Category Archives: Censorship

U.S. Role in the World

Across the world, internet users remain concerned probably increasingly so about what it might mean to lose control over their personal information online. In the United States, these fears may translate into efforts to make personal data more secure and even less permanent, through efforts such as the Do Not Track movement and advocacy tore-examinedated policies about email privacy.In China, where the governments surveillance and control over the internet is arguably peerless, users are of course concerned about privacy but also about the government erasing their accounts and data forever.

Recently in The Guardian, Chinese author Murong Xuecun wrote about the experience of having his social media accounts deleted by the Chinese government because of his views and writing. (Helen Gao, a friend and China-based writer who contributed to one of my previous blog posts translated it.) Ive highlighted a few of his observations about Chinas internet censorship below, and I highly suggest reading the whole article:

Almost every department and dignitary can order internet companies to delete information and accounts while they themselves hide in the dark. Seeing speeches that trigger their ire, they can make them disappear for ever by simply picking up the telephone receiver.

Netizens often compare being silenced on the Chinese internet to being put to death, and registering a new account is likened to reincarnation. Most Weibo [a Twitter-like service in China] users are familiar with the term the Reincarnation party. It has come to symbolise peoples resistance and struggle against censors. Every member of the party shares the same experience: being killed, and reincarnated; killed again, reincarnated again.The record-holder is a user named Repair. As of 13 May, she has reincarnated 418 times. If she is unable to use that name, she will become Re-pair, Repare or ReIpair.

My next reincarnation is going to be more difficult. The Chinese government makes sure its internet technology keeps pace with the times, which leaves me effectively no loophole to exploit. On the morning of 13 May, I attempted to re-register on Weibo, and after an hour of typing almost 30 versions of verification codes, I still couldnt get registered. My IP address, which is static, has been blocked. Registering a new account would require a verification code to be sent to a mobile number. I have only one mobile phone, which has similarly been blocked.

Murong Xuecuns experience paints a picture of an internet that defies dissidents workaround solutions and where the government and users are trying to out-innovate one another. For me, the issue of Chinese internet freedom is interesting for two reasons. One, it raises the question of how the Chinese government will handle dissent and protest as the country continues to evolve socially and economically right now, incidents like these seem to suggest that the government is hoping for a very literal version of the more things change, the more they stay the same adage.

Second, when it comes to internet issues more broadly, Chinas internet is unique in the scope of its control and the manpower the government puts behind this project (possibly up to 100,000 workers, according to The Economist). The party has achieved something few had thought possible: the construction of a distinct national internet, an April Economist article argues, making the case that China challenges the view that the internet facilitates democracy (Evgeny Morozov and Rebecca MacKinnon are also well worth reading on this point).

As the censorship issue continues to be battled out on Chinas computers, tensions between the U.S. and China over cyberattacks loom large, making it unlikely that internet freedom and human rights issues will come to play a prominent role on the bilateral cyberissues agenda.

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Internet Censorship in China

By Paul Mozur

Beginning early Friday morning, users of Sina Corp. s massively popular Weibo microblog were able to search for information about one of the most sensitive incidents in recent Chinese history: the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

In a serious shift of censorship tactics just days ahead of the anniversary of the governments bloody June 4, 1989 crackdown on protestors in Tiananmen, Sina appears to have begun to allow searches for terms associated with the highly sensitive event. But instead of turning up content related to the incident, searches yield results that have nothing to do with the protests or the governments heavy-handed response.

The move represents a significant jump in the sophistication of censorship capabilities of the company, according to Greatfire.org, an organization that monitors Chinese censorship and first reported on the change in tactics on Friday.

Companies like Sina and Tencent Holdings Ltd. that run microblogs are left to censor content on their own by the Chinese government, according to analysts. The government only acts when it decides too much sensitive information is getting through the companies censors, as happened last year when Beijing suspended the commenting function on the two companies microblogs after rumors of a coup in Beijing spread across the Internet.

In the past, searches for most sensitive results returned an error message or a notice informing users that results could not be displayed due to government regulations. For those sensitive terms that could be searched, a filtered list of results from roughly a week in the past would be displayed.

Now Sina seems to have the capability to return a cleaned up list of search results of posts put up within an hour, a significant technological jump according to Greatfire.org. The effect is that users searching for sensitive terms are more likely to believe posters are actively discussing the subject, but not saying anything controversial.

