The secret police. The police state. Big Brother. Nanny State. Wiretapping. Subpoenas. Censorship. The Patriot Act (USA). Un-American aka Avatar according to conservatives. Flight boarding cards with special acronyms printed on them, you know then you are on the list.

New laws came quietly into effect in South Australia this week restricting the promotion and display of R-rated movies.

Source here and here. Digg.com discussion here.

New law applies to general outlets containing films with classifications lower than R18+, and not adult-only premises. [Applying] to titles for sale or rent unless those titles are quarantined from all other audiovisual materials, in an area signposted with a warning. [You will] find them in plain packaging displaying nothing more than the film’s title.

It’s censorship on the fringe, it’s censorship without the stigma of using the word. It’s even more insidious because they’re not calling it what it is. Essentially, what’s really happened here is a rather large portion of Australia has just banned hard-R movies. Technically they can still be shown, but what theater will run an R-rated movie when they can’t advertise that they’re playing it? None of them will.

First Rupert Murdoch (who is from Australia) making headlines with his wild accusations of Google stealing news. Then this new headline from Australia. Haven’t they had enough already with their proposed internet filter on ISP level? Filters are bad. That is why mainstream media exists, and is now in decline. And the public made it a public debate. Not a government decision. And public action is upon us. Other source here, and petition of the EFA here.