Australia’s national Internet filter still lives, but South Australia has pledged to repeal a tough law forcing all bloggers and online commenters to use real names and addresses when talking about politics in the run-up to an election. Score one for anonymous speech.
…The state of South Australia has a new election law that went into effect January 6, and its effect was shocking: anonymous political speech on the Internet was simply destroyed.The law required anyone posting a political comment online during an election period to supply their real name and address or face a fine of up to AUS$1,250. The measure was grossly discriminatory it applied only to bloggers and commenters, not to online “journals” (newspapers or magazine which are written by Real Journalists).
Politicians had apparently developed a thin skin to anonymous commentary, some of which no doubt did devolve into rank defamation, but Australia already has defamation laws that could be used against truly egregious material. Ending online anonymous speech was an extreme solution, one not appreciated by the targets of the law.AdelaideNow was one of the main sites caught in the crosshairs. The site provides a forum for discussion of local affairs, and it railed in an editorial this morning about the rule,…
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Internet uprising overturns Australian censorship law
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