Linking to Wikileaks in Australia? The Fine is A$11,000

For those of us assessing US foreign and military policy, Wikileaks is an essential site. Amongst its scrutiny of governments, churches, and corporations, it posts American documents that offer insight into the past, present, and future of the Government's approach to international affairs. Only last month we featured Wikileaks' release of a NATO memorandum that laid out the propaganda line for the Afghanistan conflict, including the revelation:

”Opposing Militant Forces” is the correct term [for Afghan insurgents] but is not suitable for use with the media. Depending on the audience and the group being referred to, the phrases militants/insurgents/extremists/Taleban extremists/enemies of Afghanistan may be used.

Well, good thing we're coming out of Birmingham rather than Brisbane because a link to Wikileaks in Australia can be punished with a fine of $11,000 Australian ($7250 American). It has been added to a list of almost 1400 sites, mostly with pornographic content, that are blacklisted.

Ironically, Wikileaks earned its place in Australian censorship by revealing a secret Danish list of banned sites. And both appropriately and ironically, it was Wikileaks that revealed the news of its own banning, noting in Fight Club fashion, "The first rule of censorship is that you cannot talk about censorship."