Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considered to have done something wrong, or they are considered to be untrustworthy. As a verb, blacklist can mean to put an individual or entity on such a list. [1] A blacklist is synonymous with a list of banned persons or organisations, and is the opposite of a whitelist.
The English dramatist Philip Massinger used the phrase "black list" in his 1639 tragedy The Unnatural Combat . [2]
After the restoration of the English monarchy brought Charles II of England to the throne in 1660, a list of regicides named those to be punished for the execution of his father. [3] The state papers of Charles II say "If any innocent soul be found in this black list, let him not be offended at me, but consider whether some mistaken principle or interest may not have misled him to vote". [4] In a 1676 history of the events leading up to the Restoration, James Heath (a supporter of Charles II) alleged that Parliament had passed an Act requiring the sale of estates, "And into this black list the Earl of Derby was now put, and other unfortunate Royalists". [5]
Edward Gibbon wrote in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776) of Andronicus that "His memory was stored with a black list of the enemies and rivals, who had traduced his merit, opposed his greatness, or insulted his misfortunes". [6]
The first published reference to blacklisting of an employee dates from 1774. This became a significant employment issue in American mining towns and company towns, where blacklisting could mean a complete loss of livelihood for workers who went on strike. [7] The 1901 Report of the Industrial Commission stated "There was no doubt in the minds of workingmen of the existence of the blacklisting system, though it was practically impossible to obtain evidence of it." It cited a news report that in 1895 a former conductor on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad committed suicide, having been out of work ever since a strike: "Wherever he went, the blacklist was ahead of him". [8]
Though the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 outlawed punitive blacklists against employees who supported trade unions or criticised their employers, the practice continued in common use. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 made amendments which sustained blacklisting by affirming the right of employers to be anti-union, and by requiring trade union leaders to make loyalty oaths which had the same effect as the Hollywood blacklist. Since then, lawsuits for unfair dismissal have led to blacklisting being covert or informal, but it remains common. [7]
The Hollywood blacklist was instituted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 to block screenwriters and other Hollywood professionals who were purported to have Communist sympathies from obtaining employment. It started by listing 151 entertainment industry professionals and lasted until 1960 when it was effectively broken by the acknowledgement that blacklisted professionals had been working under assumed names for many years. [9] [10]
At least one volunteer (George Drever) in the International Brigades who went to Spain to fight Franco's fascists and who was also well known in the British Communist Party in the 1930s was informed by the police Special Branch that his failure to progress in military or career was due to his volunteering in this cause and his beliefs. [11]
During World War I, the British government adopted a "blacklist" based on an Order in Council of 23 December 1915, prohibiting British subjects from trade with specified firms and individuals in neutral countries; the lists were published in the London Gazette . [12]
In the summer of 1940, the SS printed a secret list[ of what? ] called Sonderfahndungsliste G.B. ("Special Search List Great Britain") as part of Nazi Germany's preparations for invasion code-named Operation Sea Lion – when this booklet was found after the war, it was commonly called the Black Book and described as a blacklist. [13]
In 1907, the Transvaal Medical Union in South Africa blacklisted patients if they could not pay cash in advance. [14] There was a physical list kept by the community of physicians.
After the 2004 Venezuelan recall referendum, ruling party deputy Luis Tascón published on his website a database of more than 2,400,000 Venezuelans who had signed the petition to recall President Hugo Chávez, together with their national identity card numbers (cédula). [15] [16] The list "made "sectarianism official", and Venezuelans who signed against Chávez were denied jobs, benefits, and documents, and often subjected to harassment. [17] Once the list was posted, Chávez, on a Venezolana de Televisión broadcast, encouraged use of the website to "verify illicit use of national identity cards". Roger Capella, Minister of Health declared that "those who signed against President Chávez would be fired because they are committing an act of terrorism". [18] There was a public outcry, in particular by the organization Súmate, and because of reports that people who worked for the government were fired, denied work, or denied issuance of official documents because of their appearance on the list. [19] [20] In July 2004, access to the database under management of Comando Maisanta was granted to members of the "Batallones Bolivarianos de Internet (BBI)" (Internet Bolivarian Battalions), which previously had to register on Tascón's website to gain access under the strict requisite that they had not signed the petition for the referendum. [21]
In computing, a blacklist is an access control system that denies entry to a specific list (or a defined range) of users, programs, or network addresses.
