Tag Archives: Censorship

Left 4 Dead 2 – Censored Vs Uncensored Video

The video above is a demonstration of the differences between the Uncut version of Left 4 Dead 2 and the Australian Censored version.

The details below are copied from the Youtube video description, lots of good details in this:

<Copypasta>
Video Comparison Between The Uncut version of Left4Dead2 and the Australian “Low Violence” version.

According to the classification board report, the modified version removes considerable amounts of gore from gameplay.
The board notes that the game no longer contains depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment, the report said.

No wound detail is shown and the implicitly dead bodies and blood splatter disappear as they touch the ground.


EDIT: ALSO CONFIRMED (30.10.09)
But was unable to get footage of at time of making

Infected don’t actually Catch Fire in cut version (Except the Tank) however they still die in the flames.
NO Blood splatters on the screen
NO RIOT COP uncommon common in AUS release (violence against authority figures)
(and if you play with a person who has the cut version even if you dont, the riot cop will not spawn)
Pipebomb Explosion is Similar however the bodies ragdoll off and vanish in midair with out gibbing almost instantly


For those not in the know, the reason this game had 2 be modified to be released in Australia is because we don’t have a R18+ rating for games here in Australia. To have one introduced, all the states have to agree that they want one, all states have said yes to this, except SA (Michael Atkinson). So it is one man stopping the rest of us getting? an R18+ rating, So seeing as MA15+ is the highest we have got, the OFLC have no choice and the game must be modified to fit into that category if it is to be released here, otherwise its the ban hammer and the game gets Refused Classification(RC). So its not Valves Fault, Its not the OFLC’s fault its not the governments fault… its Michael Atkinson‘s Fault.

His Excuse is that he doesn’t think we need one and that if we don’t have one the? children wont get introduced into Violent Video Game, He thinks he is protecting the children, however when you think about it he is doing the opposite, by refusing to have a R18+ rating he is making it so that games that would have otherwise been rated as R18+ are being modified to? fit into the MA15+ rating therefore introducing those games to an even younger generation than would have been whilst at the same time punishing the rest of us by censoring the game and making a choice that should be ours for us.
We Should be allowed to play this as we want, in the uncensored version you have the option to disable gore if wanted.


EDIT: FIX (31.10.09)

There is a small fix for those that are fed this censored garbage, those that want to give it a try details are in the link below, HOWEVER take note of the following before you do so.

NOTE: You can only play with other people using the same ID (510). (you can only play with others who have done this fix also, limiting your possible teammates)
NOTE: this fix may not be permanent. This seems like it’ll only be temporary.
NOTE: May have an affect on your Gameplay Statistics and Achievements as this makes steam think you are playing a different game. (May Not save them)
NOTE: You’ll have to launch the game through the left4dead2.exe instead of through Steam. Steam will disconnect you immediately

</Copypasta>

ACMA Blacklist Leaked

ACMA’s (Australian Communications and Media Authority) list of banned web pages has been leak onto wikileaks.org. The list which is meant to contain links to supposed banned content such as child pornography, also lists large online poker sites, YouTube pages and even some Wikipedia links.

But what the list also contains is the website of a Queensland dentist (http://dentaldistinction.com.au/) which appears to be on their for no good reason. Someone must really hate the dentist, or the government is trying to protect kids from the dentist.

In Ur Internet Blockin Ur Dentist

Update 1

Conroy now claims in a statement that the list is not actually the ACMA list.

ACMA, The New Tool to Silence You

ACMA has issued Whirlpool’s web host Bulletproof Networks with a notice to remove a link to this anti-abortion web page, blacklisted by the regulator in January. At risk of their host being hit with $11,000 fines per day….
[More @ Somebody Think Of The Children]

I find this both shocking an appalling. While I may not necessarily agree with the content, it is an opinion and that is no reason for it to be silenced. This in no way to protect children Conroy, the children are already dead at the site in question, and adults should be able to form their own option of the content in question not have you tell them what to think. This is the kind of nonsense that should have been stamped out long ago.

Heil Conroy

Stephen Conroy The Bully

First I must say Senator Stephen Conroy shame on you, you need to learn about bullying, and the consequences of it. We have seen in the last few years an active push to stop bullying in schools (http://www.bullyingnoway.com.au/), but that seams to have slipped past the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

So what am I harping on about, well there has been some debate on implementing a national internet filter in Australia. Well ok maybe that’s not really true, it’s more an argument about what to block, as it appears the decision has already been made and now it’s up to the special interest groups to get as much stuff blocked as possible.

