Censorship

Last updated

The plaster cast of David at the Victoria and Albert Museum has a detachable plaster fig leaf which is displayed nearby. Legend claims that the fig leaf was created in response to Queen Victoria's shock upon first viewing the statue's nudity and was hung on the figure prior to royal visits, using two strategically placed hooks. Life of Michael Angelo, 1912 - David + Fig Leaf Focus.png
The plaster cast of David at the Victoria and Albert Museum has a detachable plaster fig leaf which is displayed nearby. Legend claims that the fig leaf was created in response to Queen Victoria's shock upon first viewing the statue's nudity and was hung on the figure prior to royal visits, using two strategically placed hooks.

Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". [2] [3] [4] Censorship can be conducted by governments, [5] private institutions, [6] and other controlling bodies.

Contents

Governments [5] and private organizations may engage in censorship. Other groups or institutions may propose and petition for censorship. [6] When an individual such as an author or other creator engages in censorship of their own works or speech, it is referred to as self-censorship . General censorship occurs in a variety of different media, including speech, books, music, films, and other arts, the press, radio, television, and the Internet for a variety of claimed reasons including national security, to control obscenity, pornography, and hate speech, to protect children or other vulnerable groups, to promote or restrict political or religious views, and to prevent slander and libel. Specific rules and regulations regarding censorship vary between legal jurisdictions and/or private organizations.

History

Chinese troops destroyed the statue Goddess of Democracy in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and continue to censor information about those events. This statue, now known as the Victims of Communism Memorial, was recreated by Thomas Marsh in Washington, DC. Victims of Communism Memorial DBKing A.jpg
Chinese troops destroyed the statue Goddess of Democracy in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and continue to censor information about those events. This statue, now known as the Victims of Communism Memorial , was recreated by Thomas Marsh in Washington, DC.
Book burning in Chile following the 1973 coup that installed the Pinochet regime Chile quema libros 1973.JPG
Book burning in Chile following the 1973 coup that installed the Pinochet regime

In 399 BC, Greek philosopher, Socrates, while defying attempts by the Athenian state to censor his philosophical teachings, was accused of collateral charges related to the corruption of Athenian youth and sentenced to death by drinking a poison, hemlock.

The details of Socrates's conviction are recorded by Plato as follows. In 399 BC, Socrates went on trial [8] and was subsequently found guilty of both corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and of impiety ( asebeia , [9] "not believing in the gods of the state"), [10] and as a punishment sentenced to death, caused by the drinking of a mixture containing hemlock. [11] [12] [13]

Socrates' student, Plato, is said to have advocated censorship in his essay on The Republic , which opposed the existence of democracy. In contrast to Plato, Greek playwright Euripides (480–406 BC) defended the true liberty of freeborn men, including the right to speak freely. In 1766, Sweden became the first country to abolish censorship by law. [14]

Rationale and criticism

Censorship has been criticized throughout history for being unfair and hindering progress. In a 1997 essay on Internet censorship, social commentator Michael Landier explains that censorship is counterproductive as it prevents the censored topic from being discussed. Landier expands his argument by claiming that those who impose censorship must consider what they censor to be true, as individuals believing themselves to be correct would welcome the opportunity to disprove those with opposing views. [15]

Censorship is often used to impose moral values on society, as in the censorship of material considered obscene. English novelist E. M. Forster was a staunch opponent of censoring material on the grounds that it was obscene or immoral, raising the issue of moral subjectivity and the constant changing of moral values. When the 1928 novel Lady Chatterley's Lover was put on trial in 1960, Forster wrote: [16]

Lady Chatterley's Lover is a literary work of importance...I do not think that it could be held obscene, but am in a difficulty here, for the reason that I have never been able to follow the legal definition of obscenity. The law tells me that obscenity may deprave and corrupt, but as far as I know, it offers no definition of depravity or corruption.

Proponents have sought to justify it using different rationales for various types of information censored:

Types

Political

State secrets and prevention of attention

The daily newspaper of Wroclaw, Polish People's Republic, March 20-21, 1981, with censor intervention on first and last pages - under the headlines "Co sie zdarzylo w Bydgoszczy?" (What happened in Bydgoszcz?) and "Pogotowie strajkowe w calym kraju" (Country-wide strike alert). The censor had removed a section regarding the strike alert; hence the workers in the printing house blanked out an official propaganda section. The right-hand page also includes a hand-written confirmation of that decision by the local Solidarity trade union. WieczorWroclawia20marca1981.jpg
The daily newspaper of Wrocław, Polish People's Republic, March 20–21, 1981, with censor intervention on first and last pages – under the headlines "Co się zdarzyło w Bydgoszczy?" (What happened in Bydgoszcz?) and "Pogotowie strajkowe w całym kraju" (Country-wide strike alert). The censor had removed a section regarding the strike alert; hence the workers in the printing house blanked out an official propaganda section. The right-hand page also includes a hand-written confirmation of that decision by the local Solidarity trade union.

In wartime, explicit censorship is carried out with the intent of preventing the release of information that might be useful to an enemy. Typically it involves keeping times or locations secret, or delaying the release of information (e.g., an operational objective) until it is of no possible use to enemy forces. The moral issues here are often seen as somewhat different, as the proponents of this form of censorship argue that the release of tactical information usually presents a greater risk of casualties among one's own forces and could possibly lead to loss of the overall conflict.

During World War I letters written by British soldiers would have to go through censorship. This consisted of officers going through letters with a black marker and crossing out anything which might compromise operational secrecy before the letter was sent. [22] The World War II catchphrase "Loose lips sink ships" was used as a common justification to exercise official wartime censorship and encourage individual restraint when sharing potentially sensitive information. [23]

An example of "sanitization" policies comes from the USSR under Joseph Stalin, where publicly used photographs were often altered to remove people whom Stalin had condemned to execution. Though past photographs may have been remembered or kept, this deliberate and systematic alteration to all of history in the public mind is seen as one of the central themes of Stalinism and totalitarianism.

Censorship is occasionally carried out to aid authorities or to protect an individual, as with some kidnappings when attention and media coverage of the victim can sometimes be seen as unhelpful. [24]

Religion

Portrayal of the burning of William Pynchon's 1650 critique on Puritanical Calvinism in Boston by the Puritan-controlled Massachusetts Bay Colony PynchonBooksBurned.png
Portrayal of the burning of William Pynchon's 1650 critique on Puritanical Calvinism in Boston by the Puritan-controlled Massachusetts Bay Colony

Censorship by religion is a form of censorship where freedom of expression is controlled or limited using religious authority or on the basis of the teachings of the religion. [25] This form of censorship has a long history and is practiced in many societies and by many religions. Examples include the Galileo affair, Edict of Compiègne, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (list of prohibited books) and the condemnation of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses by Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Images of the Islamic figure Muhammad are also regularly censored. In some secular countries, this is sometimes done to prevent hurting religious sentiments. [26]

Educational sources

Historic Russian censorship. Book Notes of my life by N.I. Grech, published in St. Petersburg 1886 by A.S. Suvorin. The censored text was replaced by dots. Grech old russian censorship.jpg
Historic Russian censorship. Book Notes of my life by N.I. Grech , published in St. Petersburg 1886 by A.S. Suvorin. The censored text was replaced by dots.

