For a country that the British initially settled as a penal colony the Australian government and courts seem to have a pretty moralistic attitude with some of their current laws. Maybe they feel their citizens are prone to criminal acts and are incapable of determining right & wrong on their own?

Ars Technica (among others) brings news that an Australian court has upheld the child pornography conviction of a man who was found with sexually explicit Simpsons cartoons in his possession. From the Ars article:

Turns out, the collective Internet hive mind has huge amounts of free time on its hands, time which it largely uses to turn beloved cartoon characters into porn stars. The New South Wales Supreme Court ruled this morning that such depictions, when they concern "apparently" underage kids like Bart and Lisa Simpson, count as child pornography.

The there’s the ongoing story of some parts of the Australian government wanting to filter porn and illegal content from all of Australia. It appears they consider it easier than actually taking down the porn and illegal content. Ars Technica has a good round-up of where things stand now.

The Register brings us news that since the planned Aussie internet filter is currently unworkable they plan to rig the test. Also, it appears opposition to the plan is growing among the Communication Minister’s own party and people opposing the plan are taking to the streets.

Piling on the government’s woes, opposition is now moving off the web and onto the streets. Protests are planned to take place on Saturday December 13 in all States: in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart. Event details can be found on the Stop the Clean Feed website. ®