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In 2018, a medical journal commentary regarding predatory publishing [22] was published, arguing that whitelist, blacklist, among other terms, reinforce existing racial biases and should be avoided in medical literature. The commentary gained public attention in Summer 2020 following the George Floyd protests in the United States [23] wherein a black man died in the custody of Minneapolis police officers, sparking protests against police brutality.
The commentary cites examples of the use of black as a shorthand for disreputable sources and other negative judgements, and white for trustworthiness and safety. The article also notes the origins of blacklist as a label for censure and punishment of workers involved in labor unions, and that early use of the term coincides with the rise of slavery in the Americas, but does not claim its etymology as referring directly to skin color. However, the authors criticize the continued use of blacklist and similar language as inappropriate and harmful due to the ubiquity of white and black as descriptors of racial groups in common parlance, arguing that this association results in use of this type of language perpetuates racism, regardless of its linguistic origin. [22]
Conflict around this issue often emerges in computing industries where whitelist and blacklist are prevalent (e.g. "IP whitelisting" [24] ). Some companies, open-source communities, and software developers have chosen to deprecate use of whitelist and blacklist in favor of names which describe the purpose of those lists less ambiguously and are unlikely to come across to a reader as insensitive such as allow list and deny list. An IETF draft technical proposal [25] has been underway since 2018 presenting arguments for avoiding potentially exclusionary language in technical documentation and a standardized set of recommendations for their replacement. Before garnering wider public attention in 2020, similarly motivated changes have also been enacted in years prior to replace terminology such as master/slave with alternatives due to concerns over their potential role in workplace discrimination. [26]
Some critics of these terminology changes[ who? ] question the interpretation of the deprecated language as racial in nature due to the linguistic root of blacklist as being most likely derived from the term black book, [26] [27] which originated in the 1400s as a reference to "a list of people who had committed crimes or fallen out of favor with leaders," popularized by King Henry VIII's literal use of a black book. [28] Others note the prevalence of positive and negative connotations to white and black in some Bible translations into English, taking the position that this historical usage invalidates the claim of racial connotations in modern usage [29] because it predates the emergence of "Black" as a widespread word to refer to one's race as a person of color in America during the 1960s Black power movement. [30]
A whitelist or allowlist is a list or register of entities that are being provided a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. Entities on the list will be accepted, approved and/or recognized. Whitelisting is the reverse of blacklisting, the practice of identifying entities that are denied, unrecognised, or ostracised.
The Bolivarian Circles are political and social organizations of workers' councils in Venezuela, originally created by President Hugo Chávez on 21 December 2001. The circles have also been described as militias and compared to Cuba's Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and Panama's Dignity Battalions.
Bolivarianism is a mix of panhispanic, socialist and national-patriotic ideals named after Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century Venezuelan general and liberator from the Spanish monarchy then in abeyance, who led the struggle for independence throughout much of South America.
The Venezuelan recall referendum of 15 August 2004 was a referendum to determine whether Hugo Chávez, then President of Venezuela, should be recalled from office. The recall referendum was announced on 8 June 2004 by the National Electoral Council (CNE) after the Venezuelan opposition succeeded in collecting the number of signatures required by the 1999 Constitution to effect a recall. The result of the referendum was not to recall Chávez.
Súmate is a Venezuelan volunteer civil association founded in 2002 by María Corina Machado and Alejandro Plaz. Súmate describes itself as a vote-monitoring group; it has also been described as an election-monitoring group.
The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela. SEBIN is an internal security force subordinate to the Vice President of Venezuela since 2012 and is dependent on Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. SEBIN has been described as the political police force of the Bolivarian government.