Here is the part that really pisses me off, Conroy tried to shut this information down. When Mark Newton from Internode raised these concerns and criticisms, minister Conroys department (Belinda Dennett) fired off a letter to the Internet Industry Association (IIA) board member Carolyn Dalton in an attempt to pressure Newton into reining in his dissent.

“In your capacity as a board member of the IIA I would like to express my serious concern that a IIA member would be sending out this sort of message. I have also advised [IIA chief executive] Peter Coroneos of my disappointment in this sort of irresponsible behaviour”

The worst part of this is that a phone call demanding that the message be passed on to senior Internode management was made. What?! Sound like they were trying to get Mark fired to me.

Any way I’ll leave it for you to decide, below you will find links to coverage on it but most importantly an interview with Mark conducted by NetQOS’ s Performance daily.

Coverage:

Oh yes I’ve also set up a redirect on my site that grabs people coming from gov.au internet addresses and gives them a wonderful message that you are all free to view.

The code in the htaccess file is as follows:

RewriteCond %{REMOTE_HOST} .gov.au$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/conroy_403.html [NC]
RewriteRule .* http://www.webwhitenoise.com/conroy_403.html [R=302,L]

Yes, not perfect but the aim is to annoy, anyway it’s inspired by the “the gov.au blockade” back in 1999.

YouTube Fail, American Rights Counsel Doesn’t Exist

YouTube, or maybe they should be called NoobTube, and no that’s not a BF2 reference to people using grenade launchers at point blank. Any way back on the point, YouTube has once again done something that makes them look foolish after receiving 4000 DMCA take down notices from an organisation that does not exist. That’s right they have started dropping peoples accounts based on false claims from a group that does not exist. The false group in question is American Rights Counsel LLC, a group that basically doesn’t exist. The only results you will find in Google will be for people complaining about their accounts being suspended. For a group that sounds like a rights group, they sure know how to suppress peoples rights. Buy the way Filing a false DMCA claim is illegal.

Welcome to ‘The Suck’ if you’re a YouTube user.

Anyway here is a list of some forum threads and other articles on this current debacle:

Why GTA 4 Will Probably be Banned in Australia

This video kind of demonstrates my point as to why Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA 4) will probably either be modified for release in Australia, or banned outright.

Before watching the video I thought it best to describe what you will see in the video.

Synopsis of Video

First of all you will see the character receiving a hand job from the ‘lady of the night’ he has previously picked up, the hand job costs him $20. After conducting her business transaction the girl then gets out of the car and the player proceeds on to his next sexual conquest.

Upon finding the next slut to play with, she gets in the car and you drive a more secluded area inside the game. Once you have a nice quiet spot you pay $50 and this time you receive a blow job. Once you reach your happy ending, the hooker gets out of the car and you drive off looking for your next score.

Once finding the next girl the player dives to another place that quiet. This time the fee in $70, but this time it’s plain and simple sex, , ok maybe not so simple as the position in the driver seat doesn’t look all that comfortable for either party. After finishing off the girl gets out of the car, but this time so does the player. As the girl is walking away the player pulls a gun she begins to run…. bang, 9mm round to the head, that’s one dead hooker. Oh one more thing don’t forget to pick up her cash that dropped off her when she got hit in the head, it’s amazing how people drop there money and you don’t’ have fish through their cloths when you shoot them in the head.

My Reaction

Having now seen the video the usual people are going to start to cry, that’s not suitable for kids why would they make a game like that. The point here is that GTA 4 isn’t designed for kids, if your a parent and you buy this for your kids your irresponsible and should know better.

GTA 4 is designed for older teenagers and adults, not to mention it’s meant to be a story about the life of an immigrant moving to Liberty City he’s kind of depressed and lonely being in a new place and country, so maybe he wants to have sex occasionally and is willing to pay for it. Reality is however as the player you don’t have to interact with the prostitutes it’s entirely optional. In fact I would be more concerned about the kid that comes up with the idea to kill the hooker after having sex with her, then any dangers the game may pose. Seriously if your kid was playing this and decided it was a good idea to kill the hooker after paying for sex, then your kid needs serious help now, as they are already one fucked up individual and they didn’t need this game to make them that way.

Is YouTube Supressing Freedom of Speech?

