Readers' Letters Jedi persecuted Down Under

May the false declaration be with you

We're obliged to Reg readers Down Under for some further information on the Jedi census saga. To recap, an email has been doing the rounds asking people to declare their religion as 'Jedi' in the forthcoming UK census. They reckon that if 10,000 people so declare, the government will be forced to recognise the faith. David Menuhin notes that this email has also been circulating in Oz:

I was surprised to read the story about the UK Jedi email campaign, given that we here in Australia have been experiencing a very similar flood due to OUR upcoming census (7th August). As you can see from this story in The Age, we have been warned by the government of a hefty fine for putting down Jedi as our religion. I'm still deciding what to do :)

Excellent. A bit of persecution is just what a nascent religion needs. But the story didn't begin in Australia. New Zealand had its census on 6th March, and the government there was threatening similar action against would-be Jedi, as you can see on www.stuff.co.nz. Thanks to Gavin Treadgold, Tom Metcalfe and Duncan Morison for the info. The question is, did anyone get fined? Let us know.

Best of the rest

SurfControl's 'scare marketing'
Filtering company riding wave of fear
US discovers dictionary
I know what a faggot means, you faggots
DoubleClick cookies firmly in jar
Register readers reassured
Yank slams Reg European provincialism
Limeys lashed
Let your staff surf porn...
As good a way as any to waste time
Hello, John, want a new fighter?
No flying car, but fast jets galore