Australian Plan for Smart TV Control Draws Comparisons to Orwell’s 1984

Coalition Senator Hollie Hughes spoke about the Australian Government’s plan to legislate a “prominence framework.” They aim to control content on Smart TVs. Under the plan, local television services, such as free-to-air television channels ABC and SBS, will be controlled, and the Smart TVs may prioritize these free-to-air channels over apps personally chosen by consumers. According to Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes, this is akin to the dystopian society found in George Orwell’s books. “Next we’ll start seeing they’ll want a ministry of truth, I think they’ve read some of Orwell’s books and taken them too literally,” she said.

Ms. Hughes also mentioned that the government seems to be trying to control and limit the information people have access to, leaning toward a left-wing agenda. She also referred to a campaign that encourages the public not to let the government control their TVs. Lastly, there is concern that the Australian Government’s plan might lead to further restrictions on what Australians watch or listen to, and the entertainment industry feels this is a regulation looking for an issue. According to the proposal paper, the government plans to introduce the legislation in the near future.



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