Category Archives: Censorship

SAN DIEGO As if supervillains and doomsday plots werent enough for any comic book hero to contend with, theyve also had to tangle with that other nemesis censorship since the days when Superman first donned his tights.

Thats why the San Diego Law Library is hosting an interactive discussion, titled Censorship: From 1950s Superheroes to Todays Manga, on July 16, to commemorate the fourth year of its popular Lindley Law & Comics series.

Events like this are typically held in advance of San Diego Comic-Con, which this year runs July 18-21.

The discussion session will be led by Charles Brownstein, executive director of the nonprofit Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. According to its website, the New York-based group is dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians and readers.

Brownstein has written several books on comics, and speaks at venues all over the world about comics and the law.

This years comics and law event is one of many community outreach programs the library hosts each year. The downtown San Diego branch reopened to the public in February 2012 after a $4 million overhaul.

We are experimenting with entirely new ways of information delivery, said John Adkins, the San Diego Law Library director in a news release. Expect more free live lectures, more web broadcasts and more remote access of data.

The event, held at 1105 Front St., is scheduled to run from noon to 1 p.m. Tickets are $10.

Attendees will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win prizes.

To register, call (619) 531-3900 or go to lawcomics2013july16.eventbrite.com.

See the rest here:
Library event focuses on comics and censorship

Feminism #39;s Marxist roots: censorship violent bullying
Modern Feminism is based on Marxism which preaches violent revolutionary overthrow of the government. Feminists have used censorship, harassment, and violence. Like Marxism, Feminism supports...

By: WomanAgainstFeminism

Visit link:
Feminism's Marxist roots: censorship

Censorship Short film
Actors: Sergio Prestigiacomo, Antonela Lo Porto , Daniele Schillaci Director: Iordanis Stanev Story: Vittorio Bonomonte Assistant: Manuele Genduso Make-up ar...

By: Iordanis Stanev

The rest is here:
Censorship Short film - Video

London, July 3 (ANI): Iran's newly elected President, Hassan Rouhani, has expressed relatively progressive views about civil liberties, freedom of expression and the Internet in his first press conference.

According to Rouhani, social networking sites, such as Facebook, were a welcome phenomenon. He added that he opposed segregation of sexes in society and he would work to minimize censorship. He also mentioned Internet filtering is futile.

He further said that Iranians' freedoms and rights have been neglected.

Rouhani has promised to put the Islamic republic back on the path of moderation after eight acrimonious years under the outgoing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

He accepted that the country is overshadowed by a specific interpretation of its Islamic character. He also said that due to an imbalance in the principles of the constitution, Iran is facing an imbalance.

When asked about internet filtering, Rouhani said some of the measures taken by the authorities to restrict users' access online are politically motivated. He said that he is concerned about an increased distrust between people and the state.

The Guardian reported that access to several websites is blocked in Iran, including Facebook and Twitter, but millions of Iranians use them via anti-filtering software or virtual private network (VPN) services.

Rouhani also reportedly pledged to minimize censorship of artistic and cultural works and said the state should provide them with security.

On the question of women wearing the hijab, with millions unhappy about the mandatory religious code in the country, Rouhani said he is against the crackdown against women with loose clothing. Rouhani added that he is against these actions mentioning 'a women without a hijab is not necessarily without virtue'.

In his interview with the Guardian, Rouhani said he opposed segregation of men and women and criticised the politicians who are against allowing women to enter stadiums to watch football matches along with men.

See the rest here:
Iran's President vows to soften rules on web censorship, sex discrimination and Islamic dress code

Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) July 03, 2013

idcloak says the IP addresses in its newly released Fresh Proxies list will successfully bypass the Great Wall of China and give Chinese netizens unfettered access to the net.

According to idcloaks lead researcher, Robin Welles, IP proxies are effective because they connect the browser directly to the remote server, doing away with the complications of a mediating website. One complication of site-based proxies is that they usually contain the word proxy or unblock in their web page or URL and that betrays their function to filters. The result: censors see them and shut them out.

Its not easy to get around the Great Firewall; says Welles, as it employs several filter mechanisms simultaneously to prevent circumvention. The Golden Shield also has 30,000 staff manually holding it up, so you have the human element to contend with as well. All this means only the newest proxies have a chance of breaking out of Chinas censorship.

A proxy works by allowing a user to connect to a foreign-based server and only then requesting banned web content, from a YouTube or Facebook IP address, for example. Assuming the user has chosen an HTTPS (encrypted) proxy, the requested data is then returned to their device discretely and under the censorship radar.

The location of the proxy server is also extremely important, Welles explains, Of course, censorship circumvention only works if the user connects to a proxy based outside the censorship zone. But they shouldnt send their requests too far. Connecting to a server on the other side of the world makes browsing slow to unacceptable levels. The idcloak list offer a wide variety of IP geolocation options to help users find this balance.

idcloak maintains the list continuously to make sure all displayed proxies are operational. The database is live, which means it is continuously subject to checks, with new proxies being added and old ones taken away daily. This ensures the presented list is always a current snapshot of all major working proxies in the world.

For further information about idcloaks work in censorship circumvention, web privacy and security, visit http://www.idcloak.com.

