The public consultation on the introduction of an R18+ for computer games closes at the end of the month. Jessi Citizen, on behalf of EFA and in conjunction with Ausgamers, has prepared a draft response to the consultation that sets out our understanding of the issues and our arguments.

• Draft submission paper (MS Word format)

In the spirit of community involvement, and to ensure that we have the strongest argument we can possibly put forward, we are opening this draft paper for public comment. You can see (and edit) the paper on Google docs. Please provide us with your comments and suggestions on this paper. In addition to the draft document, we also have some research that we conducted (thanks to Julian Merlo and Matt Postle) that details comparative ratings for games in 2009 worldwide (showing that over half of the games that were rated as MA15+ here were given adult ratings by all five comparative jurisdictions overseas!)

To join in our discussion on the draft paper process, please join our discussion list. Putting these documents together takes money, and EFA is entirely volunteer funded. If you would like to contribute to our R18+ submission, please consider making a small donation to help us recoup our costs:

In addition to comments, we would like to see as many people as possible put together their own submission to the public consultation. You can do this either by using Grow Up Australia’s submission form or following the submission template and the instructions on the AGD’s website.

Here’s some tips for writing a submission:

• Be reasonable; don’t attack the classification board or any particular Attorneys-General. We have the facts and the theory on our side, and we don’t gain anything by sounding childish or petulant.
• Follow the submission guidelines – make sure your voice is heard.
• Make your points clearly and succinctly. Feel free to take any of the information we present in the discussion paper; you’re usually better served by being brief and to the point.
• Express the issue in your own words, and tell your own story; Explain to the AGD why you personally want an R18+ rating, and how it affects you.

The main points that we are trying to stress in this discussion paper are really quite simple:

• Gamers are adults; games, like films, tell expressive stories, not all of which are suitable for children. Banning everything that is not suitable for children amounts to unacceptable censorship of legitimate expression.
• Gamers are parents; as responsible parents, we take care to monitor what media our children consume, and can take responsibility for those decisions.
• An R18+ rating is about empowerment; the goal of Australia’s classification is to empower adults, protect children, protect people from accidental exposure to offensive material, and to take into account community concerns about particularly offensive content. An R18+ allows adults to choose what is suitable for themselves and for their children.
• An R18+ rating will be more likely to decrease rather than increase the exposure of children to inappropriate content, because it sends a clear message to parents that certain material is not appropriate for children; the lack of an R18+ for games, particularly when one exists for films, only causes confusion and lessens the ability of parents to take responsibility.
• Australia’s system is out of step with the rest of the world; games that are clearly not designed for children are being released with an MA15+ rating, and games that are suitable for adults are being banned. Our research shows that of the 47 games that were rated by the Australian Classification Board, the US ESRB, the UK BBFC, the EU PEGI, and the NZ OFLC, more than 50 per cent of titles that were rated MA15+ in Australia were given an adult rating overseas. The Australian system is demonstrably less effective in warning parents and gamers about the content of video games than our international counterparts. Introducing an R18+ rating will address some of this disparity and enable Australians to make more informed choices about what games they play or allow their children to play.

Thank you to everyone who has signed the Senate Internet Censorship Petition.  So far we have just under 10,000 signatories to the e-petition, but that is just the beginning.

Please let your friends, family and colleagues know about the Government’s mandatory Internet filtering policy and what they can do to help defeat it, including signing the petition online as well as collecting paper signatures.

We now have badges you can use to help promote the petition.  If you would like to help publicise the petition, you can copy the code (next to each badge) and paste it onto your blog or website.  Or feel free to right click on the image, save it, and use it however you would like.

