Swearing off bad language: Russia bans cussing in films, books, music

Thinking about making a film? Better leave out the foul language if you want it to be seen in Russia. The same goes for plays. Even rock stars will need to leave their potty mouths at home. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on a new law Monday that bans swearing at arts, cultural and entertainment events in the country.

Any new film containing obscene language won't be granted a distribution certificate, so there's no chance of seeing it at the movie theater. And copies of books, CDs or films containing swearing can only be distributed in a sealed package labelled "Contains obscene language," a Kremlin statement said.

According to state news agency ITAR-Tass, individuals caught using foul language face a fine of up to $70, while officials can be fined up to $40 and businesses nearly $1,400. They face a higher fine and a three-month suspension of business for repeated offenses.

More at CNN.com

Turkey Approves Harsh New Internet Law

Turkey's Parliament approved a law on Thursday that would grant sweeping new powers to the government to censor and monitor the Internet traffic of citizens.

The law, which still requires final approval by the country's president, would permit the government to quickly shutter a website deemed inappropriate, and orders Internet companies to store traffic and other data for two years.

The user data storage provisions of the bill are reminiscent of plans discussed by the Obama administration to require cellular phone companies to store the "metadata" of citizens for a set period of time. That data could later be ordered to be turned over to investigating government agencies, and could be used to track or otherwise monitor phone users. In the U.S., those discussions came in the aftermath of the revelations leaked by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

In Turkey, the new law comes amid a difficult period for the country's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has faced challenges to his rule from a popular protest movement, as well as a murky powerbroker with ties to the security state. The government has increasingly responded to attacks on its authority with crackdowns, especially on free speech and the press.

The World Post

Apple Helps Cops Hide Police Brutality

The rapid emergence of smart phones with high definition cameras leads to consequences for law-breaking cops. Recently, law enforcement has throughout the country has been trying to pass laws that would make it illegal to film them while they're on duty. But Apple is coming out with a new technology that would put all the power in a cop's hands. Check out the video by Anna Kasparian and the link for more information

A New "451" Error Message Would Tell Users When Governments Are Blocking Websites

If you don't think book burning is a fair analogy for blocked websites, may I remind you that the British Library's wi-fi filter recently blocked users from accessing Hamlet due to its "violent" content. And the Shakespeare-blocking library is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to inadvertent censorship. Over the years there's been a steady stream of reports of innocent websites getting swept up in overzealous copyright crackdowns, and free expression activists fear the same will happen under British Prime Minister David Cameron's controversial "pornwall."

To fend off the chilling effects of heavy-handed internet restriction, the UK consumer rights organization Open Rights Group wants to create a new version of the “404 Page Not Found” error message, called “451 unavailable,” to specify that a webpage wasn’t simply not there, it was ordered to be blocked for legal reasons. 

In case you missed the reference, the number is shout-out to Ray Bradbury’s book-burning government censorship novel Fahrenheit 451. The campaign's hope is to increase transparency and shine a light on web censorship—both intended and inadvertent. If the group gets its way, the 451 message would include information on who initiated the block, the reasons for it, links to the relevant court documents, and steps for how to go about challenging the block.

Full article on Motherboard

UK 'Porn' Filter Will Also Block Violence, Alcohol, Terrorism, Smoking And 'Esoteric Material'

The United Kingdom's new internet filters promise to block much more than just pornography, according to a report by the digital advocacy organization Open Rights Group.

Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron announced online porn would soon become automatically blocked in order to "protect children and their innocence." The filters will be implemented by the UK's major internet service providers, which encompass 95% of British web users.

Based on conversations with several ISPs, Open Rights Group says the new "parental controls" will reach far beyond pornography. By default, the controls will block access to "violent material," "extremist and terrorist related content," "anorexia and eating disorder websites," and "suicide related websites."

In addition, the new settings will censor websites that mention alcohol or smoking. The filter will even block "web forums" and "esoteric material," though Open Rights Group does not specify what these categories would include.

