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Aussie adult site fears end of Net porn

Australian Sex Party complains that proposed legislation in Australia would require ISPs to block "refused classification" Web sites - including more than 4 million adult Web sites.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer
The Australian Sex Party (ASP) claims popular sites Penthouse.com, Hustler.com and Redtube.com will be blocked under a mandatory ISP filtering scheme thanks to Australia's x-rated rules.

Fiona Patten, spokesperson for ASP, which is aiming for a spot in the Senate, told ZDNet.com.au today that Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy had backtracked on promises he had made to the party while in opposition.

However, Patten said that around 4 million adult websites from around the globe, including those that most people would consider "mainstream", would be blocked by the filters due to Australia's classification system for x-rated content.

"When we say refused classification, we're talking sexually abusive language, any form of fetish... It's not illegal material, it's just something that John Howard in his wisdom cut out of x-rated classification," said Patten.

"It will block what most people would consider mainstream sites such as Penthouse.com," said Patten. "We will try to bring 4 million Australians who access these websites on a regular basis into action."

For more, read "Sex Party fears end of net porn" on ZDNet Australia.

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