	<a href="http://www.efa.org.au/petition/"> <img src="http://www.efa.org.au/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/petition135.jpg" alt="EFAPetition" width="135" height="48" border="0"/></a>
	<a href="http://www.efa.org.au/petition/"> <img src="http://www.efa.org.au/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/petition180.jpg" alt="EFAPetition" width="180" height="63" border="0"/></a>

All this week Australian websites having been going black as part of the Great Australian Internet Blackout.  So far this online demonstration has successfully reached a wide range of audiences, educating them about the problems with the Government’s mandatory Internet filter policy:

• There are 480 verified participating websites (and that only counts the websites that have directly submitted their sites for inclusion on our list),  including the websites of the Australian Greens, the Australian Democrats, iiNet, New Matilda and Online Opinion.
• More than 2300 Twitter users have blacked out their profile pictures using a countable method (Twibbon), while many more have blacked out their profile using their own artwork (which is much harder to count).  You can black out your Twitter profile picture here.  You can also set your Twitter background to 1000 supporters of the Blackout here.
• More than 5200 Facebook users have joined the Great Australian Internet Blackout group (quite a number of whom have blacked out their profile pictures), up from around 2000 at the start of the week.  You can join that group here.
• There have been over 260,000 unique visitors to the Great Australian Internet Blackout website.
• The blackout information popup (which appears on sites that have joined the campaign using our script) has been seen more than 375,000 times.

It’s not too late for you and your business or organisation to participate in this demonstration.  Just visit the Great Australian Internet Blackout website for more information.

We will post the final numbers early next week.

Electronic Frontiers Australia today announced that over 500 web Australian sites will be “blacked out” on Australia day in protest against the Rudd government’s mandatory Internet filtering plan. Included among them are the Australian Greens, an Internet service provider, media outlets, and hundreds of other Australian businesses and organisations.

“This policy has caused considerable anxiety amongst Australian Internet users,” said EFA Vice-Chair Colin Jacobs. “The idea that the Government will be inserting itself in every Internet connection in the country is a tough one to swallow, especially without a workable policy goal behind it.”

The “Great Australian Internet Blackout” was the brainchild of activist Jeff Waugh, and is endorsed and supported by EFA. For a week starting on Australia Day, participating web sites will appear to turn black and will display a one-time message to visitors explaining the Government’s plan and offering them more information before allowing visitors to continue as normal.

The plan, which will see all Australian Internet connections subject to a Government-controlled blacklist of banned sites, will apply to all Australian Internet connections within 12 months of the legislation being passed. Although originally touted as a “cyber-safety” policy, the resulting filter will not filter out all material unsuitable for children, instead targeting a select list of “refused classification” material, which would includes content dealing with crime, drugs and certain types of adult material.

Greens Communications spokesman Senator Scott Ludlam, in deciding to support the campaign, said “The Government’s plan will not protect children, will do nothing to crack down on criminal activity online, and sets a dangerous precedent of centralised net censorship.”

Concerns with the list include its broad scope, it’s secret nature, and the inability of Australian businesses to know if and when they have been placed on the list. “One of our main concerns is how the list might expand in the future,” said Jacobs. “It’s hard to imagine this and all future governments responding to special interests, electoral pressure and the news cycle only with restraint forevermore.”

The Internet Blackout on Australia Day marks an escalation of opposition to the plan, which will continue throughout the year. “Our goal is to ensure the Australian public know what they’re in for,” said Peter Black, EFA’s campaign manager. “It’s important that such a major and expensive policy gets the public scrutiny it deserves.”

(more…)

Ever since I became campaign manager for the EFA’s campaign against the Government’s mandatory Internet filter two and a half weeks ago, I have been overwhelmed by the level of enthusiasm and support for the EFA’s campaign.  Accordingly, the most frequent question I have been asked is “what can I do to help?”  Given this level of support and the desire of so many Australians to help defeat the Government’s policy, I thought I’d suggest ten things you can do to help the EFA’s campaign against the Government’s mandatory Internet filter.

1. Sign the Senate Internet Censorship Petition.

Last week the EFA launched a petition gainst the Government’s mandatory Internet filtering policy that will be presented to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia.  You can sign the petition electronically by going to this page and leaving your name, postcode and email address.

2. Collect signatures for the Senate Internet Censorship Petition.

In addition to signing the online petition, we are also looking for volunteers to collect printed signatures.  If you would like to gather signatures for the petition, please download and read the Senate Internet Censorship Petition – Instructions before printing the Senate Internet Censorship Petition.  Simply print out the petition and take it to work, parties, and anywhere else you might be able to talk to people about Internet censorship and persuade them to sign this petition.

