Category Archives: Censorship

The lawsuit was filed by a group of eight New York-based content producers who say Baidus search engine algorithms (Baidus main Internet function) block material in the U.S. per the Chinese governments heavy censorship laws, and that violates the Constitution, Reuters says. Their content mostly advocated for more democracy in China.

But U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan disagrees. He likened Baidus algorithms to a newspapers editorial stance and says that The First Amendment protects Baidu's right to advocate for systems of government other than democracy (in China or elsewhere) just as surely as it protects plaintiffs' rights to advocate for democracy.

The activists sought $16 million in damages from Baidu and plan to appeal the ruling. Their lawyer Stephen Preziosi said that the court has laid out a perfect paradox: that it will allow the suppression of free speech, in the name of free speech, following the ruling.

Baidu provides access to streaming music and video and it even runs a Wikipedia-like encyclopedia service (that only registered users can edit). It has more than 500 million regular users in China and a small but significant population of users in the United States.

Baidu is the fifth-most trafficked site on the planet, according to Alexa, an Amazon-owned web traffic monitor. Only Yahoo.com, YouTube, Facebook and Google generate more traffic and unique visitors, all of which are blocked or have subsidiary sites blocked in China.

Additionally, it is the top Chinese language search engine and it opened an English-language site for developers in February 2013. That move opened up English-speaking app developers to write tools for Chinese customers.

Bing, a Microsoft-owned search engine has also been accused of censoring its Chinese-language content. As recently as February 2014, search results for controversial topics were significantly different for Bings English and Chinese-language searches.

Google was accused of the same in China before it finally decided it would no longer comply with Chinese government censorship laws and pulled out. You can see if a website is blocked across China here.

Neither Baidu nor the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., responded to Reuters for comment.

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China's Biggest Internet Company Baidu Wins US Censorship Lawsuit

Ramblaholic chat about Tesco censorship and BBFC changes
Tesco withdraws the DVD of Hospital because of a complaint... http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/films_latest.htm#Recommended_by_Tesco_and_the_Gloucester_Citizen_...

By: lampyman101

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Ramblaholic chat about Tesco censorship and BBFC changes - Video

[NBNP #39;s Rants] Episode 8: Australian Gaming Censorship
Previous Video: http://goo.gl/6QBW9U Here we have it, the 8th video in the NBNP #39;s Rants series. This time i am tackling the gaming censorship in Australia. A...

By: ScottNBNP

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[NBNP's Rants] Episode 8: Australian Gaming Censorship - Video

Turkish Police Use Water Cannon Tear Gas To Disperse People Protesting New Internet Censorship, Turk
Turkish Police Use Water Cannon Tear Gas To Disperse People Protesting New Internet Censorship, Turki.

By: kakpravilno

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Turkish Police Use Water Cannon Tear Gas To Disperse People Protesting New Internet Censorship, Turk - Video

New Zealand's biggest telecommunications company says proposed laws to clamp-down on online abuse could instead spark digital censorship.

Speaking before MPs today, John Wesley-Smith from Telecom said under the proposed laws internet firms that hosted websites or social media forums would end up removing content as soon as someone complained, to avoid potential penalties.

The complaints system would also effectively give censorship power to complainants who might be acting maliciously themselves.

"We are concerned that this will create unhealthy sensitiveness for online content hosts to remove any content that is complained about," he said.

"This raises questions about censorship and freedom of speech."

For content that it did not control, such as third-party websites, the problem would be more pronounced and Telecom's only recourse would be to shut them down entirely, he said.

Telecom was speaking before the justice and electoral select committee which is considering a bill that would criminalise "harmful digital communication", including inciting suicide online.

It would also create a new authority to consider complaints and issue take-down notices, including against internet service providers.

Some internet-content hosts, such as news sites or Trade Me, would be protected from criminal fines but only if they acted appropriately on complaints.

Most submitters today were broadly supportive of the bill but some argued it would infringe freedom of speech or would fail to reach online forums based overseas, such as Facebook.

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Cyber censorship feared from new laws

Mark Dice YouTube Channel Restored After Major Backlash Against Censorship
Mark Dice YouTube Channel Restored After Major Backlash Against Censorship. Subscribe to http://www.YouTube.com/TheResistance http://www.Facebook.com/MarkDic...

By: TheResistance

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Mark Dice YouTube Channel Restored After Major Backlash Against Censorship - Video

Proposed laws to clamp down on online abuse could instead spark digital censorship, Telecom has warned.

Internet firms that host websites or social media could end up removing content whenever someone complained, in order to avoid penalties, Telecom regulatory manager John Wesley-Smith told MPs yesterday. That would give censorship powers to complainants who were deliberately seeking to stifle debate.

"We are concerned that this will create unhealthy sensitiveness for online content hosts to remove any content that is complained about," he said.

"This raises questions about censorship and freedom of speech."

For content that it did not control, such as third-party websites, the problem would be more pronounced, and Telecom's only recourse would be to shut the sites down, he said.

Telecom was speaking before the justice and electoral select committee, which is considering a bill to criminalise "harmful digital communication", including inciting suicide online.

It would also create a new authority to consider complaints and issue takedown notices, which would cover internet service providers.

Some internet content hosts, such as news websites or Trade Me, would be protected from punishment as safe harbours, but only provided they responded appropriately and swiftly to complaints.

Most submitters who spoke yesterday were broadly supportive of the bill, but some argued that it would infringe freedom of speech or would be powerless against sites based overseas, such as Facebook.

Journalist Ian Wishart said attempts to shut down abusive Facebook groups that had attacked and threatened him over his book about Macsyna King, mother of the dead Kahui twins, was like playing "Whack-A-Mole". It was a struggle to get Facebook to close the pages, even after a favourable court judgment in New Zealand.

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MPs warned of internet censorship risk

Privatized Enforcement and Corporate Censorship: The Future of Freedom of Expression
Lucy Purdon, Programme Support Manager, IHRB Joe McNamee, Executive Director, EDRi Gabrielle Guillemin, Legal Officer Article 19 Anita Ramasastry, Law Profes...

By: Access

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Privatized Enforcement and Corporate Censorship: The Future of Freedom of Expression - Video

Index on Censorship award winner Shahzad Ahmad - acceptance speech
The Doughty Street Advocacy Award winner Shahzad Ahmad gives his acceptance speech at Index on Censorship Awards 2014.

By: Georgia Hussey

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Index on Censorship award winner Shahzad Ahmad - acceptance speech - Video

Disney #39;s FROZEN (Censored): Longer and Dirtier -- SPOILERS -- Unnecessary Censorship
Warning! Spoilers! In which a potty-mouthed princess goes on an adventure to the stop the winter started by her bad-example-of-a-sister with a foul-mouthed i...

By: Kyle J. Britt

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Disney's FROZEN (Censored): Longer and Dirtier -- SPOILERS -- Unnecessary Censorship - Video