The content of school textbooks is often an issue of debate, since their target audiences are young people. The term whitewashing is commonly used to refer to revisionism aimed at glossing over difficult or questionable historical events, or a biased presentation thereof. The reporting of military atrocities in history is extremely controversial, as in the case of the Holocaust (or Holocaust denial), Bombing of Dresden, the Nanking Massacre as found with Japanese history textbook controversies, the Armenian genocide, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and the Winter Soldier Investigation of the Vietnam War.

In the context of secondary school education, the way facts and history are presented greatly influences the interpretation of contemporary thought, opinion and socialization. One argument for censoring the type of information disseminated is based on the inappropriate quality of such material for the younger public. The use of the "inappropriate" distinction is in itself controversial, as it changed heavily. A Ballantine Books version of the book Fahrenheit 451 which is the version used by most school classes [27] contained approximately 75 separate edits, omissions, and changes from the original Bradbury manuscript.

In February 2006, a National Geographic cover was censored by the Nashravaran Journalistic Institute. The offending cover was about the subject of love and a picture of an embracing couple was hidden beneath a white sticker. [28]

Economic induced censorship

Economic induced censorship is a type of censorship enacted by economic markets to favor, and disregard, types of information. Economic induced censorship, is also caused, by market forces which privatize and establish commodification of certain information that is not accessible by the general public, primarily because of the cost associated with commodified information such as academic journals, industry reports and pay to use repositories. [29]

The concept was illustrated as a censorship pyramid [30] that was conceptualized by primarily Julian Assange, along with Andy Müller-Maguhn, Jacob Appelbaum and Jérémie Zimmermann, in the Cypherpunks (book).

Self-censorship

Author Ozzie Zehner self-censored the American edition of his environmental book, Green Illusions, fearing food libel laws. Censored section of Green Illusions by Ozzie Zehner.jpg
Author Ozzie Zehner self-censored the American edition of his environmental book, Green Illusions, fearing food libel laws.

Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority. Self-censorship is often practiced by film producers, film directors, publishers, news anchors, journalists, musicians, and other kinds of authors including individuals who use social media. [32]

According to a Pew Research Center and the Columbia Journalism Review survey, "About one-quarter of the local and national journalists say they have purposely avoided newsworthy stories, while nearly as many acknowledge they have softened the tone of stories to benefit the interests of their news organizations. Fully four-in-ten (41%) admit they have engaged in either or both of these practices." [33]

Threats to media freedom have shown a significant increase in Europe in recent years, according to a study published in April 2017 by the Council of Europe. This results in a fear of physical or psychological violence, and the ultimate result is self-censorship by journalists. [34]

Copy, picture, and writer approval

Copy approval is the right to read and amend an article, usually an interview, before publication. Many publications refuse to give copy approval but it is increasingly becoming common practice when dealing with publicity anxious celebrities. [35] Picture approval is the right given to an individual to choose which photos will be published and which will not. Robert Redford is well known for insisting upon picture approval. [36] Writer approval is when writers are chosen based on whether they will write flattering articles or not. Hollywood publicist Pat Kingsley is known for banning certain writers who wrote undesirably about one of her clients from interviewing any of her other clients.[ citation needed ]

Reverse censorship

Flooding the public, often through online social networks, with false or misleading information is sometimes called "reverse censorship". American legal scholar Tim Wu has explained that this type of information control, sometimes by state actors, can "distort or drown out disfavored speech through the creation and dissemination of fake news, the payment of fake commentators, and the deployment of propaganda robots." [37]

By media

Books

Nazi book burning in Berlin, May 1933 1933-may-10-berlin-book-burning.JPG
Nazi book burning in Berlin, May 1933

Book censorship can be enacted at the national or sub-national level, and can carry legal penalties for their infraction. Books may also be challenged at a local, community level. As a result, books can be removed from schools or libraries, although these bans do not typically extend outside of that area.

Films

Aside from the usual justifications of pornography and obscenity, some films are censored due to changing racial attitudes or political correctness in order to avoid ethnic stereotyping and/or ethnic offense despite its historical or artistic value. One example is the still withdrawn "Censored Eleven" series of animated cartoons, which may have been innocent then, but are "incorrect" now. [38]

Film censorship is carried out by various countries. Film censorship is achieved by censoring the producer or restricting a state citizen. For example, in China the film industry censors LGBT-related films. Filmmakers must resort to finding funds from international investors such as the "Ford Foundations" and or produce through an independent film company. [39]

Music

Music censorship has been implemented by states, religions, educational systems, families, retailers and lobbying groups – and in most cases they violate international conventions of human rights. [40]

Maps

Censorship of maps is often employed for military purposes. For example, the technique was used in former East Germany, especially for the areas near the border to West Germany in order to make attempts of defection more difficult. Censorship of maps is also applied by Google Maps, where certain areas are grayed out or blacked or areas are purposely left outdated with old imagery. [41]

Art

Art is loved and feared because of its evocative power. Destroying or oppressing art can potentially justify its meaning even more. [42]

British photographer and visual artist Graham Ovenden's photos and paintings were ordered to be destroyed by a London's magistrate court in 2015 for being "indecent" [43] and their copies had been removed from the online Tate gallery. [44]

Artworks using these four colors were banned by Israeli law in the 1980s. This ban ended in 1993. Flag of Palestine.svg
Artworks using these four colors were banned by Israeli law in the 1980s. This ban ended in 1993.

A 1980 Israeli law forbade banned artwork composed of the four colours of the Palestinian flag, [45] and Palestinians were arrested for displaying such artwork or even for carrying sliced melons with the same pattern. [46] [47] [48]

Cuban artist Tania Bruguera Tania bruguera.jpg
Cuban artist Tania Bruguera

Moath al-Alwi is a Guantanamo Bay prisoner who creates model ships as an expression of art. Alwi does so with the few tools he has at his disposal such as dental floss and shampoo bottles, and he is also allowed to use a small pair of scissors with rounded edges. [49] A few of Alwi's pieces are on display at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. There are also other artworks on display at the College that were created by other inmates. The artwork that is being displayed might be the only way for some of the inmates to communicate with the outside. Recently things have changed though. The military has come up with a new policy that will not allow the artwork at Guantanamo Bay Military Prison to leave the prison. The artwork created by Alwi and other prisoners is now government property and can be destroyed or disposed of in whatever way the government choose, making it no longer the artist's property. [50]

