Category Archives: Censorship

MOSCOW Russian director Nikolai Dostal has accused the state-run TV channel Rossiya of censoring out profanities and sex scenes from his TV miniseries Shtrafbat (The Penal Battalion),which recently was re-aired by the station.

In a letter sent to Oleg Dobrodeyev, head of the state television group VGTRK, which runs Rossiya, Dostal complained of arbitrary and illegal censorship of the miniseries, which is focused on a penal battalion during the Second World War.

STORY:Head of Russian Film Production Company Detained

According to Dostal, all expletives were excised from the miniseries, including a song sung by criminals. It is common knowledge that at the war, profanities were used a lot, and in the [miniseries], words of that kind are to be heard rarely, plus not the strongest ones, and they are said by criminals, he said, defending his use of strong language in the series.

The director added that a sex scene in one of the episodes was shortened, and another scene, in which a man from the penal battalion rapes a Russian girl, was cut so dramatically that the rape seems to have not happened. Dostal complained that the cut had an impact on the storys further events, making them look less motivated.

I understand that you [Oleg Dobrodeyev] didnt do it personally and probably you didnt give direct orders to do it, Dostal observed, adding that he still feels ashamed for this kind of crude, petty and hypocritical censorship on the part of the station.

The re-airing of the series occurred at a time when some deputies of the State Duma, the lower chamber of Russian parliament, were calling for a ban on profanity in Russian films and TV programs. Legislation was, in fact, passed earlier this year banning profane language in the media.

The Penal Battalionwaswas originally commissioned by Rossiya and premiered in 2004. It was later re-aired several times in its original, uncut version.

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Russian Director Nikolai Dostal Accuses Local TV Channel of Censorship

Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) June 27, 2013

idcloak Technologies has released two free tools for bypassing Google search censorship. Google is required by certain countries to filter out politically sensitive keyphrases from search results. The only way users from these countries may see the hidden results is by accessing Google through a remote computer. These computers are known as proxies.

idcloak offers two different types of Google proxy. Each is best suited for different conditions, as idcloaks Robin Welles explains, First, we have the Google proxy list, a customizable database of public IP proxies from over a hundred countries around the globe. These are great for regular anonymization tasks against, since they require no user action once set up. They are also the best option for beating high-grade censorship because they carry no content that can betray they are providing a proxy service.

The second unblocker service released by idcloak is the site-based web proxy. Welles says this is a much simpler and user-friendly service that performs all basic proxy tasks. You use the proxy through a webpage-based interface. Because you dont need to configure your network settings, its ideal for anyone with low computer skills or those carrying out one-off anonymization tasks. Some censorship filters will block access to the page, however, meaning users will then either need to switch to IP proxies or invest in a VPN.

There is of course some danger that entering politically sensitive search terms might bring unwanted attention on a user. Asked about which of idcloaks two free proxy services were safest for political research, Welles sided with the web proxy.

The most important thing is to have Google encrypted on top of its standard https connection, and both the web proxy and IP proxies will do this. But perhaps the web proxy is the safer of the two services as it additionally allows you to encrypt the page before it enters the encrypted tunnel.

Some skeptics also doubt the trustworthiness of IP proxies: One problem peculiar to IP proxies is that they are public and nobody knows who administers them. Theoretically, even government censors could be setting up the proxy and using it to monitor search traffic. Our webpage-based proxy, on the other hand, is administered in-house, and we have our users trust.

To learn more, visit http://www.idcloak.com. The Dallas-based firm provides free censorship circumvention services and knowledge.

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Google Proxies Tunnel Out Of Search Censorship

Aruling bya court inthe central Russian town ofUlyanovsk ordering astate-run Internet provider toblock access to15 websites, including those oftwo prominent national newspapers, has sparked fears ofa broader campaign ofInternet censorship inthe country.

Two ofthe blocked websites, Gazeta.ru andKomsomolskaya Pravda, are among thetop 10 news websites inRussia. Thetwo media outlets said they had not been notified ofthe court hearings or theverdict they learned about it fromtheir readers andtherefore were unable todefend themselves.

Local prosecutors said ina statement Wednesday that theruling was based onthe presence onthe websites ofarticles explaining theintricacies ofgiving abribe inRussia andhow toescape prosecution afterward.

Prosecutors emphasized that thecourt ruling had not ordered whole websites tobe blocked but only specific pages containing theillicit information. Internet provider Rostelecom made thedecision toblock thesites themselves, going beyond thecourt's instructions, they said.

Rostelecom, which is one offour Internet providers inUlyanovsk, told Vedomosti that it blocked theentire websites because it did not have thetechnical capability toblock specific pages andthat thecourt ruling did not specify particular pages totarget anyway.

Federal Mass Media Inspection Service spokesman Vladimir Pikov told thenewspaper that his agency was surprised that thewebsites were blocked, since according toa recently enacted Internet censorship law, media outlets cannot be blocked.

