Olives @olives@qoto.org

https://reason.com/2023/06/16/justice-department-finds-deeply-disturbing-and-illegal-policing-in-minneapolis/ Preventing someone from recording the police is a violation of the First Amendment.

Drag bans might even accidentally ban kilts (a British / Scottish cultural practice) or wrestling (since the outfits are very exaggerated).

Apparently, a judge in Utah has ruled that drag shows are protected by the First Amendment.

These Russian atrocities in Ukraine are so disgusting and so repugnant that it is simply incomprehensible.

Conspiracy guy was his boss.

https://www.theregister.com/2010/01/28/australian_censors/ Do you remember the puritanical Barnaby Joyce who made absurd and ridiculous claims here about porn?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-25/barnaby-joyce-had-history-of-groping-women-wa-labor-mp-says/100244186 He stands accused of multiple cases of sexual assault.

https://qoto.org/@olives/110445384736437393
https://psyarxiv.com/ehqgv/
Porn has nothing to do with these kinds of antics.

https://www.refused-classification.com/censorship-timelines/game-iarc/
In Australia, the previous government put a really awful censorship algorithm in place.

Let's see what it censors.

Gambling apps. They spend a lot of time censoring trash tier apps which probably no one uses, although who really knows.

I'd be more ambivalent about it, although I know it creates a justification for keeping this terrible algorithm.

"アルカナコレクト"
Random anime themed game. Why? Who knows. Maybe, it's because algorithms tend to be systemically racist and puritanical.

The previous government was xenophobic and scared of immigrants. It comes with the territory.

"Drugz Demo"
A game about running a "criminal empire" and "trading drugs". Really?

"World Z"
I can't find this. This sounds like a zombie survival game. It probably is a zombie survival game. Maybe, it committed the cardinal sin of "containing drug references".

"Dirty Wars: September 11"
Someone doesn't want you playing a game critical of Augusto Pinochet?

"The Last of Zombie"
Banned for "gambling elements". Presumably, there is a gambling machine inside the zombie game?

Or it might be an over-zealous anti-gambling algorithm. See how that fixation with gambling easily bites back?

"Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones"
Lovecraftian horror.

"Freud’s Bones"
A video game where you play as Sigmund Freud.

As a warning, a lot of Freud's ideas are discredited in modern psychology, although it's not so bad in a video game.

The ban was removed eventually, although it's no consolation, when you notice they can't be bothered to get off their asses to remove the majority of these other ones.

"Weed Farm"
Really?

"Anycards"
Deep inside this cards game, there is a joke about sex offenders.

"Grand Theft Auto VI : Online RP Server"
"Grand Theft Auto VI."
Probably drugs.

"Santa Vs Zombies"
A game where Santa fights zombies.

"BraCup"
A game where you guess the size of boobs. I told you it has a puritanical bias.

"Life is Strange 2"
Really?

I'm meaning to write some more about Australia because it is such a great example of why you shouldn't allow things in a country to get, so, off the rails.

From looking at what Australians say too.

They might reckon a label is a good idea but don't want some nanny board outright censoring something.

It's the "Am I out of touch?" problem.

They've practically already lost the election.

The question is how many seats they will lose at that point. If they keep digging, they will have far less influence when time comes for the election.

One possible reason for this might be that a weird religious party was in power for so long and they like it when the board behaves in a dysfunctional and bizarre manner.

It's uniquely out of touch and awful in a way that is so strange and bizarre that it is hard to fully describe how awful it is.

It is as if the board lives in a whole other universe, unlike the one which normal folks live in, and they get hung up on really strange and bizarre things.

The actual value they provide is absolutely miniscule. The only thing it is seemingly good for is political posturing.

The best way to handle it would probably be to just completely disband it and to use another country's rating system as purely advisory.

There is no redeeming it. It is that bad.

This is how you can sum up the Australian nanny board.

Also, notice how acting in good faith is conflated with the idea of acting with some kind of malevolent intent.

As a reminder, "grooming people into being gay" is actually just modern lipstick on arguments they made in the 80s.

"descriptions" sounds like it could target sex ed, maybe?

These people are so puritanical that anything which might be helpful gets set on fire because "it is indecent!"

A few religious people jump up and down at the sight of unusual forms or displays of sexuality, and get all paranoid and conspiratorial.

It's not simply "Oh cool, you're minding your own business, you do you". It's let's speculate and imagine every fanciful thing.

https://www.woodhullfoundation.org/censorship-in-iowa/

"also requires schools to forcibly out transgender students.” As Katie Lobosco explains, school administrators must now notify caregivers if their child “requests an accommodation” related to their gender identity, such as using a name or pronoun different from that reflected in school records."

"Further, S.F. 496 places restrictions on school libraries for students in K-12 – they must only have “age-appropriate” books, which the law defines as excluding any materials with “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.”"