Legal Niches

Columnist: R18+ Paper Meant to Distract from Web Censorship

By pete_gallagher

While most viewed the Australian government's decision to accept public comments on adding an adult R18+ rating category for videogames as a positive step forward, one columnist labeled the announcement as 'purely smoke and mirrors.'

Duncan Riley of The Inquisitr called the government's timing for the release of the paper suspect, claiming that it was merely a way to distract Australians from the government's new plan to censor the Internet, which was announced just a few days later.

Other hurdles to the eventual implementation include the fact that any change to current censorship laws must be supported by all states. Riley adds:

States could in theory still go it alone on censorship, but likewise none seems interested in going it alone on computer games; that is, the states are committed to the process of a national implementation of censorship laws, complete with the need for all states to agree to changes.

Another road block is, of course, South Australia Attorney General Michael Atkinson:

Atkinson isn't a one-man band on censorship, his stance against R18+ games is not his alone, but comes with the support of the South Australian Government. If he was running policy that went against the beliefs of the Government, he wouldn't continue to hold his position of Attorney General.

|Thanks Ryan|

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on December 17, 2009 (boomark / email).