limits on private ownership of firearms, nor do they have a 1st Amendment like the United States. As the old saying goes, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions

Australia To Criminalize Failure To Remove Violent Content From Internet Platforms

Australia’s parliament has passed new legislation to criminalize Internet platforms for failing to remove violent videos and audio, after an Australian gunman livestreamed himself shooting worshippers in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Under the new legislation, social media executives — among other online content or hosting providers — could be imprisoned for up to three years and companies could face penalties of up to 10 percent of their annual revenue if they do not remove violent content in an “expeditious” manner.

The bill passed on Thursday local time with cross-party support but faced criticism, including that it could cause increased censorship and that the process was rushed.

Christian Porter, Australia’s attorney general with the Liberal party, said of the bill, which he said was likely a “world first,” was a direct response to footage of the terror attacks in New Zealand that spread across social media. The original video was available on Facebook for about an hour from the beginning of the live broadcast – and viewed by thousands of people – before Facebook removed it. Facebook said it blocked or removed 1.5 million copies over the next 24 hours. (snip)

Porter said the legislation is intended to make companies take responsibility for the spread of video or audio of “abhorrent violent conduct” — defined as terrorism, murder, attempted murder, torture, rape and kidnapping.

I’m sure we can all agree that those are pretty bad, right? There’s also like a gazillion (slightly more than a shitload) of videos on the web right now.

Arthur Moses, president of the Law Council of Australia, told the AP that the legislation could have an impact on online business investment and lead to media censorship.

“Media freedom and whistleblowing of atrocities here and overseas have been put at risk by the ill-informed livestream laws passed by the Federal Parliament,” Moses said.

Scott Farquhar, CEO of Sydney-based software company Atlassian, said the bill would make any person working at a company that allows uploads of videos or images “guilty until proven innocent.”

“They need to violate users’ privacy to police this,” he wrote on Twitter.

The question needs to be asked, what next? The law is cool with allowing violent content in the news and for artistic purposes, meaning TV shows and movies. What about video games? Will they be targeted?

Whatever the medium books, TV, film, internet, or social media beware the the government that seeks to restrict the free flow of information from its people.
This is the very essence of tyranny.

— ACW III (@acw37162) April 4, 2019

And what happens next? What do they ban? The law itself is very vague, so, do they crack down on things that are mean? There’s always mission creep from Government. And what will citizens do about it? That’s one reason we have a 2nd Amendment, to protect the measures in the 1st. Sure, you might not win against the government, which has tanks and such, but, you can try. And when we band together, we can.