This is just… wow.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/1028037/encyclopedia-dramatica-owner-could-face-charges
The US-based owner of a satirical Wikipedia-style website may be charged under Australian law over a deliberately offensive article about Aborigines.
The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) contacted Encyclopedia Dramatica owner Joseph Evers, after 20 indigenous Australians complained about the article’s content.
…
“While I act in complete compliance with both the civil and criminal codes of the United States of America, and am assured the right of free speech according to our constitution … I can personally be jailed and fined for the violation of this law.”
This would be an astonishing thing if the US government were to go along with this. If the Aussie government tries to prosecute an American for expressing his freedom of speech, no matter how offensive (and, yes, the article – as with most of Encyclopedia Dramatica – is far-over-the-top offensive), the proper response from the US government should be to tell the Aussies to get bent. If he’s tried in absentia, I would think it appropriate for the US government to put a ban on Americans visiting Australia. I’m generally in favor of the US Government allowing its citizens to travel wherever the hell they want, but there are places that violate as a matter of course basic human liberties… and the State Department should at the very least warn off Americans from visiting them. Like the message they issued some years back warning American women to be extremely weary of marrying Saudi men.
The Fark thread on the topic has some dandy, and appropriate comments:
Way to China it up, Australia.
—
Limiting free speech offends America’s cultural heritage.You’re on notice Australia.
—
Delightful.
Australians are all savages who drink blood from the arteries of pallid nuns kept indoors and beaten with reeds to keep their flesh supple. In their spare time they (the Aussies, not the nuns) devote countless hours to the worship and glorification of a hybrid clone of Kim Jung-il, Hitler and Carrot Top. Those who cannot assist in the genetic engineering of the creature show it their fealty by flinging boogers at the wall and then smearing the marks away by squirting it with lymph from a living infant.
Come get me.
—
Really, the politicians of the world need to read up on the Streisand Effect. This sort of thing only invites a response.
5 Responses to “The Hidden Cost of Freedom”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
The AUstralians don’t need Carrot Top. They have Yahoo Serious.
Ever hear of the I.C.C.?Apparently it has the power to supersede American laws AND our Constitution.
I believe we have accepted the ICC “with reservations”, which means we ignore it when necessary.
No way does a US court extradite this guy, even if the Aussie foreign ministry allows an extradition request to be submitted. Which, I’m betting, it won’t.
“Way to China it up” — that’s priceless.
A US court might not (though some judges have taken to citing foreign laws in their opinions). However, what’s to stop the current US Justice Department from just arresting someone and shipping them overseas without bothering with actually going to a court? After all, if the government can “deem” that a law is passed without Congress voting on it, why can’t they “deem” that a court ordered the extradition?
Extradition only happens under a court order. Yes “They” could do a reverse extraordinary rendition, but that seems unlikely in the extreme given the essentially frivolous nature of the crime.