Bestiality ban in Netherlands to cut video source
The internet potentially will lose one of its main sources of bestiality videos under a ban approved today by the upper house of the Dutch parliament.
The new law bans human sex with animals, including in private situations where the animals are not injured, and prohibits the production or distribution of animal pornography, a summary of the law posted on the upper chamber's website said.
Given the illicit nature of the product, precise figures on animal pornography video sales are difficult to find, but the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, in a 2007 survey, found that distributors in the Netherlands were responsible for some 80 percent of bestiality videos worldwide.
The bill was introduced in April 2007 and passed the lower house in July 2008, but took time to make its way through the upper house to final approval. It was not immediately clear how soon the law would go into effect.
Sex with animals had been legal in the Netherlands, as long as it could be proven the animals were not injured.
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Charles Sammut
Feb 3rd 2010, 08:55
"The new law bans human sex with animals, including in private situations where the animals are not injured,"
Another law which will be next to impossible to enforce. The intention might be good, I mean it is a disgusting activity, but it will simply drive it underground. This activity is so common in some countries that the health authorities put up billboards similar to anti-smoking ones. http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/ultralemony/ASPCA_Billboard-1.jpg
@ Frans Sammut This has nothing to do with Internet censorship. If bestiality is illegal, you cannot practise it, full stop. If you cannot practise it, you cannot film it and so it cannot find it's way on the internet. It is like paedophilia or snuff movies. People who have uploaded videos of themselves racing on public roads have been prosecuted. Censorship does not enter the equation.
Regarding local blogs bandying serious allegations of illegalities at parties are a different story. If the subjects of these allegations feel they have been libeled, they can take legal action. Again, nothing to do with censorship.
Ernest Vella
Feb 2nd 2010, 22:43
where are the progressives...is that what we want from our nation?...so funny...bestiality is stopped because it can injure an animal...is that the respect for human dignity we speak off...disgusting...crazy...Europe slams morality again...disgusting
Frans Sammut
Feb 2nd 2010, 21:13
So bestiality is being banned on the internet! Good. This proves censorship on the internet is not considered a throwback to the middle ages in Europe. What about banning insults and serious implications on local, homegrown blogs?
Peter Korsten
Feb 2nd 2010, 18:10
"It was not immediately clear how soon the law would go into effect."
After the Queen signs the law, and it is published in the government gazette (which is purely an on-line matter these days). Usually a couple of weeks.