It now looks like if you want to express yourself YouTube is not the place to go. Apparently YouTube has a history of this, they will suspend peoples accounts but will not explain the exact nature of the suspension. You can see an example here. (Banned on YouTube By Michelle Malkin)

If you look at this example you will see that all you get from YouTube is a generic notice, a very flimsy document indeed from a legal view point. The most insulting part of this email is that it points you to the terms of service. Service is not a word I would use here, service would be if a staff member at YouTube bothered to give a clear and concise explanation of the suspension. The best part is that it does little to reply to them and ask them to explain in detail the suspension, and/or to provide information about the claim that has been made against your account.

Here is the fun part, in that article there was a video, this video is a trailer that was uploaded by the interviewer, Mark Bunker, a known critic of Scientology. What is really interesting though is when you click the video it’s not there, you get the old “Sorry this video is no longer available”. Now I’ve seen this video before, it was post at “The Wog Blog“, and I’ve seen the video’s that Mark has placed on YouTube before so I know that he has been posting under “XenuTV1” (The 1 is there because Mark has had his account closed before, he was “XenuTV” prior to that). So I did a search for his account, www.youtube.com/user/xenutv1 was the URL were his videos get published on YouTube. You will see that when you goto the page “This account is suspended.”

Now the previous day I know that Tory Christman, a former high-ranking Scientologist of 30 years and noted critic of the cult since 2000, had been also suspended on YouTube. On that day when I found out I sent my protest to YouTube about this.

So I’ve done the same thing today, I’ve sent a message YouTube bitching about this, it’s not acceptable that YouTube can just close an account and provide a crappy response. Now I wasn’t expecting a reply from YouTube, they didn’t reply on the ToryMagoo44 account suspension, but this time they did.

YouTube Support support@youtube.com wrote:

Hi there,

Thanks for your email.

We are only able to discuss specific content removals with the user who posted the materials.

We take copyright issues very seriously and prohibit users from uploading infringing material. We cooperate with copyright holders to identify and promptly remove infringing content from the site. Our community guidelines make it clear that users must own or have permission from the copyright holders to post any videos. Videos that breach these rules are removed and we disable all accounts belonging to repeat offenders.

Regards,

The YouTube Team

Now Mark has been allowed by Torry to put a video on her account, here it be:

You can see from Mark’s statement that he does not believe that he is in violation of YouTube‘s terms of service. I can’t wait for the interview now, I otherwise would have probably ignored it. So YouTube what the hell are you doing?

So what little creative thing has this prompted me to do, well the following logo’s are probably going to be of entertainment value to anyone who wants to lampoon YouTube and their censoring ways. So have fun with them.

Disclaimer: These are not official YouTube Logos

Definition: Freedom of Speech
Freedom of speech is the concept of the inherent human right to voice one’s opinion publicly without fear of censorship or punishment.
[Source]

Update – 20th April 2008

Let this be a lesson to you all, this is why you must be careful when it comes to sending people accurate information, and being clear in your emails. Especially when it comes to legal notices.

Here is a link to a very long explanation as to what is going on with Mark Bunker‘s YouTube account.

I disagree with Mark in regards to YouTube not telling him about the identity of the complainant, privacy is important and I feel it’s unnecessary for a persons identity to be revealed to him (Mark) by YouTube. However YouTube must explain carefully exactly the nature of suspension, and allow the issue to be resolved between the parties. Because YouTube wants to maintain user privacy here you can see that they basically need to be an intermediary between the parties. To me this looks like a case of YouTube just simply doesn’t give a stuff and would rather trash the content then resolve the issue. Lazy bastards.

A portion of blame here belongs to Mark as well, reality is he should have chased YouTube and Viacom when his first account was suspended and resolved the issue in regards to BayTSP notice ID: 158-8236. (Basically a DMCA Notice)

Update – 21st April 2008

The Jason Beghe Interview

Mark Bunker has posted the Jason Beghe Interview, it’s bound to cause a storm.
[Link]

Part 1

Scientology: Jason Beghe Interview Pt.1 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Part 2

Scientology: Jason Beghe Pt 2 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Part 3

Scientology: Jason Beghe Part 3 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Part 4

Scientology: Jason Beghe Part 4 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Part 5

Scientology: 5/8 Jason Beghe Interview from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Part 6

Scientology: Jason Beghe Part 6 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Part 7

Scientology: 7/8 Jason Beghe Interview from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Part 8

Scientology: 8/8 Jason Beghe Interview from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Update – 25th April 2008

XenuTV is now at Vimeo.

Update – 3rd June 2008

XenuTV and XenuTV1 are now back online.