On Friday, a China Real Time search for Tiananmen Incident did not return the customary message from Sina informing the user that search results could not be displayed due to relevant laws, regulations and policies. Instead the search returned results about a separate Tiananmen incident that occurred on Tomb Sweeping Day in 1976, when Beijing residents flooded the area to protest after they were prevented from mourning the recently deceased Premiere Zhou Enlai.

That incident led to the purge of Deng Xiaoping, who deemed the protests an act of patriotism when he returned to power in 1978.

Searches for other Tiananmen-related terms like the date 6/4 turn up only posts that incidentally make use of the date without referring in any way to the 1989 protests and killings.

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On Eve of Tiananmen Anniversary, a Major Censorship Shift

Woolwich Muslim Terrorist attack - Keeping Canada free from UK Censorship
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By: jblackrupert

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Woolwich Muslim Terrorist attack - Keeping Canada free from UK Censorship - Video

Anthony Chen's "Ilo Ilo" is the first Singaporean feature to win a major award at Cannes.

The Singaporean government on Tuesday introduced new measures designed to control Internet news sites that report regularly on the city-states politics and current affairs. The move has led to a wave of criticism from local media outlets and opposition political groups, which have labeled the measures regressive and harmful to the territorys already curtailed press freedoms. The regulations will initially affect 10 news sites that cover Singapore, including a site owned and operated by Yahoo and several outlets run by two local media groups with ties to the Singaporean government.

The new rules, introduced by Singapores Media Development Authority, require that the sites apply for individual licenses, which will be renewed annually. The sites will then need to pay a performance bond of about $40,000 (50,000 Singaporean dollars) and are required to remove any content deemed objectionable within 24 hours. The censorship framework is an extension of existing regulations for all Internet sites in the country, which ban any content perceived as offensive to morality, state security, public interest and social harmony.

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Many observers expect that the regulatory regime will soon be broadened to apply to additional local news sites, as the rules are loosely defined as applying to all sites that report on Singapore at least once a week and receive a minimum 50,000 unique visitors a month from within the city-state.

A government minister told local press that the MDA plans to pass laws next year to include overseas sites that report on Singapore under the new licensing requirements.

"We are not in a position to respond until we receive the actual license conditions for review," Alan Soon, Yahoo's Singapore country manager, said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.

Alex Au, a prominent local political blogger, told the Journal that new laws will have a chilling effect on the online media," since regulators will be able to issue censorship requests without transparency or public scrutiny.

In public statements made Wednesday, opposition parties Singapore Democratic Party and National Solidarity Party called the new regulations a regressive move that will hamper the development of the local media industry.

Singapore has been run by a single party -- the Peoples Action Party -- since 1959. In the 2011 Singapore general election, the PAP won 81 of the 87 contested seats in the Singaporean parliament. Despite its repressive grip on local media, the PAP has been credited with steering the country into a period of widespread wealth and prosperity. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group last year, one in six Singaporean households have disposable private wealth of over $1 million, excluding property, businesses holdings and luxury goods.

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Singapore Broadens Censorship of Online News

Scooby Doo - Necessary censorship Part 2

By: Denocle

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Scooby Doo - Necessary censorship Part 2 - Video

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topless beach youtube censorship, loud obnoxious kids sun 31 mar 2013 George Godley Tenerife - Video

Ever seen YT censorship like this?
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By: BEHOLD MEDIA

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Ever seen YT censorship like this? - Video

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By: #9992; #9835; hearts; #13025; WORLD RECORD MULTI DAILY VLOG LIFELOG -george godley

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youtube censorship paranoya Mediterranean Palace Tenerife sat 30 mar 2013 George Godley 310 - Video

Al Jazeera accused of self-censorship following withdrawal of article accused of anti-Semitism
Qatar-based Al Jazeera has been criticised over its decision to remove a controversial article posted on its website amid claims the story was "anti-Jewish" ...

By: Jewish News One

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Al Jazeera accused of self-censorship following withdrawal of article accused of anti-Semitism - Video

A world of SOPA, PIPA CISPA, ACTA, TPP, ITU, UN Internet Censorship
Mirrored. To find the original channel source, please look for the same video title. It will likely be the first search result. Many users also have very hel...

By: ZeroPermissionTwo

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A world of SOPA, PIPA CISPA, ACTA, TPP, ITU, UN Internet Censorship - Video