New Zealand's Children's Minister Tracey Martin has been calling for ideas to modernise internet censorship laws to protect kids from porn. So the country's Chief Censor David Shanks has been on the campaign trail seeking to grab some of those powers
to censor internet porn. Shank's made an interesting pitch when invited on to the AM Show on breakfast TV. Speaking of ideas for porn censorship he noted: Tracey Martin says all options are on the table. There
are ethical dilemmas involved in cutting the supply, however. Are we going to become like China, in terms of state-imposed restrictions? And who decides where the limits to those are? These are difficult questions.
He said he once
stood in front of a room full of people at a conference and outlined a scenario and said: 'I'm the chief censor. Imagine I've got a box with a button on it - a big red button - and if I push that button, I've
terminated all access to pornography for everyone in this country. Should I push the button?' There was a stunned silence from the room, then someone said, 'Who gets to decide what pornography is?' I said, 'I am! I'm the Chief
Censor.' But I think that highlights some of the issues underpinning these questions. No one in the audience urged him to push the button.
A working party has been set up to investigate what can be done,
involving the Office of Film and Literature Classification leads the group, and other agencies involved are Netsafe, the Ministry of Health, Internal Affairs, the Ministry for Women, the Ministry of Social Development, ACC and the Ministry of Education.
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