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| Editor | Bennett Haselton |
|---|---|
| URL | www |
| Launched | August 1996 |
Peacefire is a U.S.-based website, with a registered address in Bellevue, Washington, dedicated to "preserving First Amendment rights for Internet users, particularly those younger than 18". It was founded in August 1996 by Bennett Haselton, who still runs it. The site's motto is, "You'll understand when you're younger."
Peacefire is primarily concerned with free speech rights and internet censorship, and providing information to the public about this. [1] The authors on the site have been opponents of web content filtering and content-control software, which they refer to as "censorware". [2] They have offered information and tools for defeating several common web filters, which has been controversial. [3]
From the website's self-description in 2007: [4]
The site has conducted long battles against the most commonly used filter programs, including, most famously, Net Nanny, CyberPatrol, and Bess. "In particular, Peacefire has demonstrated that the filter programs suppress political speech and filter preferentially for corporate and conservative causes. In other cases, Peacefire has presented evidence that several filtering programs block some websites without having a human being review those sites first, despite the filtering companies' claims to the contrary. However, Peacefire is not usually active against filters that act in a more neutral way.
Along with publishing ways of bypassing these programs, Peacefire publishes criticism of them and information about their practices, such as SurfWatch blocking gay and lesbian websites and then unblocking them. [5]
One common test that Peacefire runs is to create web pages filled with content clipped from news items. In particular, they will take quotes from conservative politicians that seem politically sensitive. They will then submit the site to a filter and see if it gets blocked. They will then point out that the content deemed "inappropriate" on their pages was, in fact, "appropriate" when coming from a corporate (or conservative blog) site. They also routinely search out sites of liberal and progressive content to see if they are blocked. They then compile a report to point out how the said software is discriminatory and restrictive of free speech/free access in what it censors. They offer these reports to the software makers and later follow up to see if any corrective measures have been taken.
The site is also involved in alerting the online community of efforts to pass laws restricting content to websites. Peacefire's own website is often blocked, either in part or whole, by filtering software, and the organization has both sued and been threatened with lawsuits in civil court in the United States. Anyone of any age can become a member by signing up for the site's low-volume, announcement-only electronic mailing list.
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Scieno Sitter is content-control software that, when installed on a computer, blocks certain websites critical of Scientology from being viewed. The software was released by the Church of Scientology in 1998 for Church members using Windows 95. The term "Scieno Sitter" was coined by critics of Scientology who assert that the program is a form of Internet censorship.
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The Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP) is an organization devoted to assisting researchers with assembling information related to freedom of speech, media democracy, and copyright, and advocating for these issues. Civil liberties lawyer Marjorie Heins founded the nonprofit organization in 2000. Based in Manhattan, New York, it was initially associated with the National Coalition Against Censorship, and subsequently operated as part of the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.
United States v. American Library Association, 539 U.S. 194 (2003), was a decision in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that the United States Congress has the authority to require public schools and libraries receiving E-Rate discounts to install web filtering software as a condition of receiving federal funding. In a plurality opinion, the Supreme Court ruled that public school and library usage of Internet filtering software does not violate their patrons' First Amendment free speech rights and that the Children's Internet Protection Act is not unconstitutional.
SurfWatch, Inc. was a Los Altos, CA-based company which pioneered the first widely available filtering software that allowed users to block explicit content on the Internet. By disallowing computers from accessing specified sites and by screening for newsgroups likely to contain sexually explicit material, SurfWatch was able to aid parents, educators and employers in preventing access to offensive material from a specific computer. The Apple Macintosh version of SurfWatch 1.0 was developed starting in 1994, first shipped to the public in May 1995, and was followed by the Microsoft version in July of the same year.
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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.