The Fool wrote:
Bullsh1t...This is by far one of the single biggest attacks on freedom of speech that has ever been carried out. Any American who exercises their first amendment rights is now subject to Australian law. This sets Australian law higher than even the U.S. constitution, and makes all Americans slaves to the censorship laws the predominate in Australia.Anything I say online may now be prosecuted in Australia under Australian law. I doubt it will be much longer before all countries have declared their laws sovereign over the U.S. constitution. How long will it be before Saudi Arabia tries to prosecute me for saying 'Mohammed was a pedophile who was inspired with his lips around Satans penis'?
Any American who exercises their first amendment rights to defame or libel anyone has always had to consider the alledged victims recourse to the courts.
Any American who exercises their first amendment rights to defame or libel anyone still only has to consider the Australian courts if the alledged victim is an Australian, in Australia, whose standing as been affected in Australia by an article promoted for distribution in Australia.
Any American who exercises their first amendment rights to defame or libel me on this list, knowing it is being distributed in Australia, is still not be subject to Australian law, because my standing and my ability to do business in Australia will not be affected by what you say.
And exactly what censorship laws do we have that America doesn't? Child porn is banned, excessive violence must be flagged with a warning, and sexually explicit material must carry a warning and not be promoted to children under 18. The papers here every day are full of scathing criticisms of the courts, politicians, authorities, businesses and individuals. The only limitation is that if someones sues, they have to show they had reason to believe it was true (not even that it was true, but that based on what they had, a reasonable man would think it was true). There are adult stores in every suburb selling publications of various sorts with content of EVERY imaginable (and many unimaginable) sort. There is Australian sourced spam in my inbox every morning which makes me blush. Censorship here is less than most countries.
And Saudi Arabia has never taken any notice of Australian courts before - they're not gonna start now...
Cheers
Russell C.
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