Around 300 artists in Cuba are fighting for their artistic freedom due to new censorship rules Cuba's government has in place for artists. In December 2018, following the introduction of new rules that would ban music performances and artwork not authorized by the state, performance artist Tania Bruguera was detained upon arriving to Havana and released after four days. [51]

The Degenerate Art Exhibition Ausstellung entartete kunst 1937.jpg
The Degenerate Art Exhibition

An example of extreme state censorship was the Nazis' requirements of using art as propaganda. Art was only allowed to be used as a political instrument to control people and failure to act in accordance with the censors was punishable by law, even fatal. The Degenerate Art Exhibition was a historical instance of this, the goal of which was to advertise Nazi values and slander others. [52]

Internet

Internet censorship and surveillance by country (2018)
.mw-parser-output .div-col{margin-top:0.3em;column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .div-col-small{font-size:90%}.mw-parser-output .div-col-rules{column-rule:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .div-col dl,.mw-parser-output .div-col ol,.mw-parser-output .div-col ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .div-col li,.mw-parser-output .div-col dd{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}
.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}
Pervasive
Substantial
Selective
Little or no
Not classified / No data Internet Censorship and Surveillance World Map.svg
Internet censorship and surveillance by country (2018)
  Pervasive
  Substantial
  Selective
  Little or no
  Not classified / No data

Internet censorship is control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of the government or on their own initiative. Individuals and organizations may engage in self-censorship on their own or due to intimidation and fear.

The issues associated with Internet censorship are similar to those for offline censorship of more traditional media. One difference is that national borders are more permeable online: residents of a country that bans certain information can find it on websites hosted outside the country. Thus censors must work to prevent access to information even though they lack physical or legal control over the websites themselves. This in turn requires the use of technical censorship methods that are unique to the Internet, such as site blocking and content filtering. [58]

Furthermore, the Domain Name System (DNS) a critical component of the Internet is dominated by centralized and few entities. The most widely used DNS root is administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). [59] [60] As an administrator they have rights to shut down and seize domain names when they deem necessary to do so and at most times the direction is from governments. This has been the case with Wikileaks shutdowns [61] and name seizure events such as the ones executed by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) managed by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). [62] This makes it easy for internet censorship by authorities as they have control over what should or should not be on the Internet. Some activists and researchers have started opting for alternative DNS roots, though the Internet Architecture Board [63] (IAB) does not support these DNS root providers.

Unless the censor has total control over all Internet-connected computers, such as in North Korea or Cuba, total censorship of information is very difficult or impossible to achieve due to the underlying distributed technology of the Internet. Pseudonymity and data havens (such as Freenet) protect free speech using technologies that guarantee material cannot be removed and prevents the identification of authors. Technologically savvy users can often find ways to access blocked content. Nevertheless, blocking remains an effective means of limiting access to sensitive information for most users when censors, such as those in China, are able to devote significant resources to building and maintaining a comprehensive censorship system. [58]

Views about the feasibility and effectiveness of Internet censorship have evolved in parallel with the development of the Internet and censorship technologies:

A BBC World Service poll of 27,973 adults in 26 countries, including 14,306 Internet users, [67] was conducted between 30 November 2009 and 7 February 2010. The head of the polling organization felt, overall, that the poll showed that:

Despite worries about privacy and fraud, people around the world see access to the internet as their fundamental right. They think the web is a force for good, and most don't want governments to regulate it. [68]

The poll found that nearly four in five (78%) Internet users felt that the Internet had brought them greater freedom, that most Internet users (53%) felt that "the internet should never be regulated by any level of government anywhere", and almost four in five Internet users and non-users around the world felt that access to the Internet was a fundamental right (50% strongly agreed, 29% somewhat agreed, 9% somewhat disagreed, 6% strongly disagreed, and 6% gave no opinion). [69]

Social media

The rising use of social media in many nations has led to the emergence of citizens organizing protests through social media, sometimes called "Twitter Revolutions". The most notable of these social media-led protests were the Arab Spring uprisings, starting in 2010. In response to the use of social media in these protests, the Tunisian government began a hack of Tunisian citizens' Facebook accounts, and reports arose of accounts being deleted. [70]

Automated systems can be used to censor social media posts, and therefore limit what citizens can say online. This most notably occurs in China, where social media posts are automatically censored depending on content. In 2013, Harvard political science professor Gary King led a study to determine what caused social media posts to be censored and found that posts mentioning the government were not more or less likely to be deleted if they were supportive or critical of the government. Posts mentioning collective action were more likely to be deleted than those that had not mentioned collective action. [71] Currently, social media censorship appears primarily as a way to restrict Internet users' ability to organize protests. For the Chinese government, seeing citizens unhappy with local governance is beneficial as state and national leaders can replace unpopular officials. King and his researchers were able to predict when certain officials would be removed based on the number of unfavorable social media posts. [72]

Research has proved that criticism is tolerable on social media sites, therefore it is not censored unless it has a higher chance of collective action. It is not important whether the criticism is supportive or unsupportive of the states' leaders, the main priority of censoring certain social media posts is to make sure that no big actions are being made due to something that was said on the internet. Posts that challenge the Party's political leading role in the Chinese government are more likely to be censored due to the challenges it poses to the Chinese Communist Party. [73]

In December 2022 Elon Musk, owner and CEO of Twitter released internal documents from the social media microblogging site to journalists Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger and Bari Weiss. The analysis of these files on Twitter, collectively called, the Twitter Files, explored the content moderation and visibility filtering carried out in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.

On the platform TikTok, certain hashtags have been categorized by the platform's code and determines how viewers can or cannot interact with the content or hashtag specifically. Some shadowbanned tags include: #acab, #GayArab, #gej due to their referencing of certain social movements and LGBTQ identity. As TikTok guidelines are becoming more localized around the world, some experts believe that this could result in more censorship than before. [74]

Video games

Since the early 1980s, advocates of video games have emphasized their use as an expressive medium, arguing for their protection under the laws governing freedom of speech and also as an educational tool. Detractors argue that video games are harmful and therefore should be subject to legislative oversight and restrictions. Many video games have certain elements removed or edited due to regional rating standards. [75] [76] For example, in the Japanese and PAL Versions of No More Heroes , blood splatter and gore is removed from the gameplay. Decapitation scenes are implied, but not shown. Scenes of missing body parts after having been cut off, are replaced with the same scene, but showing the body parts fully intact. [77]

Impact of surveillance

Surveillance and censorship are different. Surveillance can be performed without censorship, but it is harder to engage in censorship without some form of surveillance. [78] Even when surveillance does not lead directly to censorship, the widespread knowledge or belief that a person, their computer, or their use of the Internet is under surveillance can have a "chilling effect" and lead to self-censorship. [79]

Implementation

Censored pre-press proof of two articles from Noticias da Amadora, a Portuguese newspaper, 1970 Censuraindex.jpg
Censored pre-press proof of two articles from Notícias da Amadora, a Portuguese newspaper, 1970

