This game from the national alliance exceeds the guidelines given for the classification under R 18+ and X 18+ and therefore will be classified under the category RC, which basically means the restricted category. The classifications are there on the basis of theme, violence, sex, language, drug use and nudity, however in this particular scenario when we talk about this game the theme, violence and language are beyond the norms prescribed for any other classification and therefore will be placed in the restricted category.
It is important to understand here that there are several classifications given in order to assign an age group and maturity level to a TV program, film or a video game however in case it exceeds all the restrictions prescribed by the law under Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995, amended in the year 2008.Ray Juredini is one of the regulator’s responsible to have given a relevant adjudication where a similar classification was given on public request to a game.
b) It is important to understand that if any material is classified as restricted or is against any law, such as the Anti Racial Discrimination Act, it cannot be published or merchandised as well, and therefore any promotional or marketing activity of such a game over the internet will also attract legal implications as it will be prohibited under the law regulations.
The cases that are related to racial discrimination come under the jurisdiction of racial discrimination act and hence the content becomes restricted due to which the standard of publishing is unacceptable and in that case it cannot be socially promoted or marketed, moreover a post on the web for such a content will be considered as advertising and can be legally challenged.
We can take an example of the game Turner Diaries by William Pierce, which contains racist materials, theme and language and mentions about the destruction of non-whites, Jews and Aryans. This kind of content will come under the category of racial discrimination and will be challenged by the court of law, under the racial discrimination act and Classification of films and computer games both, hence it is important to understand that such a content cannot be posted on social networking which comes under the restricted category.
If we consider that along with posting such a content, there is a disclaimer made in order to say that the publisher does not have these views of his own and is just inviting comments on the same, it will still not be legal to publicize this kind of content as it not legal to distribute it, and will attract equal legal liability as in the above scenario.
c) In order to defend the contents of the site, the best that can be done is to announce that this is only published in order to get views of the visitors and the content has not been created by the webmaster and there must be valid proofs in order to establish the original source of the content. Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) has the authority to investigate if there is any illegal material published on the internet, not only this they are also responsible to issue take down notices. The notice given by ACMA will mention the classification under which the content is prohibited as per the broadcasting services act and will mention the exact reason to consider the content as explicit.
“That the content as “Item 1”, is hosted in [xyz] is serious enough to warrant referral to the AFP in accordance with subclause 40(1)(a)of schedule 5 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992”.
The content provider is responsible to answer this and give arguments in order to explain the reason behind posting that material.
d) The section 2.1 of the advertising code of ethics, mentions that any advertisement or marketing activity must not portray people or deficit material in such a way that it may lead to discrimination of a section or community or a person on the basis of nationality, race, sex, religion, age, sexual preference, disability or political belief, and in case if the game we are discussing is advertised in any manner action will be taken under this guideline. In a similar complaint against Smith and Jones in 2009, there was a charge against an advertisement posted regarding a material advertised which was prohibited under section 2.1 of the code of ethics.
