Archive for the 'Censorship' Category
Murdoch to Arabs: censorship is counterproductive
March 10th, 2010AP – “Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday challenged tight controls on media in the Middle East, calling censorship counterproductive and urging Arab leaders to allow their citizens the freedom to unleash their creativity…”In the face of an inconvenient story, it can be tempting to resort to censorship or civil or criminal laws to try to bury [...]
China Paints Google Issue as Not Political
January 21st, 2010NYT – “The Chinese government is taking a cautious approach to the dispute with Google, treating the conflict as a business dispute that requires commercial negotiations and not a political matter that could affect relations with the United States.”
Software Makers See a Market in Censorship
January 15th, 2010NYTimes – “While China’s censorship policies are prompting Google to consider quitting its operations in the country, some technology companies see the restrictions as a golden business opportunity.”
Book ruckus divides Montgomery County residents
November 29th, 2009Kentucky.com – “A dispute over books at Montgomery County High School has embroiled parents, teachers, students and others over the past several months, extending to authors and censorship groups at the national level. The continuing ruckus revolves around contemporary, young-adult novels that have been used in conjunction with classical works like The Canterbury Tales by [...]
Child protection or censorship?
November 9th, 2009Kentucky.com – “Sharon Cook is either a hero or a villain. She is either due your thanks for doing everything in her power to protect children from obscenity or she is due your disdain for wantonly taking away the constitutional rights of the people of Jessamine County. She never meant to do the [...]
Scholastic hones the douchery/flip-flop duality to fine art
October 31st, 2009Book Ninja – “Aside from selling kids a steaming load of plastic shite (along with a few TV tie-in books) in their “book” catalogues, Scholastic has now pitched their corporate tents in the realms of bigotry, censorship, and homophobia.”
More here
A Library’s Approach to Books That Offend
August 23rd, 2009NYTimes.com – “If you go to the Brooklyn Public Library seeking a copy of “Tintin au Congo,” Hergé’s second book in a series, prepare to make an appointment and wait days to see the book. “It’s not for the public,” a librarian in the children’s room said this month when a patron asked to see [...]
Yale Surrenders
August 18th, 2009Slate Magazine – “Why did Yale University Press remove images of Mohammed from a book about the Danish cartoons?”
US tests system to beat web censorship in China and Iran
August 14th, 2009Telegraph – “The “feed over email” (FOE) system will deliver news using a technology that evades web-screening technologies employed by restrictive regimes. According to a senior official at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent US government agency responsible all international broadcasting sponsored by Washington, the system is now actively being tested in China [...]
Web site tracks world online censorship reports
August 9th, 2009Associated Press – “When Shanghai blogger Isaac Mao tried to watch a YouTube clip of Chinese police beating Tibetans, all he got was an error message. Mao thought the error – just after the one-year anniversary of a crackdown on Tibetan protesters in China – was too suspicious to be coincidental, so he reported [...]
Majority backs library on gay sex book
November 3rd, 2008Helena Independent Record – “Last week’s Question of the Week asked whether the library should have censored the book “Joy of Gay Sex.†In a huge turnout, as befits this election week, a majority of readers came out against censorship.”
Australia to implement mandatory internet censorship
October 30th, 2008Herald Sun – “Australia will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government.”
Explicit book pulled from middle school library in Marietta
September 2nd, 2008KXII“- “A Love County parent is outraged after her young daughter brings home a book so graphic, we can’t even repeat some of the dialogue on television”
Muslim-Themed Novel “Shelvedâ€:
August 9th, 2008January Magazine – “Chalk up another 10 points for the thought police. We live in dangerous times, indeed.”
Penguins in trouble
May 8th, 2008Jacket Copy – “This bit of news coincided with a book that arrived at our offices the other day. I can only imagine what opponents of “And Tango Makes Three” will think of Joel Derfner’s “Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever,” published this month by Broadway Books, if it makes it to [...]
Government funded database censors the word “abortionâ€
April 3rd, 2008LibrarianActivist.org – “A librarian wrote to the POPLINE database providers to ask why a search strategy, probably involving the word abortion, retrieved fewer results than it did 3 months earlier.”
Yowsa! This is horrible.
Google shareholders to vote on censorship, human rights
March 25th, 2008CNET News.com – “For the second year in a row, Google shareholders will be asked to hold the Web search giant accountable for protecting free speech, regardless of international borders.”
Pocatello Librarian Says Book About Censorship is Being Censored
March 25th, 2008NBC Newschannel 6 – “The Idaho Falls Public Library is in the middle of a community reading project to encourage people to read books. But the book the library chose is about censorship, and one librarian thinks the controversial book just like its topic, is being censored.”
Disturbing book will stay in school library
March 2nd, 2008Boston Globe – “A novel by Alice Sebold kept in the John W. McDevitt Middle School library will remain there, despite a request from a parent to remove it.”
Interesting headline…a bit one sided.
Censored Flag Art
November 8th, 2007Laura Dolce – “What started as a simple art show has turned into a battle between an artist and library officials, with charges of censorship on one side, and concerns over “inflammatory” images on the other.”
More on Human Filtering – The Bad Kind
September 20th, 2007Carlos Sadovi – “After hearing from the district’s lawyers, the principal sent a letter to parents Monday informing them that the book would remain on the required reading list. He warned parents that if they directed their children not to read the book, it could “have a significant negative effect on the final course grade.”
The [...]
More on Censoring
September 17th, 2007Japan Times – “Several libraries have suspended access to a book that contains confidential information about a teenager institutionalized for setting his home on fire and killing his stepmother and two siblings.”
More on Human Filters
September 12th, 2007The bad kind.
Library Smut
August 29th, 2007Matt Barber – “Illinois School District 126, covering Alsip, Hazelgreen and Oak Lawn, has defended its choice to assign summer reading to 12- and 13-year-olds that is replete with harsh profanity and references to teen sex (even teen sex with adults).”