Huffington Post

Censored by TED: The War on Consciousness

Comments from YouTube:
This is my first encounter with Rupert Sheldrake, but I have read a number of Graham Hancock's books. I don't agree with everything Graham Hancock writes and he is often inflammatory and controversial, but I find his work interesting and thought-provoking. TED seems to have forgotten the part about the talks being "designed to inspire conversation, exchange and immediate action around ideas worth spreading -- all in a creative and casual setting."
I think the attempt by TED to censor Mr. Sheldrake's and Mr. Hancock's presentations is reprehensible and completely against the spirit of their tagline ("Ideas Worth Sharing") and their stated mission ("Spreading ideas"). They conveniently left out some bits. Apparently, the tagline is actually "Ideas TED Thinks Are Worth Sharing" and the real mission is "Spreading only the ideas TED approves of."
They have arrogated the right to judge the value of thoughts and ideas. They have arrogated the right to choose what we hear and learn. They have arrogated the right to think for us.

Brasscheck tv

Lego 'Withdraws' Star Wars Model After Anti-Muslim Complaints

Lego has reportedly agreed to withdraw a model from its Star Wars range after complaints it was anti-Muslim. The Jabba's Palace model will be withdrawn from 2014 onwards, the Independent reported.

The dome-topped structure, housing the slobbering Star Wars villain Jabba the Hut, sparked a row in January when a Turkish community in Austria raised concerns that it looked like Istanbul's Hagia Sofia mosque.

See the Huff. Post

British bloggers may face libel fines under press regulation deal

British Bloggers could face high fines for libel under the new Leveson deal with exemplary damages imposed if they don't sign up to the new regulator, it was claimed on Tuesday. Kirsty Hughes, the chief executive of Index on Censorship, which campaigns for press freedom around the world, said it was a "sad day" for British democracy. "This will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on everyday people's web use," she said.

She said she feared thousands of websites could fall under the definition of a "relevant publisher" according to the rules passed in the House of Commons on Monday night as part of the courts bill. Under the rules sites that generate news and are written by several authors could risk exemplary damages. Hughes said: "Bloggers could find themselves subject to exemplary damages, due to the fact that they were not part of a regulator that was not intended for them in the first place."

More on The Guardian - It is terrifying how quickly we've slid from a free press to politicians stitching up press regulation (The Telegraph) - British Censorship on Wikipedia

'Attempt to ban porn' discovered in EU report

On Tuesday, members of the European Parliament will vote on the worthy yet mundane-sounding Report on Eliminating Gender Stereotypes in the EU. But bloggers this week pounced on an article in the report that calls for “a ban on all forms of pornography in the media”, and urged their supporters to bombard all 754 MEPs with emails condemning the “unacceptable political invasion of people’s bedrooms”.

While Tuesday’s vote in Strasbourg is merely an expression of support and would not be legally binding, critics worry that it could be the first step towards draconian policing of the internet in Europe. It comes after Iceland began drafting legislation to ban all online pornography, prompting cries of censorship.

Rickard Falkvinge, a founder of the libertarian Swedish Pirate Party, said the text coming before the European Parliament was a “horrendous attack on our fundamental freedoms of speech and expression” while a Pirate Party MEP, Christian Engstrom, warned that “the devil is in the detail” – in particular a call in the report for “a charter to which all internet operators will be invited to adhere. This is quite clearly yet another attempt to get the internet service providers to start policing what citizens do on the internet, not by legislation, but by ‘self-regulation’,” he wrote on his blog. “This is something we have seen before in a number of different proposals, and which is one of the big threats against information freedom in our society.”

More on The Independent

China tightens internet controls and targets bloggers

China unveiled tighter internet controls on Friday, legalising the deletion of posts or pages which are deemed to contain “illegal” information and requiring service providers to hand over such information to the authorities for punishment.

