South Australia's thin-skinned candy-ass politicians passed a law prohibiting any anonymous political commentary on blogs (but not "real" news-sources) prior to elections on penalty of a fine of AU$1250. Defending the measure, South Australia's Attorney General, Michael Atkinson claimed that a poster on AdelaideNow, Aaron Fornarino, was a fictional construct created by his political opponents to smear him. Turns out that Mr Fornarino lives just down the street from Atkinson's office. Humiliated, Atkinson rescinded the censorship law: "From the feedback we've received through AdelaideNow, the blogging generation believes that the law supported by all MPs and all political parties is unduly restrictive. I have listened. I will immediately after the election move to repeal the law retrospectively… It may be humiliating for me, but that's politics in a democracy and I'll take my lumps."
"I'll give you an example: repeatedly in the AdelaideNow website one will see commentary from Aaron Fornarino of West Croydon. That person doesn't exist," Atkinson said on the air. "That name has been created by the Liberal Party in order to run Liberal Party commentary."
This morning, AdelaideNow took great delight in posting a picture of Fornarino posing with a Mac and his young daughter. He's a second-year law student who moved to the area last year and "lives in a flat on Port Rd, about 500m from Mr. Atkinson's electorate office."
Internet uprising overturns Australian censorship law
(Image: AdelaideNow)
