Category Archives: Censorship

Ice Climber CENSORED - Yeti/Seal Enemy - Video Game Censorship
Did you know non-Japanese versions of Ice Climber () censor the enemies? In the JP version of Ice Climber, the yeti enemies are actually seals! Censored Gaming is the...

By: Censored Gaming

More here:
Ice Climber CENSORED - Yeti/Seal Enemy - Video Game Censorship - Video

South Korea #39;s Turn To Cry For Censorship
Whatsup good people, little " rant " (kinda) about South Korea Crying about japanese depictions in the new upcoming kids movie Big Hero Six, and they are getting what they demand. Me on Twitter...

By: Art-Official Entertainment

See the rest here:
South Korea's Turn To Cry For Censorship - Video

Comedians, writers, satirists and a cartoonist gathered Thursday night at Hollywood's Upright Citizens Brigade to discuss censorship and satire in the wake of the killings at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. But while part of the debate mirrored some of what has been said already on the case and included a broad condemnation of the violence there was also an expression of discomfortwith the racialized nature of the cartoons that have appeared in Charlie Hebdo.

As stand-up comedian Azhar Usman the Chicago-born son of Indian Muslims put it at one point: "[Screw] terrorism and [screw] these racist cartoons."

Organized by the progressive site Blue Nation Review, the boisterous hour-long conversation (warning: coarse language is used) included comedians Phil LaMarr, Paul Provenza and Usman; political cartoonist Matt Bors; "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead, and "Family Guy" show runner Rich Appel. They discussed the difficulty of producing satire, the ways in which different ethnicities are depicted in cartoons and whether artists find themselves self-censoring out of fear of reprisal.

But first the panel dealt with what seemed like a simple question: "Are you Charlie?" It quickly became clear that the question has become more complex in the two weeks since the Charlie Hebdo attack.

"It's an unfair question," Usman said. It forces "what should be a nuanced conversation," he explained, into an artificial demand: "'You're either with us or against us; you're either Charlie or you're not Charlie.'" He ended up defining himself as "an agnostic."

Bors was similarly conflicted. "As a political cartoonist who has an interest in not dying, I want to say yes," he said. "But I hate the hashtags... So, no."

LaMarr and Appel had few qualms about the question: "I was Trayvon, I was Michael Brown, I was Yes All Men," said LaMarr. "Why wouldn't I be Charlie?"

Appel, however, did discuss the trickier challenge of working on "Family Guy" within an art form whose very intent is to skirt what is acceptable.

"It's such a complicated question that I can't even pretend to be able to solve," Appel explained. "Comedy often offends.Every day at our show every other day at every show I've worked on for 20 years you skirt those questions. There's not a clear objective flow-chart you put everything through and you come up with your answer. It's kind of subjective in a way."

Winsteadsaid audiences can't expect to come away from satire without feeling some burn. "You don't have the right to not be offended," she stated.

The rest is here:
Comedians and cartoonist gather to discuss satire and censorship

Demonstrators protest against the release of MSG: The Messenger of God. A ban on the film has been overturned, sparking a crisis in Indias censorship organisation. Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters

Indias film censorship organisation is in crisis after the resignation of its chair, Leela Samson, amid complaints of interference, coercion and corruption, and more than half its board members.

On Monday, the Bollywood director Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed in Samsons place. However, Nihalanis connections with Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and those of the replacements for other members of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) who walked out in solidarity with Samson have aroused considerable concern.

The controversy erupted last week after the CBFC refused to allow the release of MSG: The Messenger of God only to be overruled by a higher body tasked with settling disputes, the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT).

MSG stars a real-life spiritual leader, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, playing himself while tackling drug addiction and curing deadly illnesses. Singh is the head of a controversial religious organisation, Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), based in the north Indian state of Haryana.

The board accused MSG of being a feature-length advertorial for Singh and DSS. A member of the revising committee told the digital news outlet Scroll, on condition of anonymity, that the film promotes blind faith and has the potential to create conflict.

