The Wikileaks saga continues to captivate the public imagination. The drama around Assange and his arrest, the fascinating leaks, and the cyberpunk-style internet war that is raging in the background means this is the story that just keeps on giving. And it's not just geeks that are soaking up the news - it's everybody. This will have a huge impact on future debates on civil liberties online.

Though Wikileaks has done only what journalists have been doing for time immemorial, the backlash against them - and Julian Assange personally - has been massive. First came the outrage. The vociferous condemnations, encouragements to assassination, the hunt to find a legal pretext to lock him up, all came thick and fast as the latest round of leaks began. Our own Prime Minister was quick to label Wikileaks a criminal organisation, despite no laws being broken or charges filed.

Next came the legal and financial attacks. Web hosts were forced to sever ties with Wikileaks. Politicians in the U.S. put pressure on web hosts and payment processing companies such as Paypal, Mastercard and Visa to stop providing service to Wikileaks and throttle their ability to operate. Even a Swiss Bank cancelled Assange's bank account because he used his Swiss lawyer's address instead of his own.

The last phase will be legislative, as embarrassed Governments scramble to make laws that would ensure they can lock somebody up - if not now, then next time. Already, a bill has been introduced into the U.S. Congress that would allow the U.S. Government to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act. Our own government may well be pondering a similar course of action; several times we have been told that they are scouring the law books for something, anything, with which to charge Assange.

(more...)

The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) met on Friday, with the creation of an R-18+ category for computer games a top agenda item. Because changes to the classification code require unanimous agreement by all states and the Commonwealth, this is the body where the games reform is going to live or die.

With the commonwealth government strongly behind the reform, there was almost feverish excitement amongst gamers that the AGs would finally get this over and done with. Michael Atkinson, former South Australian Attorney-General, almost single-handedly stalled reform in this area for years, but his departure at the last S.A. election also raised hopes that the stars had finally aligned and Australia would join the rest of the developed world in allowing adults to play games designed for them.

As you probably know by now, there's been no such luck. Although we haven't been able to find out the exact details, it appears that once again one or two of the state AGs have decided to prevent things moving forward. Comments by the WA Attorney General, Christian Porter, strongly indicate that he at least was not ready to push forward with reform. So the outcome of Friday's meeting was a "no" - but it might still be a "no, not yet."

What SCAG did agree to was to make an inquiry into possible changes to the MA-15+ category that would be necessitated by an R-18+ rating. Some of the recent debate has been around the fact that games that would otherwise be rated R-18+ are slipping into the MA-15+ category to avoid being banned, so this might be the reason for the decision. More likely, in our view, is that was all the committee could agree to do on the day. But it does mean the debate is not over.

Reports from the day indicate that the AGs continued to be lobbied by the Australian Christian Lobby and were shown footage of the most violent games on the market today. It's a shame that the focus of the debate appears to still be on whether violent games are ugly, and not whether they can be better restricted to those who are old enough to decide to play them.

This was a very disappointing result after three years of extensive research, consultation and lobbying. But we know the issue will be back on the agenda in the first half of next year, probably in March. There's still time to ratchet up the pressure and get the states to see the light. We'll be launching a campaign in the new year to help focus this pressure in the places, and on the people, where we think it will be most effective.

In the meantime, there's been a bit of good news. The Western Australian Liberal Party State Council has already passed a motion calling on Porter to support the R-18+ reform in the future. Perhaps there's hope that the recalcitrants really can be brought into line by a bit of gentle pressure from all directions.

On behalf of EFA I had a bit of a debate on-air with the Australian Christian Lobby's Jim Wallace on this subject on Friday night. If you'd like to have a listen, download the audio here.

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today urged state governments to continue the momentum for classification reform, following a lack of agreement by the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General to establish an adults-only classification for computer games. Currently, computer games that would be rated above MA-15+ are banned for sale in Australia.

"This is a reform that has overwhelming public support and is long overdue," said EFA Chair Colin Jacobs. "For over a decade, games have been treated differently to movies, causing dozens of popular titles to be banned in Australia. It's high time this situation was remedied."

Changes to the classification code require unanimous agreement by the states. The issue of creating an R-18+ category for games was discussed today at a meeting of Australian attorneys-general, with the state representatives instead agreeing to consult on potential impacts to the MA-15+ category.

"We urge the state governments to listen to their people and remove any obstacles to this reform," said Jacobs. "The research shows we can give adults the choice to consume entertainment appropriate for them, while actually enhancing the ability to protect children. Seeing this change through is really a no-brainer, and Australians gamers have waited long enough."

(more...)

