Community, Space and Online Censorship: Regulating Pornotopia

Internet censorship is a controversial topic - while the media periodically sounds alarms at the dangers of online life, the uncontrollable nature of the internet makes any kind of pervasive regulatory control impossible. This book compares the Australian solution, a set of laws which have been criticized as being both draconian and ineffectual, to major regulatory systems in the UK and US and understanding what drives them. The 'impossibility' of internet regulation opens deeper issues - what do we mean by regulation and how do we judge the certainty and effectiveness of law? These questions lead to an exploration of the theories of legal geography which provide tools to understand and evaluate regulatory practices. The book will be a valuable guide for academics, students and policy makers working in media and censorship law, those from a civil liberties interest and people interested in internet theory generally.

Scott Beattie is a lecturer at the Victoria University School of Law and Co-director of the Communications Law Centre, a media law public interest body. His background is in university education and public policy work and he has worked in law reform both as a researcher and as a consultant. He has published a number of books on Media and Communications law.