The rules signal that the new leadership headed by Communist Party chief Xi Jinping will continue muzzling the often scathing, raucous online chatter in a country where the internet offers a rare opportunity for debate.

The new regulations, announced by the official Xinhua news agency, also require internet users to register with their real names when signing up with network providers, though, in reality, this already happens.

Chinese authorities and internet companies such as Sina Corp have long since closely monitored and censored what people say online, but the government has now put measures such as deleting posts into law.

“Service providers are required to instantly stop the transmission of illegal information once it is spotted and take relevant measures, including removing the information and saving records, before reporting to supervisory authorities,” the rules state.

South China Morning Post

Censorship is a must, says China's Nobel winner

This year's Nobel prize in literature winner, Mo Yan, who has been criticised for his membership in China's Communist party and reluctance to speak out against the country's government, has defended censorship as something as necessary as airport security checks.

He also suggested he won't join an appeal calling for the release of the jailed 2010 Peace prize laureate, Liu Xiaobo, a fellow writer and compatriot.

Mo has been criticised by human rights activists for not being a more outspoken defender of freedom of speech and for supporting the Communist party-backed writers' association, of which he is vice-president.

The Guardian

How the ITU could put the internet behind closed doors

Russia’s leap in Internet control

The Russian government this month began implementing a new Internet filtering policy, including a blacklist of banned Web sites. The policy is supposedly about protecting Russian minors from material about suicide, drugs or child pornography. But human rights advocates warn that the policy is intended to silence legitimate, independent speech in one of the last venues Russians have for it. Russian investigative journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan reported on Wired.com that the technology required to enforce the blacklist would give the government the infrastructure it needs to monitor Russian Internet activity on a massive scale, “spying on millions of Russians.” This is a leap in Internet control; not merely bullying Internet service providers or shutting down Web sites, the authorities appear to be moving to dig deeply into the data stream.

Reporters Without Borders points out that the blacklist is only one of many new policies in a broader rollback of Russians’ freedom. The state is curbing the use of technologies to evade Internet censorship and may soon further restrict “blasphemy.” Libel has become a crime. Leaders of the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, promise more to come. Most disturbing, the legislature has voted to redefine “high treason” in a way that would vastly expand the universe of people whom the state could charge, possibly including journalists, activists and others who may be a danger to Mr. Putin’s regime but are no danger to Russia itself.

The Washington Post

The Kremlin's New Internet Surveillance Plan Goes Live

On the surface, it’s all about protecting Russian kids from internet pedophiles. In reality, the Kremlin’s new “Single Register” of banned websites, which goes into effect today, will wind up blocking all kinds of online political speech. And, thanks to the spread of new internet-monitoring technologies, the Register could well become a tool for spying on millions of Russians.

Signed into law by Vladimir Putin on July 28, the internet-filtering measure contains a single, innocuous-sounding paragraph that allows those compiling the Register to draw on court decisions relating to the banning of websites. The problem is, the courts have ruled to block more than child pornographers’ sites. The judges have also agreed to online bans on political extremists and opponents of the Putin regime.

The principle of internet censorship is not a new one to the Russian authorities. For five years, regional prosecutors have been busy implementing regional court decisions requiring providers to block access to banned sites. To date this has not been done systematically: Sites blocked in one region remained accessible in others. The Register removes this problem.

Wired.com

Facebook Now Censoring Political Posts As ‘Hate Speech’

Facebook is now apparently censoring political posts which violate its “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities” as hate speech, after the social networking giant threatened to close radio host Alex Jones’ account over an image of Osama Bin Laden with the words “Al-CIA-da” written underneath.

Attempting to login to Alex Jones’ Facebook account, which has over 321,000 subscribers, Infowars staff were met with a message from Facebook denying access to the account until it was acknowledged that Facebook’s terms had been violated.

“We removed content you posted,” stated the message, underneath which was a black and white image of Osama Bin Laden with the words “Al-CIA-da” emblazoned across it. Facebook removed the image because it “violates Facebook’s Statement of RIghts and Responsibilities.”

