Encyclopedia Dramatica row gets dramatic

David Swan
Thursday, 18 March 2010 23:06

IT Policy - Regulation

In what seems to be the beginning of another Aussie censorship scandal, the owner of Enclyopedia Dramatica has refused to remove content that is heavily offensive towards Aboriginal Australians.

The page, created by anonymous users, insults Aborigines in just about every way possible, and despite its facade of 'humour', was investigated by the Human Rights Commision, who have attempted to prosecute the site's owner under Australia's Racial Discrimination Act.

The US-based owner of the website, Joseph Evers, has stood firm, blogging that Encyclopedia Dramatica will "never be censored in any way". He calls Google "spineless hypocrites" for removing the page from its Australian search results, and labels Australia's government 'God forsaken.'

The incident began back in January when a Northern Territory man lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission about the spoof site. According to the letter to Evers (posted below), the number of complaints from "Aboriginal persons" reached 20.

In the blog post, Evers also has a message for Australian users. He writes, "ACMA’s child pornography blacklist is only one half child pornography. The rest is religious and political speech. You really want Soviet-style communism as your future? I know some people that had to escape from the GDR. Many of your children will be in that position. The house of cards is about to come down, and they’re making sure your mouths are taped shut first. Don’t say I didn’t warn you."

"We will keep publishing this content and our Australian users will be able to view it up until the point that your God-forsaken government blocks it with their soon-to-be-implemented secret list of banned material," he wrote.

Mr Evers says he has been advised by his legal consel never to visit his family in Sydney again, or anywhere else in Australia.

Continue on for a copy of the legal letter that Evers was sent.