3. Participate in the Great Australian Internet Blackout.

This week is the Great Australian internet Blackout, a week long online protest against imposed online censorship.  Over 500 groups and thousands of individuals are blacking out their websites and profile pictures to inform a wider audience about the Government’s plan.  Learn how to black out your website here, and learn how to black out you profile picture on Twitter or Facebook here.

4. Renew your membership or donate to the EFA.

The EFA relies on membership fees and donations to fund its activities.  Renew your membership or make a donation so that we can continue to fund our campaign against the Government’s mandatory Internet filter. (more…)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday delivered an important, wide-ranging speech on the subject of Internet freedom. Coming on the heels of the Chinese cyber-attacks on Google and other U.S. companies, and the increasing use of online censorship by authoritarian governments around the world, the speech draws a line in the sand and presents the USA as the global champion of online openness.

Secretary Clinton Recognised that free access to information online is just as important in the modern age as the right to use a printing press was in earlier times. The ability to communicate with others over the net is as important, now, as the right to assemble and discuss politics ever was offline. Said Clinton, “The freedom to connect is like the freedom of assembly, only in cyberspace. It allows individuals to get online, come together, and hopefully cooperate. Once you’re on the internet, you don’t need to be a tycoon or a rock star to have a huge impact on society.”
(more…)

The Rudd Government’s mandatory ISP filtering bill will soon be introduced into Parliament, and we can only hope that the debate there will focus more on the real merits of the scheme – which are few and far between – than empty rhetoric about protecting children. When the debate happens, here are some questions the Government needs to answer under the glare of public scrutiny.

1. Given the trouble and expense of this policy, you must have some pretty convincing evidence that children are being constantly exposed to RC material. How was your research conducted and will it be released to the public?

(In fact, research indicates that of all the threats kids face online, accidental exposure to disturbing content is about the least significant.)

2. Two-thirds of Internet-connected households don’t have school-age children. Isn’t forcing a filter onto them as well as businesses unnecessary?

(We have never heard a cogent explanation why the filter should be mandatory and not opt-in, or why it’s a better solution than more comprehensive and customisable PC-based filters.)

3. Given the reasonably poor uptake of filters by parents in the past, what makes you so sure the Australian people want a filter at a national level?

(Survey data shows that parents who don’t install filters do so mainly because they consider them unnecessary or too restrictive, not for technical or cost reasons.) (more…)

Electronic Frontiers Australia has today launched a petition against the Government’s mandatory Internet filtering policy that will be presented to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia.

You can sign the petition electronically by going to the this page and leaving your name, postcode and email address.  Please talk to your friends, family and colleagues about the problems with the Government’s mandatory Internet filtering policy and encourage them to sign the petition as well.

We are also looking for volunteers to collect printed signatures.  If you are having a meeting or protest against the Government’s mandatory Internet filtering policy in the coming weeks, we would encourage you to distribute this Senate Internet Censorship Petition to collect as many printed signatures as possible.  There are detailed instructions about collecting signatures, and where to return the printed signatures, here.

Learn more about this petition at http://www.efa.org.au/petition/.

If you have any questions, please email Peter Black: pete.black at efa.org.au.

Electronic Frontiers Australia today expressed its surprise and concern that
the operators of the satirical protest site StephenConroy.com.au were given
only three hours to justify their “connection to” the domain name. Under
Australian domain name regulations, it is quite common for website operators
to be required to identify their reasons for operating under an Australian
domain name, but it is unusual for operators to be offered so little time to
provide those reasons.

“While we understand some of the quite sensible reasons behind the
restrictive rules on Australian domain names, we are surprised at the level
of energy with which auDA has pursued this particular matter”, said EFA
spokesperson Geordie Guy. “At a time when criticism of the Minister around
the government’s proposed mandatory filtering scheme is so prolific, it’s
easy for Australians to be cynical about such assertive action from the
domain authority particularly when we understand that other cases are
usually afforded much more consideration.”