The former Soviet Union maintained a particularly extensive program of state-imposed censorship. The main organ for official censorship in the Soviet Union was the Chief Agency for Protection of Military and State Secrets generally known as the Glavlit , its Russian acronym. The Glavlit handled censorship matters arising from domestic writings of just about any kind even beer and vodka labels. Glavlit censorship personnel were present in every large Soviet publishing house or newspaper; the agency employed some 70,000 censors to review information before it was disseminated by publishing houses, editorial offices, and broadcasting studios. No mass medium escaped Glavlit's control. All press agencies and radio and television stations had Glavlit representatives on their editorial staffs. [80]

Sometimes, public knowledge of the existence of a specific document is subtly suppressed, a situation resembling censorship. The authorities taking such action will justify it by declaring the work to be "subversive" or "inconvenient". An example is Michel Foucault's 1978 text Sexual Morality and the Law (later republished as The Danger of Child Sexuality), originally published as La loi de la pudeur[literally, "the law of decency"]. This work defends the decriminalization of statutory rape and the abolition of age of consent laws.[ citation needed ]

When a publisher comes under pressure to suppress a book, but has already entered into a contract with the author, they will sometimes effectively censor the book by deliberately ordering a small print run and making minimal, if any, attempts to publicize it. This practice became known in the early 2000s as privishing (private publishing). [81] an OpenNet Initiative (ONI) classifications: [82]

By country

A protest outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London against detention of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, 2017 London protest against Saudi Arabia's detention of prisoner of conscience Raif Badawi.jpg
A protest outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London against detention of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, 2017

Censorship for individual countries is measured by Freedom House (FH) Freedom of the Press report, [83] Reporters Without Borders (RWB) Press freedom index [84] and V-Dem government censorship effort index. Censorship aspects are measured by Freedom on the Net [53] and OpenNet Initiative (ONI) classifications. [82] Censorship by country collects information on censorship, internet censorship, press freedom, freedom of speech, and human rights by country and presents it in a sortable table, together with links to articles with more information. In addition to countries, the table includes information on former countries, disputed countries, political sub-units within countries, and regional organizations.

Australia

Canada

Very little is formally censored in Canada, aside from "obscenity" (as defined in the landmark criminal case of R v Butler ) which is generally limited to pornography and child pornography depicting and/or advocating non-consensual sex, sexual violence, degradation, or dehumanization, in particular that which causes harm (as in R v Labaye ). Most films are simply subject to classification by the British Columbia Film Classification Office under the non-profit Crown corporation by the name of Consumer Protection BC, whose classifications are officially used by the provinces of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Manitoba. [85]

Cuba

Cuban media used to be operated under the supervision of the Communist Party's Department of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies". [86] Connection to the Internet is restricted and censored. [87]

China

The People's Republic of China employs sophisticated censorship mechanisms, referred to as the Golden Shield Project, to monitor the internet. Popular search engines such as Baidu also remove politically sensitive search results. [88] [89] [90]

Eastern Bloc

Photo of Capt. Sergej Petras and Capt. Josef Bursik from 1945. Bursik was strongly against the invasion in 1968 to Czechoslovakia, so it was allowed to publish only the left half of the picture, Bursik was removed. Karta s fotografii skpt. Sergeje Petrase a skpt. Josefa Bursika.png
Photo of Capt. Sergej Petras and Capt. Josef Buršík from 1945. Buršík was strongly against the invasion in 1968 to Czechoslovakia, so it was allowed to publish only the left half of the picture, Buršík was removed.

Strict censorship existed in the Eastern Bloc. [91] Throughout the bloc, the various ministries of culture held a tight rein on their writers. [92] Cultural products there reflected the propaganda needs of the state. [92] Party-approved censors exercised strict control in the early years. [93] In the Stalinist period, even the weather forecasts were changed if they suggested that the sun might not shine on May Day. [93] Under Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania, weather reports were doctored so that the temperatures were not seen to rise above or fall below the levels which dictated that work must stop. [93]

Possession and use of copying machines was tightly controlled in order to hinder the production and distribution of samizdat, illegal self-published books and magazines. Possession of even a single samizdat manuscript such as a book by Andrei Sinyavsky was a serious crime which might involve a visit from the KGB. Another outlet for works which did not find favor with the authorities was publishing abroad.

France

Amid declining car sales in 2020, France banned a television ad by a Dutch bike company, saying the ad "unfairly discredited the automobile industry". [94]

India

The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of expression, but places certain restrictions on content, with a view towards maintaining communal and religious harmony, given the history of communal tension in the nation. [95] According to the Information Technology Rules 2011, objectionable content includes anything that "threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states or public order". [96] Notably many pornographic websites are blocked in India.

Iran

Iraq

Iraq under Baathist Saddam Hussein had much the same techniques of press censorship as did Romania under Nicolae Ceauşescu but with greater potential violence. [97]

Japan

During the GHQ occupation of Japan after WW2, any criticism of the Allies' pre-war policies, the SCAP, the Far East Military Tribunal, the inquiries against the United States and every direct and indirect references to the role played by the Allied High Command in drafting Japan's new constitution or to censorship of publications, movies, newspapers and magazines was subject to massive censorship, purges, media blackout. [98]

In the four years (September 1945–November 1949) since the CCD was active, 200 million pieces of mail and 136 million telegrams were opened, and telephones were tapped 800,000 times. Since no criticism of the occupying forces for crimes such as the dropping of the atomic bomb, rape and robbery by US soldiers was allowed, a strict check was carried out. Those who got caught were put on a blacklist called the watchlist, and the persons and the organizations to which they belonged were investigated in detail, which made it easier to dismiss or arrest the "disturbing molecule". [99]

Malaysia

Under subsection 48(3) and (4) of the Penang Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004, non-Muslims in Malaysia are penalized for using the following words, or to write or publish them, in any form, version or translation in any language or for use in any publicity material in any medium: "Allah", "Firman Allah", "Ulama", "Hadith", "Ibadah", "Kaabah", "Qadhi'", "Illahi", "Wahyu", "Mubaligh", "Syariah", "Qiblat", "Haji", "Mufti", "Rasul", "Iman", "Dakwah", "Wali", "Fatwa", "Imam", "Nabi", "Sheikh", "Khutbah", "Tabligh", "Akhirat", "Azan", "Al Quran", "As Sunnah", "Auliya'", "Karamah", "False Moon God", "Syahadah", "Baitullah", "Musolla", "Zakat Fitrah", "Hajjah", "Taqwa" and "Soleh". [100] [101] [102]

North Korea

Russia

Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for discussing the Bucha massacre in Ukraine on a YouTube stream. Last Address Sign - Moscow, Kostyansky Lane, 4 (2021-02-14) 01.jpg
Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for discussing the Bucha massacre in Ukraine on a YouTube stream.

