Aussie politico delays software censorship bill
Nibble
Game playing
Thursday, 29 January 2009, 13:01
AN ATTEMPT TO IMPOSE an R18+ censorship rating on some computer games in Australia is being sat on by the South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson.
Gamers and developers want the censorship rating so that games that would be otherwise banned Down Under can go on sale. Censorship ministers last March agreed 'in principle' to canvass public opinion on the proposed introduction of an R18+ classification for games and to release a discussion paper on the issue.
However Atkinson is sitting on the paper and refusing to make it public unless changes to his liking are made.
Atkinson said that he knew that he was impinging on adult freedom but protecting children was more important than freedom. µ
L'Inq
AP
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My 9 year old finished DOOM III to my amazement so I thought I was buying something a little more difficult when I got him Crysis.....in 10 days he had mastered, finished and smashed Crysis as well!!!!!!
I'm not into games and my two children, although we place little restriction on them, only play occasionally when they have nothing better to do. They spend most of their Internet time researching things that interest them. I don't try to hide the world from them but I do explain that all things can be used for good or bad. When my son came home freom school with an internet address for a porn site an older boy had given him I explained the difference between sex and love, porn and real life.
Its not by creating new criminals through age ranking games that our children will not see or play them. I understand that everyone wants to protect their children but the best protection is teaching them the realities of the world and how to make the right choices.
"Atkinson said that he knew that he was impinging on adult freedom but protecting children was more important than freedom."
Oh dear...
He who would give up freedom for protection deserves neither.
Be it your country or your child, the same principle will always apply.
But dont worry... restricting games or content doesn't actually do anything... even with their great filtering devices they have been trying these days, they will resort to P2P or SHH or virtual networks with encryption.
Might as well just give it to us straight with a word of advice... as this wise man before me has said
"the best protection is teaching them the realities of the world and how to make the right choices. " definitely not enforcing another route. Rebellion is popular, and has always been.