all governments are (naturally) paternalistic - but some are more paternalistic than others
if u thought Singapore was the most paternalistic... well i have no arguments.
Anyway, here's the menu for the news for today (both from Streats Friday October 1, 2004):
first, the "appetizer"...:
China for 'good' online games
CHINA has set up an official body to promote "healthy" online computer games for young people to play in its popular Internet cafes, state media said yesterday.
The Professional Commission of Online Games will launch a national club for game-players and build a server of suitable games, Xinhua news agency reported.
The body will recommend "healthy games to juveniles as an effort to clean up young people's online environment", the report said.
It will also rate online games according to their various levels of "pornography, violence, horror, social morality and cultural implications", it said.
The growing popularity of the Internet and cybercafes is viewed with concern by the Beijing government, which prefers to keep the flow of information and recreation activities under tight control. - AFP
and now, for the main course...:
Saudis slap ban on camera-phones
Religious edict cites devices' use for 'spreading obscenity'
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has barred the use of camera-phones, blaming them for "spreading obscenity" - a final resort after a ban on their sale and import in the kingdom failed to dent their popularity. [ie., they are going after the users now - and not just the sellers, and the importers - the man in the street that ends up buying (and using) this stuff]
Camera-phones are wildly popular throughout the Middle East and particularly in oil-rich Gulf countries, but there has been concern that they are misused in conservative Muslim societies to photograph women without their knowledge.
A wedding in Saudi Arabia ended in brawls over the photographing of women, and young men in the glitzy malls of the United Arab Emirates have been warned by police not to surreptitiously photograph female shoppers. In Egypt, a women-only beach on the northern Mediterranean coast bars cameras, and checks phones on entry for built-in cameras.
So far, however, only Saudi Arabia has taken the drastic step of banning the import or sale of camera-phones and declaring them religiously forbidden.
The phones are still available despite the March ban on their sale and import, easily smuggled in from neighbouring Bahrain or the Emirates. But cellular shutterbugs risk having their phones confiscated, being fined, or even spending up to a year in jail.
Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheik, Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority, announced the religious edict on Tuesday in remarks to al-Madina daily newspaper. The devices, he said, were "spreading obscenity in Muslim society", the newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Violators "should be strictly confronted and punished", the paper quoted him as saying.
Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam, is one of the most conservative societies in the world, with strict segregation of the sexes in public places.
The kingdom is also very secretive, and photography is not allowed in many public places.
Last December the Interior Ministry announced a ban on importing dolls and stuffed animals, and gave merchants three months to get rid of them. The ban included toys that are representations of holy persons or nudes, are shaped like dolls or animals, or carry "mottos of non-Muslim nations such as the cross, Star of David, Buddha or anything similar". - AFP
Anyway, here's the menu for the news for today (both from Streats Friday October 1, 2004):
first, the "appetizer"...:
China for 'good' online games
CHINA has set up an official body to promote "healthy" online computer games for young people to play in its popular Internet cafes, state media said yesterday.
The Professional Commission of Online Games will launch a national club for game-players and build a server of suitable games, Xinhua news agency reported.
The body will recommend "healthy games to juveniles as an effort to clean up young people's online environment", the report said.
It will also rate online games according to their various levels of "pornography, violence, horror, social morality and cultural implications", it said.
The growing popularity of the Internet and cybercafes is viewed with concern by the Beijing government, which prefers to keep the flow of information and recreation activities under tight control. - AFP
and now, for the main course...:
Saudis slap ban on camera-phones
Religious edict cites devices' use for 'spreading obscenity'
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has barred the use of camera-phones, blaming them for "spreading obscenity" - a final resort after a ban on their sale and import in the kingdom failed to dent their popularity. [ie., they are going after the users now - and not just the sellers, and the importers - the man in the street that ends up buying (and using) this stuff]
Camera-phones are wildly popular throughout the Middle East and particularly in oil-rich Gulf countries, but there has been concern that they are misused in conservative Muslim societies to photograph women without their knowledge.
A wedding in Saudi Arabia ended in brawls over the photographing of women, and young men in the glitzy malls of the United Arab Emirates have been warned by police not to surreptitiously photograph female shoppers. In Egypt, a women-only beach on the northern Mediterranean coast bars cameras, and checks phones on entry for built-in cameras.
So far, however, only Saudi Arabia has taken the drastic step of banning the import or sale of camera-phones and declaring them religiously forbidden.
The phones are still available despite the March ban on their sale and import, easily smuggled in from neighbouring Bahrain or the Emirates. But cellular shutterbugs risk having their phones confiscated, being fined, or even spending up to a year in jail.
Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheik, Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority, announced the religious edict on Tuesday in remarks to al-Madina daily newspaper. The devices, he said, were "spreading obscenity in Muslim society", the newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Violators "should be strictly confronted and punished", the paper quoted him as saying.
Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam, is one of the most conservative societies in the world, with strict segregation of the sexes in public places.
The kingdom is also very secretive, and photography is not allowed in many public places.
Last December the Interior Ministry announced a ban on importing dolls and stuffed animals, and gave merchants three months to get rid of them. The ban included toys that are representations of holy persons or nudes, are shaped like dolls or animals, or carry "mottos of non-Muslim nations such as the cross, Star of David, Buddha or anything similar". - AFP
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