On 4 March 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, leading to some media outlets in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine or shutting their media outlet. [103] [104] Although the 1993 Russian Constitution has an article expressly prohibiting censorship, [105] the Russian censorship apparatus Roskomnadzor ordered the country's media to only use information from Russian state sources or face fines and blocks. [106] As of December 2022, more than 4,000 people were prosecuted under "fake news" laws in connection with the war in Ukraine. [107]

Novaya Gazeta 's editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for his "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression". In March 2022, Novaya Gazeta suspended its print activities after receiving a second warning from Roskomnadzor. [108]

Serbia

According to Christian Mihr, executive director of Reporters Without Borders, "censorship in Serbia is neither direct nor transparent, but is easy to prove." [109] According to Mihr there are numerous examples of censorship and self-censorship in Serbia [110] According to Mihr, Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vučić has proved "very sensitive to criticism, even on critical questions," as was the case with Natalija Miletic, a correspondent for Deutsche Welle Radio, who questioned him in Berlin about the media situation in Serbia and about allegations that some ministers in the Serbian government had plagiarized their diplomas, and who later received threats and offensive articles on the Serbian press. [110]

Multiple news outlets have accused Vučić of anti-democratic strongman tendencies. [111] [112] [113] [114] [115] In July 2014, journalists associations were concerned about the freedom of the media in Serbia, in which Vučić came under criticism. [116] [117]

In September 2015 five members of United States Congress (Edie Bernice Johnson, Carlos Curbelo, Scott Perry, Adam Kinzinger, and Zoe Lofgren) have informed Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden that Aleksandar's brother, Andrej Vučić, is leading a group responsible for deteriorating media freedom in Serbia. [118]

Singapore

In the Republic of Singapore, Section 33 of the Films Act originally banned the making, distribution and exhibition of "party political films", at the pain of a fine not exceeding $100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years. [119] The Act further defines a "party political film" as any film or video

(a) which is an advertisement made by or on behalf of any political party in Singapore or any body whose objects relate wholly or mainly to politics in Singapore, or any branch of such party or body; or
(b) which is made by any person and directed towards any political end in Singapore

In 2001, the short documentary called A Vision of Persistence on opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam was also banned for being a "party political film". The makers of the documentary, all lecturers at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic, later submitted written apologies and withdrew the documentary from being screened at the 2001 Singapore International Film Festival in April, having been told they could be charged in court. [120] Another short documentary called Singapore Rebel by Martyn See, which documented Singapore Democratic Party leader Dr Chee Soon Juan's acts of civil disobedience, was banned from the 2005 Singapore International Film Festival on the same grounds and See is being investigated for possible violations of the Films Act. [121]

This law, however, is often disregarded when such political films are made supporting the ruling People's Action Party (PAP). Channel NewsAsia's five-part documentary series on Singapore's PAP ministers in 2005, for example, was not considered a party political film. [122]

Exceptions are also made when political films are made concerning political parties of other nations. Films such as Michael Moore's 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 911 are thus allowed to screen regardless of the law. [123]

Since March 2009, the Films Act has been amended to allow party political films as long as they were deemed factual and objective by a consultative committee. Some months later, this committee lifted the ban on Singapore Rebel. [124]

Soviet Union

Independent journalism did not exist in the Soviet Union until Mikhail Gorbachev became its leader. Gorbachev adopted glasnost (openness), political reform aimed at reducing censorship; before glasnost all reporting was directed by the Communist Party or related organizations. Pravda, the predominant newspaper in the Soviet Union, had a monopoly. Foreign newspapers were available only if they were published by communist parties sympathetic to the Soviet Union.

Spain

Turkey

Turkish journalists protesting imprisonment of their colleagues on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2016 Turkish journalists protesting imprisonment of their colleagues in 2016.jpg
Turkish journalists protesting imprisonment of their colleagues on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2016

Online access to all language versions of Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey on 29 April 2017 by Erdoğan's government. [125]

Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code deems it illegal to "Insult the President of Turkey". A person who is sentenced for a violation of this article can be sentenced to a prison term between one and four years and if the violation was made in public the verdict can be elevated by a sixth. [126] Prosecutions often target critics of the government, independent journalists, and political cartoonists. [127] Between 2014 and 2019, 128,872 investigations were launched for this offense and prosecutors opened 27,717 criminal cases. [128]

United Kingdom

United States

In the United States, most forms of censorship are self-imposed rather than enforced by the government. The government does not routinely censor material, although state and local governments often restrict what is provided in libraries and public schools. [129] In addition, distribution, receipt, and transmission (but not mere private possession) of obscene material may be prohibited by law. Furthermore, under FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, the FCC has the power to prohibit the transmission of indecent material over broadcast. Additionally, critics of campaign finance reform in the United States say this reform imposes widespread restrictions on political speech. [130] [131]

Uruguay

In 1973, a military coup took power in Uruguay, and the State practiced censorship. For example, writer Eduardo Galeano was imprisoned and later was forced to flee. His book Open Veins of Latin America was banned by the right-wing military government, not only in Uruguay, but also in Chile and Argentina. [132]

See also

Related Research Articles

Internet censorship in Australia is enforced by both the country's criminal law as well as voluntarily enacted by internet service providers. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has the power to enforce content restrictions on Internet content hosted within Australia, and maintain a blocklist of overseas websites which is then provided for use in filtering software. The restrictions focus primarily on child pornography, sexual violence, and other illegal activities, compiled as a result of a consumer complaints process.

Censorship in Taiwan was greatly relaxed when the state moved away from authoritarianism in 1987. Since then, the media has generally been allowed to broadcast political opposition. Today, the focus of censorship is slander and libel, cross-Strait relations, and national security.

Censorship in South Korea is implemented by various laws that were included in the constitution as well as acts passed by the National Assembly over the decades since 1948. These include the National Security Act, whereby the government may limit the expression of ideas that it perceives "praise or incite the activities of anti-state individuals or groups". Censorship was particularly severe during the country's authoritarian era, with freedom of expression being non-existent, which lasted from 1948 to 1993.

Political censorship exists when a government attempts to conceal, fake, distort, or falsify information that its citizens receive by suppressing or crowding out political news that the public might receive through news outlets. In the absence of neutral and objective information, people will be unable to dissent with the government or political party in charge. The term also extends to the systematic suppression of views that are contrary to those of the government in power. The government often possesses the power of the army and the secret police, to enforce the compliance of journalists with the will of the authorities to spread the story that the ruling authorities want people to believe. At times this involves bribery, defamation, imprisonment, and even assassination.

The Pakistani Constitution limits Censorship in Pakistan, but allows "reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan or public order or morality". Press freedom in Pakistan is limited by official censorship that restricts critical reporting and by the high level of violence against journalists. The armed forces, the judiciary, and religion are topics that frequently attract the government's attention.

Censorship in the People's Republic of China is mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is one of the strictest censorship regimes in the world. The government censors content for mainly political reasons, such as curtailing political opposition, and censoring events unfavorable to the CCP, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, pro-democracy movements in China, the Uyghur genocide, human rights in Tibet, Falun Gong, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Xi Jinping became the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, censorship has been "significantly stepped up".