See the article here:
Fresh Proxies List Flies Under the Radar of Chinese Censorship

Unnecessary Censorship (SourceFed Edition)
Decided to have a little fun with some old SourceFed Videos. I do not own any of the media within, please check out and support the great team over at Source...

By: Carder Williams

View post:
Unnecessary Censorship (SourceFed Edition) - Video

You Can #39;t Do That On Television ~ Censorship
You Can #39;t Do That On Television - Episode 101 ~ Censorship.

By: Felix Cooper

View original post here:
You Can't Do That On Television ~ Censorship - Video

Chinese anti-censorship campaigners have rejoiced at the news that the man considered to be the architect of the country's 'great firewall', Fang Binxing, has announced plans to retire his post after suffering ill health.

In a speech to graduating students at Beijing's University of Post and Telecommunication at which he holds a professorship, 53 year-old Binxing cited a serious illness as the reason for his departure.

"Due to excessive demands on my body, and without enough time to replenish, I have experienced a serious illness and lost the capacity to stay up working day and night," he said in translated comments on the University's website.

"I can no longer put both academic research and administrative duty on my shoulders. This is why I have told the authorities that I will not serve for another term.

No date for that departure has been confirmed but already some of his critics expressed satisfaction at the news.

We are glad that you are gone! read one of the more polite comments translated from a post on China's equivalent of Twitter, Weibo.

The technocratic Binxing has become a touchstone for unhappiness at the State's censorship of Internet content. In May 2011, a campaigner reportedly threw eggs and shoes at him during one of his speeches. Some months before that incident his growing unpopularity was underlined by the defacement of a blog he published. Such open expresions of disrespect were considered highly unusual.

If as appears the case Binxing is gone for good, the 'golden shield' censorship system he helped create will mark him out as the key figure in the early period of China's digital growth. Whether it survives in in the long term is uncertain but few expect any short-term relaxation of its filtering.

With US politicians angsting about possible spying backdoors in equipment from telecoms firm Huawei, Binxing was also one figure willing to accuse US companies such as Google and Cisco of playing the same game to carry out surveillance on China.

Go here to read the rest:
China's great firewall censorship architect retires citing ill health

Great artists will tell you on the regular that the key to making great art is to make it for yourself first, but thats not always a realistic end point for people creating art for a living especially when youve got to think about the audience. Do you make something for everyone globally, or do you make something for a small group? How do you actually make something that speaks to everyone?

Jetsetter, Digital Trends weekly column devoted to import gaming and game development outside the US, exists because its impossible to make art that truly speaks to everyone. Even if a game doesnt directly speak to you, even if it wasnt made with you in mind, that doesnt mean it isnt worth experiencing. Broaden those horizons!

Forget figuring out how to navigate the murky waters of finding your audience when youre designing a game, its hard enough just making sure your game can even legally get released around the world. Just because the ESRB in the US says a game is rated M for Mature audiences, that doesnt mean everyone agrees. Australia has long had a reputation for ferocious censorship of video games. It was only in 2012 thatthe country started rating games for audiences 18-years-old and up. Before that, games like Grand Theft Auto 4 were simply barred classification in the country and never legally released. Even with R18+ classification, though, Australia is still stopping games from release. Volitions Saints Row IV was refused just this past week due to implied sexual violence and illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards.

It is baffling what Australias ratings board does and does not consider appropriate. Drug use? Thats right out. A game like Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge, a game where gutting human beings is the whole point, is just fine.

Russia loves its MMOs, just look at the crazy following for World of Tanks in the country. Last December, 600,000 Russian citizens were playing that gameat the same time. Russian developer Allods Team recognizes a good thing when it sees it, hence why its developing Skyforge, a new fantasy MMO that actually looks pretty swell. In a market glutted with World of Warcraft knock offs, generic Korean fantasy MMOs, and dwindling online populations, a polished but familiar game like Skyforge actually stands out.

As reported by Eurogamer, Skyforge has some help in the form of Obsidian Entertainment, the famed RPG developer behind games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. Obsidian is busy cracking away on games like Project Eternity, but its taking time out to help advise Allods on how to bring Skyforge to the rest of the world. Its a good example of what needs to be done to rethink games for the world stage.

We love Atlus here at Jetsetter. A lot. So, so much. And not just because of its recent hits like Persona 4 and Catherine. We love Atlus from way back, like when they were pumping out import-only Sega Saturn games like Purikura Daisakusen. So the news that Atlus parent company Index is not only under investigation for fraud, but may also have to declare bankruptcy was distressing. What will happen to Persona 5?! Since Atlus is one of the healthiest parts of Indexs business, with a host of popular IPs with global appeal, its likely that the studio will be acquired by another company rather than shuttering alongside the parent should it come to that.

Seriously, go play Purikura Daisakusen! And Super Valis IV for Super Nintendo! And all the other amazing stuff Atlus has been pumping out for the past few decades.

The rest is here:
Jetsetter: Australia, censorship, and the banning of ‘Saints Row IV’

"Think of the children! Censorship and young people online" by Professor Andy Phippen
ORGCon conferences: Professor Andy Phippen, an expert on the effect on young people of their use of new technology, talked about children #39;s exposure to #39;harm...

By: OpenRightsGroup

Read more here:
"Think of the children! Censorship and young people online" by Professor Andy Phippen - Video