This incident reflects worrying concerns about the power that private domain
name regulators have to silence critical political speech without going
through legitimate legal channels. In 2006, a similar incident saw Melbourne
IT cancel the domain registration for JohnHowardMP.org created by well-known
political commentator Richard Neville, a move that was instigated on advice
from the Australian Government. Cancellation silenced a satirical website
that featured a parody speech from Mr Howard that apologised for Australia’s
involvement in the most recent Iraq war.

(more…)

(Originally posted at Crikey!).

The Government’s nicely-timed announcement last week that they will proceed next year with their Internet censorship scheme has not only drawn widespread ire in Australia but has continued to raise eyebrows overseas. The filter has been covered around the world from the BBC to news outlets in Poland, Pakistan and even China. Unfortunately, it’s not a good look – despite any nuances the policy might have, we’re gaining a reputation as the Iran of the South Pacific.

This has culminated with no less an organisation than Reporters Without Borders, a global watchdog of press freedom, writing to the Prime Minister urging him to abandon the scheme. Given that one normally encounters RWB in association with jailed reporters and post-coup news blackouts this development should be alarming to anyone concerned with our image as an open democracy in the world. (more…)

EFA has received many queries from overseas in the last few days asking: What on earth is going on down there? Well, we hoped that sense would prevail; that more important policies would get in the way, or that the Minister would get seated on a plane next to somebody who actually understood how the Internet works. Instead, at a sudden press conference it was announced that Australia will next year join the ranks of countries who censor the net.

It’s hard for any government to resist pursuing a policy when children are involved, or are seen to be involved. The censorship push started its life as a cyber-safety policy, where ISPs would be required to provide a filtered solution to families, but has since morphed into something at once less useful and more sinister. An announcement on Tuesday confirms it: next year, all Australian ISPs will be required to filter access to a government-supplied blacklist containing “refused classification” (RC) web content. That would include nasty stuff like child pornography, but also a broader range of content: fetishy sex, instruction in crime (such as euthanasia), any computer game not suitable for under 18s. The list will be partly generated by complaints from the public, and may include lists imported from overseas police departments.

While this is sold as a kid-friendly measure, to “improve safety of the internet for families”, it’s clearly nothing of the sort. A few thousand URLs hardly constitutes a national net nanny. The list would almost be laughable if only it was not mandatory and secret – unlike censorship decisions made in other media, blocked URLs will remain secret and expressly excluded from freedom of information requests. Just as worrying is the fact that once this list is in, a conga-line of special interests will be approaching the government to have their pet peeves added to the list. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine AFACT (Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft) clamouring to have bittorrent trackers added, and several parliamentarians are on record calling for a ban on pro-anorexia sites and pornography in general.

It looks like the Australian blogosphere and twitterverse are in an uproar, and the media have not been very kind. What remains to be seen is how much this issue can crossover into the mainstream public consciousness. If the policy is seen as a vote-loser rather than a crowd pleaser, the Government might be a little readier to see reason.

So is Australia the new Iran? Should you encrypt your hard drive or install a VPN before visiting Australia next year? Well, it’s not the law of the land yet, but unless the political winds change, Australia is set to join a club with some rather unsavoury members.

The government’s announcement yesterday that it would press ahead with its mandatory ISP filtering scheme is as unsurprising as it is disappointing. Many people with concerns about the plan had hoped that the Minister would finally get some good advice, get distracted with other things, or otherwise come to his senses and take a face-saving out. Sadly for Australia that was not to be. Yesterday, the Minister released the report detailing the technical results of the trial, and at the same time announced the Government was pushing ahead with the filter, with legislation to be introduced next year. (Continue reading at ABC’s Unleashed.)

Electronic Frontiers Australia today welcomed the release of the Government’s Internet filtering report but predicted that the debate is far from over.

“There are few surprises in this document,” said EFA spokesperson Colin Jacobs. “Given the pilot’s modest goals, it was designed from the beginning to pass. Although it may address some technical issues, what it leaves out is far more important – exactly what will be blocked, who will decide, and why is it being attempted in the first place?”

