The South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson has backed down
on controversial laws banning anonymous political blogging after a
campaign by News Limited website
AdelaideNow.
The new law
would ban anonymous political blog posts in the lead up to the South
Australian election. All posts relating to the election would be
required to include a full name and postcode.
The laws were
branded as both vague and unworkable by critics as they would not apply
sites based overseas and it was not clear if user generated comment on
sites such as Twitter, Facebook and internet forums would be included.
"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." said Mr Atkinson in a statement to AdelaideNow "I will immediately after the election move to repeal the law retrospectively."
Just
a day earlier he had said the laws were necessary because 'blog sites'
were a "jungle of criminal defamation, identity theft" and "a sewer of
fraud".
However thousands of comments on the AdelaideNow
website in opposition to the laws, enacted without parliamentary
process, and pressure from his colleagues ensured that the decision was
reversed last night.
Although the laws would technically still be
applicable, they will not be enforced.