The Rodrigo Granda affair was an international incident that increased tension between Venezuela and Colombia between December 2004 and February 2005.
Inclusive language is a language style that seeks to avoid expressions that its proponents perceive as expressing or implying ideas that are sexist, racist, or otherwise biased, prejudiced, or insulting to particular group(s) of people; and instead uses language intended by its proponents to avoid offense and fulfill the ideals of egalitarianism, social inclusion and equity. It's aim is bias-free communication, that attempts to be equally inclusive of people of all ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, religious affiliations, abilities, and ages by communicating in a way that makes no assumptions about the receiver of such communication.
Luis Tascón Gutiérrez was a Venezuelan politician and member of the National Assembly.
Norberto Rafael Ceresole was an Argentine sociologist and political scientist, who identified himself with Peronism, left-wing militias and the ideas of his friends Robert Faurisson, Roger Garaudy and Ernst Nolte. He was accused throughout his life of being neo-fascist and antisemitic because of his Holocaust denial and hatred of Zionism, Israel and the Jewish community. He was a close confidant of Venezuela president Hugo Chavez.
María Corina Machado Parisca is a Venezuelan opposition politician and industrial engineer who served as an elected member of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2011 to 2014. Machado was the founder and former leader of the Venezuelan volunteer civil organization Súmate, alongside Alejandro Plaz. In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
Alejandro Plaz Castillo is a founder of the Venezuelan volunteer civil association, Súmate.
Manuel Antonio Rosales Guerrero is a Venezuelan educator and politician, current governor of Zulia. He was the most prominent Venezuelan opposition candidate in the 2006 presidential election, losing to incumbent Hugo Chávez. He served as a congressman, mayor, and governor, but in April 2009, stepped down as Mayor of Maracaibo when he was charged with corruption in Venezuela and fled to Peru. Rosales denies the charges, and was granted political asylum in Peru. He is currently the presidential candidate for Un Nuevo Tiempo in the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election.
The Tascón List is a list of millions of signatures of Venezuelans who asked in 2003 and 2004 for the recall of the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez. The list, published online by National Assembly member Luis Tascón, was used by the Venezuelan government to discriminate against those who have signed it.
In computing, a blacklist, disallowlist, blocklist, or denylist is a basic access control mechanism that allows through all elements, except those explicitly mentioned. Those items on the list are denied access. The opposite is a whitelist, allowlist, or passlist, in which only items on the list are let through whatever gate is being used. A greylist contains items that are temporarily blocked until an additional step is performed.
DriveSentry was an antivirus program, developed by DriveSentry Inc, to protect Microsoft Windows users from malware. It is available free for personal use, though with restricted functionality.
A constitutional referendum was held in Venezuela on 15 February 2009 for voters to approve or reject Amendment No. 1 of the constitution, which abolished term limits for the offices of President, state governors, mayors and National Assembly deputies.
Noticiero Digital is a Venezuelan news and opinion website headquartered in Caracas, described by Reporters Without Borders as "a popular website that is critical of President Hugo Chávez". According to its former editor, Roger Santodomingo, Noticiero Digital became popular after the government of Venezuela decided not to renew the broadcast license of cable television network RCTV, saying: "It has become [a] forum for comment that is virtually out of its own management's control because of its totally open nature." As of June 2007, it had 45,000 registered users.
Fundación Villa del Cine is a government-funded Venezuelan film and TV production house that was inaugurated on 3 June 2006 by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in the city of Guarenas, near the capital, Caracas.
Bolivarian propaganda is a form of nationalist propaganda, especially in Venezuela and associated with chavismo, Venezuelan socialism. This type of propaganda has been associated with Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution, which used emotional arguments to gain attention, exploit the fears of the population, create external enemies for scapegoat purposes, and produce nationalism within the population, causing feelings of betrayal for support of the opposition.
Might write me down in the black List of those That have nor Fire, nor Spirit of their own