Singh has been a contentious figure for years, causing riots in Punjab in 1997 after he appeared in advertisements dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh, one of Sikhisms holiest figures. A number of Sikh organisations, including the Akal Takht, Sikhisms highest temporal body, had sought a ban on MSGs release, originally slated for 16 January. Finding its portrayal of Singh blasphemous, they staged protests against the film.

What rankled Samson and her colleagues was that it took the FCAT only three days to overturn the CBFCs decision. It usually takes a month to get a tribunal to hear a case, former board member Nandini Sardesai told Scroll. How can you constitute a tribunal overnight?

On discovering the FCAT ruling, Samson sent an email to her colleagues claiming the chain of events had made a mockery of them. She hoped they would resign en masse.

Samson has faced external pressure in the past, most recently last month when the CBFC refused a government demand to trim scenes from PK, a Bollywood send-up of organised religion and self-styled gurus. There was total interference on every film, big and small, she told Hindustan Times after resigning. A lot of pressure was put on the film PK to cut scenes.

Read the original:
India's censorship board in disarray amid claims of political interference

Ukraine Russia - Startups Under War Censorship - Jan 5 2015
SPEAKERS: Anna Degtereva, Happy Farm (UA); Vitaly Golomb, Keen Systems (US | UA); Anna Dvornikova, TEC Ventures (US | RU); Max Skibinsky, Stealth Bitcoin Startup (RU | US); Vlad ...

By: StanfordEuropreneurs

Original post:
Ukraine & Russia - Startups Under War & Censorship - Jan 5 2015 - Video

BIG HERO 6 | Unnecessary Censorship | Censored Disney Pixar Parody Bleep Video
This week in unnecessary censorship, BIG HERO 6!! Do you think it will win the Oscars? *SPOILER ALERT* Check out our other channel Ninja Panda Too for more videos: ...

By: NinjaPandaProductions

Link:
BIG HERO 6 | Unnecessary Censorship | Censored Disney Pixar Parody Bleep Video - Video

THE resignation of the chair person and some other members of the Central Board of Film Certification in India raises a controversy. In India, irrespective of whichever government is in office, adults are not allowed to have even the freedom of viewing scenes which may have political, moral, sexual and other kinds of physical content which officials may think corrupt their minds. The attitude betrays authoritarian and narrow- minded guarding of received notions and values. Kissing and intimacy are now being shown in Indian films, though in small doses. However , warnings against smoking and drinking are displayed whenever such acts are shown on screen, along with the pointless statement that the actors do not indulge in either vice. What a pity if that goes with a film like Devdas or I will cry tomorrow! Woody Allen did not have one of his recent films shown In India for that reason. Indian DVDs of international film classics are also sometimes subjected to cuts, for instance, of Fellinis La Dolce Vita. There was a joke that during the prime ministership of Morarji Desai, even Hamlet was banned because Claudius was shown drinking out of a goblet. Freedom of expression in cinema is sometimes bridled to protect obscurantism as was done in the case of Water for some time and when UP chief minister Mayavati wanted to clamp down on Samrakhshan on a mistaken notion about the content. Indian censorship should at least approximate to what is done in the advanced countries. Censorship should be done by an independent body. There should be no political or sectarian interference. But, of course, liberty should not degenerate into licence. Self-censorship should be ideal but based on intelligent understanding of creative imagination. It is hard to understand why some scenes of Titanic which won 11 academy awards were take out in India while a film like Dirty Picture could be shown without cuts.

View original post here:
Censorship controversy

'The reason the Sun alone was singled out for such concern is largely that it is owned by Rupert Murdoch.' Photograph: Clive Gee/PA

So its farewell nipples. They are to vanish from the Suns Page 3. So they will remain online, except in the Daily Star, except in a hundred magazines and a thousand tasteful fashion shoots. So what next?