Censorship in Bhutan refers to the way in which the Government of Bhutan controls information within its borders. There are no laws that either guarantee citizens' right to information or explicitly structure a censorship scheme. However, censorship in Bhutan is still conducted by restrictions on the ownership of media outlets, licensing of journalists, and the blocking of websites.

Censorship in Myanmar results from government policies in controlling and regulating certain information, particularly on religious, ethnic, political, and moral grounds.

Multiple forms of media including books, newspapers, magazines, films, television, and content published on the Internet are censored in Saudi Arabia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet censorship</span> Legal control of the internet

Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains but exceptionally may extend to all Internet resources located outside the jurisdiction of the censoring state. Internet censorship may also put restrictions on what information can be made internet accessible. Organizations providing internet access – such as schools and libraries – may choose to preclude access to material that they consider undesirable, offensive, age-inappropriate or even illegal, and regard this as ethical behaviour rather than censorship. Individuals and organizations may engage in self-censorship of material they publish, for moral, religious, or business reasons, to conform to societal norms, political views, due to intimidation, or out of fear of legal or other consequences.

Internet censorship in Singapore is carried out by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). Internet services provided by the three major Internet service providers (ISPs) are subject to regulation by the MDA, which requires blocking of a symbolic number of websites containing "mass impact objectionable" material, including Playboy, YouPorn and Ashley Madison. The civil service, tertiary institutions and Institute of Technical Education has its own jurisdiction to block websites displaying pornography, information about drugs and online piracy.

Censorship in Japan has taken many forms throughout the history of the country. While Article 21 of the Constitution of Japan guarantees freedom of expression and prohibits formal censorship, effective censorship of obscene content does exist and is justified by the Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Japan. Historically, the law has been interpreted in different ways—recently it has been interpreted to mean that all pornography must be at least partly censored, and a few arrests have been made based on this law.

Censorship in Bangladesh refers to the government censorship of the press and infringement of freedom of speech. Article 39 of the constitution of Bangladesh protects free speech.

Censorship in Brazil, both cultural and political, occurred throughout the whole period following the colonization of the country. Even though most state censorship ended just before the period of redemocratization that started in 1985, Brazil still experiences a certain amount of non-official censorship today. The current legislation restricts freedom of expression concerning racism and the Constitution prohibits the anonymity of journalists.

Media regulation in the Republic of Singapore is carried out by the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) and effected by various laws.

In the Philippines, censorship involves the control of certain information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media freedom in Serbia</span> Characteristics of the freedom of media in Serbia

Censorship in Serbia is prohibited by the Constitution. Freedom of expression and of information are protected by international and national law, even if the guarantees enshrined in the laws are not coherently implemented. Instances of censorship and self-censorship are still reported in the country.

Censorship in Nepal consists of suppression on the expression of political opinion, religious aspect, and obscenity. The Constitution of Nepal guarantees the fundamental rights of citizens, including the freedom of expression. The right to freedom of expression includes the freedom of opinion and thought no matter what a source is. As the Constitution has been developed to push forward democracy, inconsistencies of the Constitution reform create different meanings of prohibiting censorship. The 2004, 2009, and 2015 Constitution are infamous with the restrictions of the rights which are obscure and open for misinterpretation compared to the Constitution announced in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet censorship and surveillance in Asia</span>

This list of Internet censorship and surveillance in Asia provides information on the types and levels of Internet censorship and surveillance that is occurring in countries in Asia

Since the end of the Rwandan Civil War, many forms of censorship have been implemented in Rwanda.

