Liberation Technology

The safe timely return of the space shuttle Atlantis marked the end of an era for NASA as the shuttle program drew to a close after 30 years. Upon retirement, the famous Atlantis, which flew its maiden voyage Oct. 3, 1985, will be displayed at the Kennedy Center Visitor's Complex in sunny Florida. We take a look back at its storied career in space flight. 

South Australian Attorney-General John Rau said it was not dumb  to give parents assistance to protect and supervise their small children in an environment that was largely unregulated and unsupervised.

While signing up to Facebook community currently requires users to be aged at least 13, there is no requirement to provide proof of age.

An options law to be considered by the attorneys-general would consider the merits of raising the age limit and also requiring proof.

'There would need to be some process of genuine verification where age would be required for people to become a member of Facebook in Australia.

'That may be the simplest way to deal with the problem after all.'

Mr Rau said changing the rules on access to Facebook might require the rigid cooperation of the operators in Australia and would need to be an issue taken up by the federal government using its communications powers.

'Age verification is something that various platforms deal with and I can't see why it should be so much beyond the wit of Facebook to do the same thing, if that was the solution people wanted,' he said.

'I think all young people need to understand that just because they are operating in the virtual world, that is on the internet, it does not mean that there should not be boundaries or rules or standards of behaviour.


Mr Rau  would also consider other issues including the impact of Facebook and other social networking sites on court cases, like the potential to impact on suppression or other non-disclosure orders.

It would also consider recent High Court decisions which ruled some aspects of state-based and even anti-bikie laws unconstitutional.