Media Release

Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc.

Media Release                                        May 18 1999

NATIONAL PROTEST AGAINST CENSORSHIP ON MAY 28

Electronic Frontiers Australia today announced several protest events
to take place on Friday May 28.  EFA has been urging local groups around
the nation to co-ordinate protests against government censorship.

"The Online Services Bill, the Federal Government's attempt to censor
the Internet, is the principal focus at the moment", said EFA Chair Kim
Heitman, "but censorship has been eroding our freedoms for some time now.
The attacks on the films Lolita and Salo and the Rabelais newspaper
case are part of a clamp-down by the Federal Government, which has
tightened regulations, appointed tough censors, and rejected nominees
for a community panel for being over-qualified."

"We are organising these events to alert people to the threats to their
freedom of speech, and to give them a chance to express their opposition
to censorship", Mr Heitman explained.

In Sydney, protesters will assemble at 1.00pm in Hyde Park North for
speeches, before marching on the offices of the Office of Film and
Literature Classification and the Australian Broadcasting Authority.

In Perth, protesters will assemble at 1.00 pm at the Esplanade before
marching to Forrest Place for speeches at 2.00 pm.

In Melbourne, a seminar "Censorship: Does It Make Sense in a Digital
Age?" will be held from 11.00am to 1.00pm at the State Library of
Victoria.  Speakers on the panel are Victor Perton, MLA - Doncaster; Morag
Fraser, Free Speech Committee; and Sue McKnight, Australian Library and
Information Association.  There will be time for questions and discussion.

Similar events are planned in other cities.  Updates can be found on
the EFA web site at http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/may28/

[ENDS]

      --------------------------------------------------------------
      Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc  --  http://www.efa.org.au/
      representing Internet users concerned with on-line freedoms
      --------------------------------------------------------------
      Sydney Contact:
       Danny Yee
       Ph: 02 9955 9898 (h)    
           02 9351 5159 (w) 
       danny.yee@efa.org.au

      Perth Contacts:
       Kim Heitman 08 9458 2790      kheitman@it.net.au
       Paul McCutcheon 08 9244 1954  paul@omen.net.au
       Ivor King 08 9214 2222        ivor@iinet.net.au

      Melbourne Contact:
       Jan Whitaker
       jwhit@primenet.com
      --------------------------------------------------------------

BACKGROUND

More information about events
        http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/may28/

EFA's campaign against Net censorship
        http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/stop.html

Information about censorship in Australia
        http://www.pobox.com/~rene/censor/
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