References

  1. "David's Fig Leaf". Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 3 June 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
  2. "censorship noun". Merriam-Webster . Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  3. "cen·sor·ship". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language . Archived from the original on 31 January 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  4. "Definition of censorship in English". Oxford Dictionaries . Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on September 26, 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  5. 1 2 "censorship, n.". OED Online. Oxford University Press. June 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  6. 1 2 "What Is Censorship". ACLU.
  7. Sui-Lee Wee; Ben Blanchard (June 4, 2012). "China blocks Tiananmen talk on crackdown anniversary". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  8. M.F. Burnyeat (1997), The Impiety of Socrates Mathesis publications; Ancient Philosophy 17 Accessed November 23, 2017
  9. Debra Nails, A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought Chapter 21 – The Trial and Death of Socrates John Wiley & Sons, 2012 ISBN   1118556682 Accessed November 23, 2017
  10. Plato. Apology, 24–27.
  11. Warren, J (2001). "Socratic suicide". J Hell Stud. 121: 91–106. doi:10.2307/631830. JSTOR   631830. PMID   19681231. S2CID   24221544.
  12. Linder, Doug (2002). "The Trial of Socrates". University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  13. "Socrates (Greek philosopher)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  14. "The Long History of Censorship", Mette Newth, Beacon for Freedom of Expression (Norway), 2010
  15. Landier, Michael (4 June 1997). "Internet Censorship is Absurd and Unconstitutional". Archived from the original on 2019-06-29.
  16. "The Trial of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'", Paul Gallagher, Dangerous Minds, 10 November 2010.
  17. "Child Pornography: Model Legislation & Global Review" (PDF) (5 ed.). International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
  18. "World Congress against CSEC". Csecworldcongress.org. 2002-07-27. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
  19. Timothy Jay (2000). Why We Curse: A Neuro-psycho-social Theory of Speech . John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp.  208–209. ISBN   978-1556197581.
  20. David Goldberg; Stefaan G. Verhulst; Tony Prosser (1998). Regulating the Changing Media: A Comparative Study. Oxford University Press. p. 207. ISBN   978-0198267812.
  21. McCullagh, Declan (2003-06-30). "Microsoft's new push in Washington". CNET . Retrieved 2011-10-21.
  22. Eberhard Demm: Censorship, in: 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
  23. Eberhard Demm, Censorship and Propaganda in World War I: A Comprehensive History (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) online review
  24. "Keeping News of Kidnapping Off Wikipedia". The New York Times. June 29, 2009.
  25. Steele, Philip (1992). Censorship. New Discovery Books. ISBN   0027354040. OCLC   24871121.
  26. "National Council Of Educational Research And Training :: Home (Page 105, Democratic Politics – Class 9)". National Council of Educational Research and Training . Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  27. Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Del Rey Books. April 1991.
  28. Lundqvist, J. "More pictures of Iranian Censorship". Archived from the original on 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  29. Assange, Julian (2012). Cypherpunks : freedom and the future of the internet . Appelbaum, Jacob; Müller-Maguhn, Andy; Zimmermann, Jérémie. New York: OR Books. pp.  123–124. ISBN   978-1939293008. OCLC   812780303.
  30. Pope-Weidemann, Marienna (13 September 2013). "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet". Counterfire . Archived from the original on 7 May 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  31. Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism, Ozzie Zehner, University of Nebraska Press, 2012, 464 pp, ISBN   978-0803237759. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  32. Clark, Marilyn; Grech, Anna (2017). Journalism under pressure. Unwarranted interference, fear and self-censorship in Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe publishing. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  33. "Self Censorship: How Often and Why". Pew Research Center.
  34. "Journalists suffer violence, intimidation and self-censorship in Europe, says a Council of Europe study". Council of Europe. Newsroom. 20 April 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-05-11. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  35. Ian Mayes (2005-04-23). "The readers' editor on requests that are always refused". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  36. Barber, Lynn (2002-01-27). "Caution: big name ahead". The Observer. London. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  37. Wu, Tim, "Is the First Amendment Obsolete?" (November 1, 2017). Columbia Public Law Research Paper No. 14-573. Also available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3096337 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3096337
  38. Fitzpatrick, Laura (2010-04-27). "Top 10 Controversial Cartoons - TIME". Time. ISSN   0040-781X . Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  39. Shaw, Gareth; Zhang, Xiaoling (July 2018). "Cyberspace and gay rights in a digital China: Queer documentary filmmaking under state censorship". China Information. 32 (2): 270–292. doi:10.1177/0920203X17734134. ISSN   0920-203X. S2CID   148751332.
  40. "What is Music Censorship?". Freemuse.org. 1 January 2001. Archived from the original on 6 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  41. Jenna Johnson (2007-07-22). "Google's View of D.C. Melds New and Sharp, Old and Fuzzy". News. Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  42. Freedberg, David (2016). "The Fear of Art: How Censorship Becomes Iconoclasm". Social Research. 83: 67–99. doi:10.1353/sor.2016.0019. S2CID   147789598 via eHOST.
  43. Lusher, Adam (13 October 2015). "Paedophile artist's photographs and paintings 'must be destroyed'". The Independent . Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  44. "Graham Ovenden | Tate". 2015-10-16. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  45. Ashley, John; Jayousi, Nedal (December 2013). "The Connection between Palestinian Culture and the Conflict" (PDF). Discourse, Culture, and Education in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Netanya Academic College (Report). Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Israel Office. p. 55. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 February 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2017. In 1980, Israel banned art exhibitions and paintings of "political significance", with the grouping of the four colours of the Palestinian flag in any one painting also forbidden.
  46. Kifner, John (October 16, 1993). "Ramallah Journal; A Palestinian Version of the Judgment of Solomon". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
  47. Dalrymple, William (October 2, 2002). "A culture under fire". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
  48. "The watermelon makes a colourful interlude". The Age. Melbourne. September 12, 2004.
  49. Thompson, Erin (27 November 2017). "Opinion: Art Censorship at Guantánamo Bay". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  50. Chatterjee, Deen K. (2011), "Guantanamo Bay Prisoners", Encyclopedia of Global Justice, Springer Netherlands, p. 467, doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_1038, ISBN   978-1402091599
  51. "Censorship Reports". Nigeria: Abacha's Media Crackdown. doi:10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-2210-0161.
  52. "Introduction: The Site of the Social", Site Reading, Princeton University Press, 2016-01-31, pp. 1–24, doi:10.1515/9781400873807-002, ISBN   978-1400873807
  53. 1 2 "Freedom on the Net 2018" (PDF). Freedom House. November 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  54. OpenNet Initiative "Summarized global Internet filtering data spreadsheet", 8 November 2011 and "Country Profiles", the OpenNet Initiative is a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; and the SecDev Group, Ottawa
  55. "Internet Enemies", Enemies of the Internet 2014: Entities at the heart of censorship and surveillance, Reporters Without Borders (Paris), 11 March 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  56. Internet Enemies, Reporters Without Borders (Paris), 12 March 2012 Archived March 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  57. Due to legal concerns the OpenNet Initiative does not check for filtering of child pornography and because their classifications focus on technical filtering, they do not include other types of censorship.
  58. 1 2 3 Freedom of Connection, Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet, Dutton, William H.; Dopatka, Anna; Law, Ginette; Nash, Victoria, Division for Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris, 2011, 103 pp., ISBN   978-9231041884
  59. "Bylaws for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers | A California Nonprofit Public-Benefit Corporation". www.icann.org. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  60. "ICANN". www.icann.org. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  61. Wakefield, Jane (2010-12-07). "Wikileaks' struggle to stay online". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  62. "Operation In Our Sites". www.ice.gov. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  63. Internet Architecture Board (2000). "IAB Technical Comment on the Unique DNS Root". tools.ietf.org. doi: 10.17487/RFC2826 . Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  64. "First Nation in Cyberspace" Archived 2017-01-13 at the Wayback Machine , Philip Elmer-Dewitt, Time , 6 December 1993, No. 49
