MetaFilter posts tagged with censor

An Unlikely Couple

Sova — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:42:09 -0800

In 1771, John Wilkes succeeded in defending the freedom of the press to report the then secret debates of Parliament. In 2009, the well-known libel law firm Carter-Ruck, possibly acting on behalf of their clients Trafigura, succeeded in gagging The Guardian newspaper from reporting a question to be asked in Parliament (see #61). The possible identification of the question - and thus the company - was "tentatively" made by Guido Fawkes shortly after the existence of the gagging order was made public. However, it is not surprising given Trafigura's history of vigorously defending against claims that it knowingly dumped toxic waste in Ivory Coast.

One giant leap for Chinese Internet Censorship

allkindsoftime — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:18:05 -0800

Chinese news site dispense with user anonymity. Includes an updated list of sites China actively blocks, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International (?!? - both links work only outside of China). prev

Whack-a-mole

infini — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:03:27 -0800

With the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on Thursday, China's ever-vigilant censors have stepped up the reach of the "Great Firewall," blocking Western sites like Twitter, Flickr, and (just one day after its launch) Microsoft's Bing. via The blocked sites include Twitter, Flickr and Microsoft’s Hotmail, according to the Telegraph. FoxNews added The Huffington Post, Life Journal and the MSN Spaces blogging tool to the list. BBC viewers in China also saw their screens black out when the news service broadcast stories about the anniversary, and foreign news crews have been barred from filming in the square. Readers of the Financial Times and Economist magazine found stories about Tiananmen ripped from their pages. Authorities also plan to begin cracking down on unapproved internet cafes, according to reports from state media. via

Viddy well, little brother. Viddy well.

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:05:48 -0800

The Return of a Clockwork Orange - Writers, artists, directors, UK film censors and starring actor Malcolm McDowell discuss Stanley Kubrick's classic film A Clockwork Orange

Skype working with China Censor

priorpark17 — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 00:27:44 -0800

FT Report Oh dear, I had high hopes that Skype would hold out. Still, I guess they are telling us. Can anyone find the list of banned words in the TOM client?

Google Images Censored in China

FeldBum — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:11:06 -0800

Google Images Censored in China A picture says 1000 words, and Google.cn is censoring them all. Check out the side-by-side screens of a search for "tiananmen+square" in Google.com and Google.cn images. Looks like a nice place, with little historical significance. You can try the search yourself. The text on the bottom left is the censorship disclaimer. Very different than our results. A far cry from Google's claim that they do not censor results. Nice to know that they stand up to the government here but not abroad.

A good spoof of the whole thing.

Weblogs without Censors

riffraff — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 10:11:49 -0800

Reporters Without Borders releases a free handbook for would-be bloggers and cyber-dissidents in censor-happy lands. It features tips on blogging anonymously, ways to get around censorship and to ensure your e-mail privacy, and hosts an Internet-censor World Championship list (which lists China, Vietnam, and Tunisia, among others) as well. Download the guide here. (PDF)

Spongebob joins an all-star cast

u.n. owen — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 10:30:46 -0800

Spongebob is pointed at as causing moral decay today. But the idea of blaming animated characters for societal ills is nothing new. The 1934 Production Code changed the scantily-clad Betty Boop into a wholesome girl. Racial stereotyping dominated cartoons of the 1940s. The Flintstones even shilled for Winston cigarettes. Should cartoon characters reflect the morals of cartoon watchers?

Another EPA report gets

crookdimwit — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 10:53:59 -0800

More environmental data goes down the memory hole... Another EPA report gets "edited" by the White House to minimize warnings about climate change and the contributing factors of industrial and automotive emissions. Data from a 2001 report on climate by the National Research Council commissioned by by White House is omitted in favor of research data funded by the American Petroleum Institute. Behold the best government money can buy...

KLAX — Tue, 27 Nov 2001 19:00:16 -0800

"Movie Mask Player is software that gives you the choice to watch any movie at your comfort level. If you don't want to hear profanity, view graphic violence, or see nudity or sexual content in the movies you watch, then mask (remove) those scenes with Movie Mask. You are now in control over the movies you choose to watch." I can't wait to see what it does to the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan."

Postroad — Fri, 23 Nov 2001 10:29:39 -0800

'Tell Them Nothing Till It's Ovber and Then Tell Them Who Won' Governmental and military censorship of battle news. Is it necessary to winning?

signal — Fri, 28 Sep 2001 09:42:42 -0800

I was watching "The Craft" last night, and noticed that they censored the image of Robin Tunney's parents' plane going down (actually a Glamour, but you know that), and later Nieve Campbell's character says "you know the [silence]", they actually cut out the words "plane crash". Has anybody else noticed this kind of censorship? Would anybody have been really shocked to hear Nieve say "plane crash"? Do you think the WB would've been swamped with calls? It's bad enough what they did to homer or what the geniuses at clear channel are doing. Good movie, though.

plinth — Mon, 04 Jun 2001 06:54:32 -0800

Censoring Cartoons and in effect, censoring my childhood. Without a doubt, some of these cartoons are racist, but I'd prefer that they not be shown rather than cut up. Other cuts just don't make sense to me.