A secondary screen then warned that other infringing images should be removed if the account was to remain in good standing.

Since the image is not copyrighted, according to Facebook’s terms of agreement one can only assume that it was removed because it represented an example of “hate speech,” yet the picture was merely a commentary on the admitted fact that Osama Bin Laden was aided by the CIA during the cold war and that Al-Qaeda terrorists are now being supported by the Central Intelligence Agency in Syria and Libya.

Facebook advertises and poses as a public commons yet, much like Google-owned You Tube, routinely censors political content on flimsy pretexts.

Prison Planet.com

Turkey's Press Freedom Crisis

The Dark Days of Jailing Journalists and Criminalizing Dissent

Turkish authorities are engaging in widespread criminal prosecution and jailing of journalists, and are applying other forms of severe pressure to promote self-censorship in the press, a CPJ analysis shows. CPJ has found highly repressive laws, particularly in the penal code and anti-terror law; a criminal procedure code that greatly favors the state; and a harsh anti-press tone set at the highest levels of government. Turkey’s press freedom situation has reached a crisis point. 

A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists - Two of Turkey's leading journalists speak from jail

The UK Atheist censored by YouTube

It's official , the youtube account "theukatheist" has been taken off by youtube, over 9000 subscribers gone.

 theUKatheist

Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body. … It occurs in a variety of different contexts including speech, books, music, films and other arts, the press, radio, television, and the Internet for a variety of reasons including national security, to control obscenity, child pornography, and hate speech, to protect children, to promote or restrict political or religious views, to prevent slander and libel, and to protect intellectual property. It may or may not be legal. Many countries provide strong protections against censorship by law, but none of these protections are absolute and it is frequently necessary to balance conflicting rights in order to determine what can and cannot be censored.

Wikipedia

UPDATE: It was do to copyright infringement due to him posting the 2012 Rumble debate with Bill O'Reilly and John Stewart. The company that produced the event apparently contacted YouTube and demanded it removed, along with other videos of their production showing it in full. It's not clear if the account was terminated due to a YouTube policy or if the company who the copyright belonged to requested it. (Anonymous commenter)

Ukrainian journalists protest against defamation bill that muzzle media

Ukrainian journalists have protested outside the country's parliament against a bill they fear will be used to muzzle the media, holding up empty posters to highlight their concerns about censorship.

The bill, backed by the party led by President Viktor Yanukovych, calls for toughened punishment for defamation, including prison terms of up to five years. International watchdogs have criticized the measure as a government attempt to silence independent journalism.

Several leading Ukrainian newspapers and magazines have protested in recent days by publishing editions with blank covers. More than 100 journalists took part in Monday's rally. The legislature is set to consider the bill in the final reading next week, even though its author had sought to rescind it.

Calgary Herald - Ukraine on Wikipedia

Extra Terrestrial Beacons, and other places Google doesn't want you to see

It’s pretty ridiculous how blatantly blurred this one is, but then again, WikiLeaks did publish a diplomatic cable that confirmed the presence of nuclear warheads at this base.

22 more on Huffington Post - Tru TV

Burn Your iPhones

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who of Israel’s pre-eminent haredi rabbis, issued a public notice on Sunday urging owners of iPhones to burn their devices, comparing the popular cell phones to weapons of war.

The ban on iPhone products was published on the front page of the popular haredi paper Yated Ne’eman.  The edict stated that not only is it forbidden for Jews to possess an iPhone, but that it is also not permitted to sell the phone to non-Jews, citing a Jewish law forbidding the sale of weapons to non-Jews.  The only solution – burning the device.

Rabbi Kanievsky’s ruling came after he was approached by businessman asking his opinion about the phones.  The Eda Haredit has also condemned iPhones and all other smart phones. Smartphone devices have been condemned by many hareidi rabbis due to the ease of using the internet privately, taking part in social media, and accessing pornography sites.

JewishPress