Thursday, June 25, 2009

Australian Government to use Web Filters to Censor Games

The Federal Government has now set its sights on gamers, promising to use its internet censorship regime to block websites hosting and selling video games that are not suitable for 15 year olds.

Australia is the only developed country without an R18+ classification for games, meaning any titles that do not meet the MA15+ standard - such as those with excessive violence or sexual content - are simply banned from sale by the Classification Board, unless they are modified to remove the offending content.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

That is pretty messed up. The Australian government is basically going to block any videogames that do not receive a rating because they do not conform to the Mature 15 and Older rating in Australia. They will use it to block any site that sales import games higher than the 15 rating, as well as flash based games that do not get rated among other things. I really feel sorry for our Australian gamer friends!

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