[LINK] Internet uprising overturns South Australian censorship law

[Roger Clarke]

At 8:12 +1100 3/2/10, Kim Holburn wrote:
>http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/02/internet-uprising-overturns-australian-censorship-law.ars
>>  "From the feedback we've received through AdelaideNow, the blogging 
>>  generation believes that the law supported by all MPs and all 
>>  political parties is unduly restrictive. I have listened. I will 
>>  immediately after the election move to repeal the law 
>>  retrospectively... It may be humiliating for me, but that's politics
>>  in a democracy and I'll take my lumps."

It was also the lead story on the ABC-FM News at 09:00, but not at 
07:00.  (I didn't hear the 8am News).

On the ghastly new ABC home-page, the story is date-lined 8:41am:
SA backs down on internet comment control
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/03/2808495.htm
3 February 2010. 08:41:34 (AEDT)

But the page itself said, at 09:05:
>Posted 1 hour 5 minutes ago
>Updated 12 minutes ago
implying created at 08:00 and updated at 08:53.

Interesting that ArsTechnica got to it so early.


Further ...

The ABC article includes "Mr Atkinson says he will repeal [the] law". 
Those were the words he used in the radio interview.

It's obnoxious enough when a Premier or Prime Minister makes such a 
mistake, purporting to usurp a power that is possessed by the 
Parliament, not by a Government, nomatter what majorities it may have 
in the House or Houses.

But when an Attorney-General commits such a lapse, he's demonstrated 
his complete failure to understand the Constitution, and hence his 
abject incapacity to hold the post.

But then Atkinson has something of a record of incapacity.


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
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Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University