Monday, Jun 29, 2009    Text size: 

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy told Australian news outlets that this filtering system will affect all online games that don't meet the standard set down in the nation's MA15+ rating, roughly equivalent to a PG-13 rating in the USA.

Australia doesn't have an equivalent R rating for video games. Any games that would receive an R rating are simply not rated. Not receiving a rating effectively bans these games because retailer can't carry them.

Conroy's proposed filtering plan comes in conjunction with a plan for a $43 billion national broadband network that he's spearheading.

As said, the ban would censor R-rated online games, as well as “pornography and inappropriate material,” whatever that means. Online gambling is already banned. The online universe Second Life lets users build detailed avatars that inhabit a full virtual world with its own red light district.

Conroy's move has drawn criticism from various Internet advocacy and free speech organizations. "This is confirmation that the scope of the mandatory censorship scheme will keep on creeping," said Colin Jacobs of Electronic Frontiers Australia, a civil-liberties organization.