Oh! Oh! Oh! Canada
August 31, 2004 12:00 PM   Subscribe

Up north, Canadian Customs contend with porn all day. Down south, Utah's former Porn Czar lost her job due to budget cuts after fielding 1,500 complaints. In California, private "porn trackers" look at porn so other's won't be able to. Over in Washington D.C., Lam Ngyen sips coffee and trolls the Internet for porn. What a job that must be. [Some links may not be suitable for work]
posted by cmonkey (26 comments total)


 
They have pornography on the Internet?

Wow. Will wonders never cease.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:01 PM on August 31, 2004


And again, Canada proves to the world it learned exactly nothing from WWII. GO GO BOOK BURNING! YAY! GOOD TIMES FOR ALL!
posted by shepd at 12:03 PM on August 31, 2004


Let me again express my wonder at the admission of "Housewives and Hot Moms at Play" and a simultaneous ban on "Housewives at Play."
posted by Krrrlson at 12:09 PM on August 31, 2004


>"My brothers love telling their friends, 'My sister looks at porn all day,' " said Diana Taylor, who has worked in the department five years.

The Adjuster, Atom Egoyan.
posted by philfromhavelock at 12:50 PM on August 31, 2004


"My brothers love telling their friends, 'My sister looks at porn all day,' " said Diana Taylor, who has worked in the department five years.

Of course, Diana, that's because your brother's friends are picturing you as a hot blonde, naked, and watching lipstick-lesbian porn. Really, that's how I'm picturing you...right...now...
posted by thanotopsis at 12:58 PM on August 31, 2004


Let me again express my wonder at the admission of "Housewives and Hot Moms at Play" and a simultaneous ban on "Housewives at Play."

Notice also that "Housewives, Moms, and Daughters" is okay. Housewife solo work is, apparently, verboten in Canada. Hook them up with some hot moms or daughters, though, and send 'em up!
posted by uncleozzy at 1:03 PM on August 31, 2004


Back in the day, I worked on the development team for Excite Clubs. When a user created a new club, they had to specify its content category and whether or not it contained porn. But we had to verify all new clubs to ensure that they were correctly categorized.

We would hire University of Texas students to do this. I still remember one young female student who was pretty shocked at the variety of, um, content that she encountered in her job.
posted by tippiedog at 1:19 PM on August 31, 2004


I let Xeni do all my porn surfing for me.
posted by thirteen at 1:32 PM on August 31, 2004


[Some links may not be suitable for work]

Now that's what I call irony.
posted by arto at 1:37 PM on August 31, 2004


I, for one, am outraged that Canada sees fit to mess with artistic perfection like "Bitches In Heat!" It is cinematic perfection! How dare they censor a doggy gangbang!
posted by fenriq at 1:45 PM on August 31, 2004


Looks to me that most of the banned material falls under three categories: bestiality, incest, and unconsenting abuse (ie. rape).

Given that these acts are illegal, it should be of little surprise that media of same are also illegal.
posted by five fresh fish at 1:54 PM on August 31, 2004


FFF, I think you can show The Godfather in Canada, even though contract killing is illegal there.

Also, "pony play" doesn't involve actual ponies.

Having said that, I agree with you that it makes sense for them to ban film of actual bestiality.

However, it is very very very unlikely that any of the banned films contain footage of actual incest, or actual rape.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:00 PM on August 31, 2004


shep what the fuck are you talking about?
posted by jon_kill at 3:11 PM on August 31, 2004


[Some links may not be suitable for work]
Mefi Russian Roulette

FFF, I think you can show The Godfather in Canada, even though contract killing is illegal there.
wow i didn't know the godfather was a snuff film.
posted by carfilhiot at 3:22 PM on August 31, 2004


wow i didn't know the godfather was a snuff film.

And it has that disgusting animal scene.
posted by Krrrlson at 3:36 PM on August 31, 2004


Man, the Troubles with Janice 3 is banned in Canada? Well, that explains why the Silver Snail isn't carrying it, I guess.

Direct Connect ahoy!

More seriously, Canada Customs is notoriously homophobic, and has a history of preventing the import of innocuous homosexual pornography and literature by declaring it "obscene".
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 3:47 PM on August 31, 2004


I let Xeni do all my porn surfing for me.

Xeni doesn't share my tastes in porn, so I have to do my own porn surfing. It's a burden, but one I'm willing to shoulder.
posted by tommasz at 4:34 PM on August 31, 2004


jon_kill, I'm just talking about book burning type activities, that's all. You know, banning media which contains depictions of (but not actual) illegal acts and stuff like that. It kinda scares me, because most countries, after WWII, leaned that's not a good idea (TM).

To further whet your appetite, technically, Spiderman and Superman comics are banned here (all comics containing descriptions of crime are banned). Fortunately, nobody in government is dumb enough to enforce the law *that* much.

HTH!
posted by shepd at 4:54 PM on August 31, 2004


a history of preventing the import of innocuous homosexual pornography and literature by declaring it "obscene".

Man, American history classes suck.
posted by yerfatma at 5:47 PM on August 31, 2004


ShepD: You might want to refer to Supreme Court cases where "depictions of (but not actual) illegal acts" were upheld as legal. I recall at least two cases: one involving a BC man who wrote kiddyporn for himself; the other an artist in Ontario(?) that drew kiddyporn, possibly for sale.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:09 PM on August 31, 2004


"depictions of (but not actual) illegal acts" were upheld as legal

Why wouldn't they be legal? I mean come on -- that's a bit obvious isn't it. I remember there being a case a while back where naked children were depicted taking part in sexual acts through the use of computer animation (or something, i forget). And I believe this was ruled illegal (in the US i think). Though if this was the case, it would seem that such a ruling is directed at perversity of the person, not the actual act. It's like outlawing an emotion not an action, isn't it?
posted by carfilhiot at 7:01 PM on August 31, 2004


fff, glad you brought Sharpe up. You realize how many times he had to appeal to fix that law, right? It took many years, and, unfortunately, was complicated because he is a loser paedophile (as it turned out later). Oh well.

It's still broken in a million other ways. For example, this import law, which isn't the law Sharpe broke, is still broken because they're not tied in any way. The crime comic law is also separate, and is therefore still broken. Same thing with Canada's hate laws. And then there's the CRTC

Canada has a lot of pre-WWII style anti-media, pro "cleansing" type laws that we won't get rid of for decades.
posted by shepd at 7:06 PM on August 31, 2004


>Why wouldn't they be legal?

If I knew that then I wouldn't have to link this law and prove Canada outlaws mere drawings of thought-up crimes.

As far as outlawing emotions goes, read the header for that law, "Corrupting Morals". Yes, we are trying to outlaw emotions (I haven't a clue why).

163.2.(c) is exciting. Might want to read that and save it for the next "canada is pro-choice" FPP.
posted by shepd at 7:11 PM on August 31, 2004


Some of these choices for prohibition are odd. Other ones, such as "Hardcore Horse Explosion", are easier to understand.
posted by clevershark at 10:40 PM on August 31, 2004


Interesting tidbit of this law: one can commit a felony who "advertises or publishes an advertisement of any means, instructions, medicine, drug or article intended or represented as a method for restoring sexual virility or curing venereal diseases or diseases of the generative organs."

Of course no one applies this particular part of the law nowadays (Viagra ads, anyone?).
posted by clevershark at 10:42 PM on August 31, 2004


I let Xeni do all my porn surfing for me.

I let Xenu do all my porn surfing for me. Of course, I prefer photos of women holding soup cans and writing checks to L. Ron Hubbard's estate.
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:08 AM on September 1, 2004


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