All it needs for evil to flourish is for people of good will to do nothing. - Edmund Burke

We understand from news reports overnight that Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks has presented himself to UK police and been arrested over sexual assault claims in Sweden. We call on the government to ensure that Assange is afforded the proper support, security and representation due to an Australian citizen facing charges overseas.

Due to the nature of the #cablegate leaks recently published by Wikileaks, Assange has become a target for angry, fearful and vengeful politicians and powerbrokers who have been subject to embarrassing and damaging leaks of information.

While loud voices overseas are clamouring, quite literally, for Assange’s blood and for the closure of Wikileaks, Australia must stand firm and adhere to the basic principles which frame our democracy - including the rule of law, the presumption of innocence and the protection of speech.

Any legal action against Assange or Wikileaks must be kept free from political motivations or interference and any charges laid against Assange must be founded in law, based on fact and exercised in a public court.

We agree with those who have called on the Prime Minister to speak out against the death threats being made against Julian Assange, and we would also ask the government to guard against any extra-judicial action being taken against him, or against Wikileaks.

Australia will send a dangerous message to potential whistleblowers about our reluctance to protect our citizens who publish unpopular truths if our government does not take immediate action to stop the continued persecution of Assange and Wikileaks.

While the internet is radically changing the way information can be shared between citizens and across borders, what hasn’t changed is the need for nations to protect those who perform acts of journalism and whistleblowing.

Whistleblowing is not illegal, nor is publishing leaked documents from whistleblowers. Whistleblowing is a legitimate way for citizens to reveal corruption and illegal activity. Like journalism, it is a tool for upholding democracy and speaking truth to power.

It would be as unjust to punish Wikileaks for publishing leaked documents as it would be to punish the newspapers which have published stories about those leaks. We note with concern that just such action is being contemplated in the US, where the actions of Wikileaks and the New York Times are being described by some as “espionage”.

It is of grave concern that in recent years, we have seen countries, including our allies, invoking extra-judicial measures in the name of democracy. We must resist this trend. Extra-judicial measures do not protect democracy, they undermine it.

While another outlet, or many outlets, would replace Wikileaks should it be shut down, Australia’s participation in the censorship or closure of Wikileaks would set a dangerous precedent for silencing citizens and critics of the state.

We call on the Prime Minister to retract her description of Wikileaks as “illegal”, which we believe is a statement without basis in law. We refer to the statement made by Senator George Brandis, the opposition's legal affairs spokesperson, who told The Age ‘‘As far as I can see he [Mr Assange] hasn’t broken any Australian law, nor does it appear he has broken any American laws."

Australians showed that they want the rights of their fellow citizens abroad protected in their support for the protection and return home of David Hicks. We must afford Julian Assange all the protections due to our citizens abroad, and resist attempts by foreign governments to overstep his rights. We must not let Julian Assange become the next David Hicks. And we must show our commitment to free speech by protecting the whistleblowing website, Wikileaks.

- The EFA Board

There have been some very interesting developments in the last week in the push to finally reform the classification system to create an R-18+ rating for computer games. It's an issue that has languished for years despite overwhelming public support. Finally, it seems to be gaining some momentum thanks to actions by the Commonwealth Government.

Currently, any game that does not fit into the MA-15+ ratings category is banned for sale or importation into Australia. Given how popular games have become, and the average age of the Australian gamer (over 30), this is nothing if not an anachronism. Reform has been in the works for years, but due to the complexities of the censorship system, it requires the unanimous agreement of all the states to make a change to the classification code. The attorneys-general are meeting this Friday and will discuss the issue. In the past, South Australia in particular have blocked any action for years, but with a new Attorney General in the portfolio, we're optimistic an agreement might be reached. Here's why.

Firstly, we saw the Attorney General conduct a public consultation into the introduction of an R-18+ rating. (You can read EFA's joint submission with Ausgamers here.) With 58,000 submissions, 98% of them in favour of reform, the Government had no choice but to listen.

Then last week, the government released a literature review which debunks a lot of the myths about computer games and children. While those opposed to the change usually cite the dangers of violent video games and the concerns that it will harm children, the Government's research shows that these links are extremely tenuous at best. Furthermore, they noted that there doesn't seem to be a significant difference between playing a game and watching a movie.

Then yesterday, Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor released a statement detailing the Government's unequivocal support for change, and citing survey data showing that even 81% of Australians over 50 support an adults-only classification. It's clear, now, that the Commonwealth is actively pushing this reform. Given that, we're optimistic that the states will see fit to hop on board, especially given the data prepared by the Government to justify the change.

(more...)