The report found that generally, ISPs were able to block a government-provided blacklist of several thousand web sites without a major impact on service levels. It also found that circumvention was trivial for motivated users, calling the effectiveness of the proposal into question.

The report indicated that there were costs associated with filtering, which would hit smaller ISPs the hardest. The expected costs for Australian Internet users were not addressed in the report, nor were other alternatives such as increasing support for home-based filters. Although several ISPs also tested filtering beyond the government blacklist, the report finds they were only 84% accurate in the best case.

It’s not unexpected that the censorship proved technically possible. EFA notes that, since the election, the government’s “cyber-safety” plan has shifted away from providing tools to shield minors on the web to a black list of “almost exclusively RC (Refused Classification)” content aimed at adults.

“The Government knows this plan will not help Australian kids, nor will it aid in the policing of prohibited material. Given the problems in maintaining a secret blacklist and deciding what goes on it, we’re at a loss to explain the Minister’s enthusiasm for this proposal,” said Jacobs.

“We’ll be interested to see how the Internet service providers respond. We know they are critical of having such intrusive Government interference in their networks,” he added.

Although the minister has hailed the pilot a success, many concerns about the proposal remain ignored. Neither draft legislation nor a comprehensive policy document have yet been released to the Australian public, though legislation is expected in 2010.

“Successful technology isn’t necessarily successful policy. We’re yet to hear a sensible explanation of what this policy is for, who it will help, and why it is worth spending so much taxpayers’ money on.”

– Ends –

Background:

• Internet Service Provider (ISP) Content Filtering Pilot Report
• EFA’s No Clean Feed campaign

About EFA:

Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. (EFA) is a non-profit national
organisation representing Internet users concerned with on-line
rights and freedoms. EFA was established in 1994, is independent
of government and commerce, and is funded by membership subscriptions
and donations from individuals and organisations with an altruistic
interest in promoting online civil liberties.

Media Contacts:

Mr Colin Jacobs
EFA Vice-Chair
Phone: 0402 631 955
Email: cjacobs at efa.org.au

Mr Geordie Guy
EFA Board Member
Phone: 0415 797 142
Email: gguy at efa.org.au

The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department has finally released the public consultation paper on the R18+ classification of computer games.

This marks the next stage in the campaign for an R18+ rating. We will be working with AusGamers to prepare a submission that accurately and persuasively addresses the civil liberties concerns of Australian gamers. If you think you can help, please join our discussion list or contact me with suggestions.

This weekend I attended and spoke at a rally organised by Ethan Watson in favour of the introduction of an R18+ rating for computer games. Many thanks to Ethan for organising the event, and thanks to the 50 or so people who turned up to show their support.

Photos courtesy of Andrew Wade.

You can view video of the event filmed by Julian on youtube: Part One;  Part Two;  Part Three; Part Four.

The next step in this campaign is to pressure the Commonwealth Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O’Connor, to release the discussion paper. If you have not already, please take the time to send a letter showing your support. Once this is done, we will work on putting together a submission that addresses the concerns of Australian gamers.

The two main points that I wanted to get across on Saturday are relatively simple, but important. We need to refocus this debate by ensuring that everyone understands that interactive entertainment is an evolving and important legitimate expressive medium. I think an R18+ rating is important for two main reasons:

• An R18+ rating empowers adults and parents to make better decisions about the games they want to play and the games they want to allow their children to play.
• An R18+ rating for games, consistent with ratings for films, would enable Australians to create more complex and expressive stories that deal with adult themes – games are not just for children, and we do significant harm to freedom of expression by limiting the material that we deem acceptable in games to that which we find acceptable for children.

See our campaign page on our wiki for more details about how you can help.

I will be speaking at a rally this morning for the introduction of an R18+ rating for computer games. The event has been organised for 11am at King George Square. Come along if you’re in Brisbane and have the time!

The next step in lobbying on this issue is to push for the release of the discussion paper.