  65. "Cerf sees government control of Internet failing", Pedro Fonseca, Reuters, 14 November 2007
  66. 2007 Circumvention Landscape Report: Methods, Uses, and Tools, Hal Roberts, Ethan Zuckerman, and John Palfrey, Beckman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, March 2009
  67. For the BBC poll Internet users are those who used the Internet within the previous six months.
  68. "BBC Internet Poll: Detailed Findings", BBC World Service, 8 March 2010
  69. "Internet access is 'a fundamental right'", BBC News, 8 March 2010
  70. Madrigal, Alexis C. (24 January 2011). "The Inside Story of How Facebook Responded to Tunisian Hacks". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
  71. King, Gary; Pan, Jennifer (2014). "Reverse-engineering censorship in China: Randomized experimentation and participant observation". Science. 345 (6199): 1251722. doi:10.1126/science.1251722. PMID   25146296. S2CID   5398090.
  72. "Professor Gary King, Inaugural Government Regius Lecture 2015". Vimeo. 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
  73. Shao, Li (1 November 2018). "The Dilemma of Criticism: Disentangling the Determinants of Media Censorship in China". Journal of East Asian Studies. 18 (3): 279–297. doi:10.1017/jea.2018.19. S2CID   158396167.
  74. Ryan, Fergus; Fritz, Audrey; Impiombato, Daria (2020). "TikTok censorship". Tiktok and Wechat: 04–24.
  75. Byrd P. "It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt: the effectiveness of proposed video game regulation." Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine Houston Law Review 2007. Accessed 19 March 2007.
  76. "A Hornet's Nest Over Violent Video Games", James D. Ivory and Malte Elson, The Chronicle of Higher Education (Washington), 16 October 2013.
  77. gamesradararchive (19 October 2012). "No More Heroes – Censored gameplay 12-07-07" via YouTube.
  78. "Censorship is inseparable from surveillance", Cory Doctorow, The Guardian, 2 March 2012
  79. "Online Censorship : Ubiquitous Big Brother, witchhunt for dissidents" [ dead link ], WeFightCensorship.org, Reporters Without Borders, retrieved 12 March 2013
  80. Koltsova, Olessia (2006-09-27). News Media and Power in Russia. doi:10.4324/9780203536971. ISBN   978-0203536971.
  81. Winkler, David (11 July 2002). "Journalists Thrown 'Into the Buzzsaw'". CommonDreams.org. Archived from the original on August 4, 2007.
  82. 1 2 OpenNet Initiative "Summarized global Internet filtering data spreadsheet", 29 October 2012 and "Country Profiles", the OpenNet Initiative is a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; and the SecDev Group, Ottawa
  83. "2012 Freedom of the Press Data", Freedom House, 1 May 2012
  84. "Press Freedom Index 2013" Archived 2013-02-15 at the Wayback Machine , Reporters Without Borders, 30 January 2013
  85. "Our authority & governance". consumerprotectionbc.ca. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  86. "10 most censored countries". The Committee to Protect Journalists.
  87. "Going online in Cuba: Internet under surveillance" (PDF). Reporters Without Borders. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-03.
  88. "Baidu's Internal Monitoring and Censorship Document Leaked (1)". China Digital Times (CDT). May 2009.
  89. "Baidu's Internal Monitoring and Censorship Document Leaked (2)". China Digital Times (CDT). 30 April 2009.
  90. "Baidu's Internal Monitoring and Censorship Document Leaked (3)". China Digital Times (CDT). 29 April 2009.
  91. Major & Mitter 2004 , p. 6
  92. 1 2 Major & Mitter 2004 , p. 15
  93. 1 2 3 Crampton 1997 , p. 247
  94. Boffey, Daniel (1 July 2020). "France bans Dutch bike TV ad for creating 'climate of fear' about cars". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020.
  95. "The Constitution of India Archived 24 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine " 658.79  KiB, India Code. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  96. "Uncle dictates, cyber boys dispose – Sibal to work on norms for social sites". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 7 December 2011. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  97. Svolik, Milan W. (2012), "The World of Authoritarian Politics", The Politics of Authoritarian Rule, Cambridge University Press, pp. 19–50, doi:10.1017/cbo9781139176040.002, ISBN   978-1139176040
  98. "Ghqによる検閲の時代".
  99. "『検閲官 発見されたGhq名簿』 著・山本武利". 15 April 2021.
  100. "Check law first, Karpal asks Penang government over decree banning 'Islamic words'". Malaysia Insider. Archived from the original on 2014-01-15.
  101. "Penang mufti outlaws 40 words to non-Muslims". New Straits Times. 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-01-11.
  102. "Enactment". Jabatan Mufti Negeri. 2012. Archived from the original on April 21, 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-14.
  103. "Over 150 Journalists Flee Russia Amid Wartime Crackdown On Free Press – Reports". Moscow Times. 3 April 2022. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Dozhd, Ekho Moskvy and Znak have closed down after being blocked by the authorities
  104. "Putin Signs Law Introducing Jail Terms for 'Fake News' on Army". Moscow Times. 4 March 2022. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022.
  105. "Explained: What Russia's war on Ukraine has meant for its news media". The Indian Express. 18 March 2022. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022.
  106. "Use Only Official Sources About Ukraine War, Russian Media Watchdog Tells Journalists". Moscow Times . 24 February 2022. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022.
  107. Weir, Fred (5 December 2022). "In Russia, critiquing the Ukraine war could land you in prison". CSMonitor.com.
  108. "Russia's Novaya Gazeta newspaper pauses activities after official warning". Reuters. 28 March 2022.
  109. Censorship in Serbia is easy to prove – RWB, B92, 19/02/2015. Retrieved 12/10/2016
  110. 1 2 B92, 19/02/2015. Retrieved 12/10/2016
  111. Filipovic, Gordana (March 27, 2017). "How a Premier May Become a Strongman in Serbia: QuickTake Q&A". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  112. Nougayrède, Natalie (2018-04-11). "Beware the chameleon strongmen of Europe" . The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  113. Karnitschnig, Matthew (2016-04-14). "Serbia's latest would-be savior is a modernizer, a strongman – or both". Politico Europe. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  114. Janjevic, Darko (June 18, 2017). "EU and the Balkans: Brussels' favorite strongmen". DW. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  115. Anastasijevic, Dejan (April 4, 2017). "Serbia's Vucic stronger than ever". EU Observer. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  116. Die Tageszeitung: Die Pampigkeit des Herrn Vučić – In Serbien werden Internetseiten attackiert, Blogs gesperrt und Blogger festgenommen. Die Betroffenen berichteten wohl zu kritisch über die Regierung (German) – The stroppiness of Mr. Vučić – In Serbia being attacked websites, blocked blogs and arrested bloggers. The victims reported probably too critical about the government
  117. Die Tageszeitung: "Serbische Regierung zensiert Medien – Ein Virus namens Zensur", taz.de; accessed 9 December 2015.(in German)
  118. Čogradin, Snežana (4 November 2016). "What is Andrej Vučić occupation?". Danas.
  119. "Films Act – Singapore Statutes Online". sso.agc.gov.sg. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  120. "Heard about the film Singapore has banned its people from seeing?". The Independent. 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  121. "Police investigation of filmmaker intensifies; SEAPA urges authorities to end probe and repeal Films Act". IFEX. 2005-09-26. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  122. Tan, Kenneth Paul (2016-04-02). "Choosing What to Remember in Neoliberal Singapore: The Singapore Story, State Censorship and State-Sponsored Nostalgia". Asian Studies Review. 40 (2): 231–249. doi:10.1080/10357823.2016.1158779. ISSN   1035-7823. S2CID   147095200.
  123. "Competing narratives is a boon, not a bane". sg.news.yahoo.com. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  124. "Singapore eases law on political films". Reuters. 2009-03-23. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  125. "Turkish authorities block Wikipedia without giving reason". BBC News. 29 April 2017.
  126. Tecimer, Cem (2018-07-20). "The Curious Case of Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code: Insulting the Turkish President". Verfassungsblog: On Matters Constitutional. doi:10.17176/20180720-091632-0. Archived from the original on 2020-11-17.
  127. Eko, Lyombe (2019). "The Charlie Hebdo Affair in Turkey: Balancing Human Rights and Religious Rites". The Charlie Hebdo Affair and Comparative Journalistic Cultures: Human Rights Versus Religious Rites. Springer International Publishing. p. 208. ISBN   978-3-030-18079-9.
  128. "Investigation Highlights Spike in Cases of Insulting Turkish President". Balkan Insight. 15 January 2021. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021.
  129. "Books". National Coalition Against Censorship. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
  130. "The Trick of Campaign Finance Reform". Christian Science Monitor.
  131. "Felonious Advocacy". reason. April 2009.
  132. "Fresh Off Worldwide Attention for Joining Obama's Book Collection, Uruguayan Author Eduardo Galeano Returns with "Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone"". Democracynow.org. 28 May 2009. Retrieved 2011-10-21.

Works cited

Further reading