InJuly oflast year, President Vladimir Putin signed thecensorship bill, which allows thefederal government toset up aregistry ofblacklisted websites containing child pornography, content promoting drug use andextremism, andother resources ruled illegal inRussia.

While bribery is acriminal offense inRussia, it is not specifically mentioned inthe bill.

"We expected this tohappen," said Galina Arapova, director ofthe enter forProtection ofMedia Rights. "The legislation is so vague andlacks any technical regulation."

Intheir statement, prosecutors did not identify theweb pages that they wanted blocked. Komsomolskaya Pravda said it found asarcastic article titled "On How toGive andReceive Bribes inthe Right Way" published more than adecade ago, while Gazeta.ru was unable tofind thelikely culprit.

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Blockage of Major News Websites Raises Censorship Fears

Smackdown #39;s Unnecessary Censorship
On tonight #39;s edition of unnecessary censorship. Randy Orton.

By: DJREELdotcom

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Smackdown's Unnecessary Censorship - Video

Singularities and cosmic censorship in general relativity - Part 1: Q A (Mihalis Dafermos)
Questions and answers session from the mini-series "Infinities and Cosmology" from the "Philosophy of Cosmology" project. A University of Oxford and Cambridg...

By: PhilosophyCosmology

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Singularities and cosmic censorship in general relativity - Part 1: Q

Diarmaid Ferriter: JFK, censorship and the value of history
UCD #39;s Professor of Modern History #39;s weekly discussion with Tom.

By: Newstalk106108fm

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Diarmaid Ferriter: JFK, censorship and the value of history - Video

NRA Shirt Resurfacing after Unconstitutional Censorship?
Faith Freedom: 6/20/13) Mat Staver and Matt Barber talk about Liberty Counsel #39;s involvement in the case of the student in trouble for wearing a pro-NRA T-...

By: Liberty Counsel

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NRA Shirt Resurfacing after Unconstitutional Censorship? - Video

Censorship and controlling ideas in the classroom: Dr. Yvonne Chiu at TEDxHongKongED
Can too much information too soon actually be harmful to students? Is there some value to censoring ideas in the classroom? If so, what does censorship mean ...

By: TEDxTalks

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Censorship and controlling ideas in the classroom: Dr. Yvonne Chiu at TEDxHongKongED - Video

Jimmy Kimmel - This Week In Unnecessary Censorship
6/20/13 Thursday #39;s weekly Tribute the FCC where things get bleeped or blurred whether they need it or not.

By: David Hudson

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Jimmy Kimmel - This Week In Unnecessary Censorship - Video

The impulse to protect our children is universal and for so long now filtering or blocking certain Internet sites has been a part of that. There are strong justifications for this, of course. While the Internet is a valuable tool for both information and communication, there is much that it offers is of no value to anyone and considerable potential harm. Why would we want our children or anyone for that matter to be exposed to sites that could confuse them morally or make them potential victims of stalking or exploitation? There are horror stories told worldwide about young people who have become the victims of cyber bullying, which in some extreme cases has cost them their lives. Can we not reap the benefits of Internet technology without allowing these potentially devastating influences? The problem is not with the concept of protecting our children because, of course, that is our job but in the fact that our attempts at protection may come at the cost of a canny ability to navigate todays technological world, which for better or for worse we have entered. Two decades ago, the idea that practically every school child would have easy access to a mobile phone with all the features of a powerful computer and media outlet would have seemed laughable. Today this is a reality. Sometimes it seems that children are actually the most adept at using new technology! Have you ever noticed how youth under the age of 20 seldom need to consult a manual to operate their smart devices? They just pick them up and seem to know instantly what to do with them. They have, potentially, more power to connect and find information than any other generation of young people has ever had. In light of this, our attempts to control that information are clumsy and backward. Given that the tide of information is not only at our door but has engulfed us, starting with the young generation, would it not be best if we tried to ensure that they know how to swim? The energy that they may even now be spending in devising ways to overcome firewalls may better be devoted to finding their way in the sea of information. Given that all cell phones now come with photo and digital capabilities, it is time for young people to develop their own sense and discretion about what information they choose to share and with whom. Similarly, viewing content of a questionable moral or political nature will not corrupt people who have their own strong values and sense of identity, but they must be taught these values in the context of all that they may encounter. Shelter them too much, and they will not have the capacity to deal with the influx of information that will, I believe, inevitably make its way to them, by legal means or otherwise. We did not ask to be born in this time when the Internet permeates our lives as a largely lawless and ungovernable frontier. But since we are living in these times and our children will never know a world without Internet technology, we have to get to know the lay of the land and develop our own defenses. I believe that this is best done on the level of the individual or family, as government censorship is clumsy, heavy-handed and unable to move with the times. By learning to protect ourselves and our children on an individual level, we can come out of it stronger and as better informed citizens of our country, our world and our time.

Email: saudipulse@arabnews.com

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Net censorship may backfire counterproductive