Children are already pixelated. What about female (and male) bottoms, singers crotch shots, David Beckhams ill-concealed genitalia or naked female flesh in general? The BBC is awash with nipples after the watershed, so is the stage, the cinema and the art gallery. I am told that some Muslims are offended by scantily clad models that grace the side of buses. They are sexier than Page 3 of the Sun, which is about as arousing as an ankle at a Victorian dance.

I hate censorship, even when government considers it vital in the interests of law and order. It is ironic that the Suns move should come just weeks after terrorists attempted the most brutal form of censorship in France. Of course no one was planning to murder the Sun and its hapless models, but some campaigners wanted it banned or confined to pornography shelves and starved of advertising. Like millions of Muslims, they claimed Page 3 caused them offence a claim which in English law nowadays is sufficient reason to invoke curbs on freedom of speech.

The reason the Sun alone was singled out for such concern is largely that it is owned by Rupert Murdoch (whereas the similar Daily Star is not). But then taste in Britain has always been bound up with class or, as the protesters say, context. No one calls for a ban on bare-breasted Kate Moss or Madonna, but instead applauds them for being in control. Protesters have not barracked Covent Garden or the Coliseum for objectifying women by depicting orgies on stage. They do not picket Lars von Triers films or the Chapman brothers galleries.

A YouGov survey last year revealed that a full 86% of Guardian readers wanted Page 3 stopped (by whom?), against two thirds of Sun readers who wanted it retained. Sun readers were not invited to suggest offending content for censorship in the Guardian.

The truth appears to be that Page 3 has outlived its editorial purpose, which is how it should be. It is not that nudity in public places has become taboo, but that it has become the opposite, ubiquitous and banal. Mens bodies are now as objectified as womens, on editorial pages and advertisements alike. Sex still sells. For better or worse, most people seem to take the public depiction of sexuality in their stride, and others are having to put up with it.

Sometimes we all have to take a deep breath and acknowledge that other people enjoy different things from us, and this may sometimes upset us. But since it gets ever harder indeed dangerous to say live and let live, we need to remember the alternative is far more appalling.

Read more:
Page 3s demise smacks of censorship | Simon Jenkins

The watchdog called this form of attack which affects mobile devices when emails are being downloaded automatically in the background as "especially devious."

"The warning messages users receive from their email clients are much less noticeable than the warning messages delivered to modern browsers," Greatfire's report said.

Read MoreUS charges China with cyber-spying on American firms

The Microsoft spokesperson added: "If a customer sees a certificate warning, they should contact their service provider for assistance."

When a user opened their inbox on their phone, a message popped up which said the identity of the email server could not be verified. But the Greatfire report said consumers will "not think twice" before clicking the "continue" option on the error message as they would likely attribute it to a network problem.

If a user hit continue, their emails and login credentials would be in the hands of the hackers.

"We strongly recommend that users never bypass certificate error messages by clicking 'continue'," the report warned.

See the original post here:
Microsoft Outlook 'hacked' by China

Microsoft's Outlook email service in China was hacked by the country's censorship authority, an internet watchdog has claimed, as the government continues its crackdown on U.S. technology giants. Greatfire.org, which monitors censorship in China, said that Microsoft's servers were subject to a so-called man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack, enabling hackers to intercept private emails between users. A Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC they were aware of "a small number of customers impacted by malicious routing to a server impersonating Outlook.com." It is hard for a victim to detect this type of attack because the man-in-the-middle is often just eavesdropping and mining the data being sent. In this instance, hackers targeted the technology which communicates with Microsoft's servers and enables users to access emails on their smartphones. "We suspect that the Cyberspace Administration of China, which is directly in charge of censorship is directly responsible for the MITM attack against Outlook, and the recent related MITM attacks in China," Greatfire's report said. The attack follows a complete block of Google's Gmail in China and highlights the way in which Chinese authorities are allegedly tightly controlling communication in the world's second-largest economy.

--- Arjun Kharpal, CNBC

First published January 20 2015, 7:22 AM

Continued here:
Microsoft Outlook 'Hacked' by Chinese: Watchdog