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Despite not being there in person, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won big at Sunday nights Oscars, taking home Best Foreign Language Film for his movie The Salesman. Farhadis victory was broadcast on Iranian TV, but not without a few alterations; according to The Hollywood Reporter, at least one outlet decided that presenter Charlize Therons Oscars dress needed some touch-ups before it could be broadcast to the people.

But the digital wizards at the Iranian Labour News Agency didnt content themselves with a mere blurring of Therons body; instead, someone at the state-run agency attempted to take advantage of the relative immobility of Oscar presenters to add their own flair to her outfit, filling in long black sleeves and a high neckline with what looked like the black spray paint tool from MS Paint. The effect wasless than convincing, especially when Theronpresenting with Shirley MacLaineabruptly moved, forcing her dress to trail a few seconds behind her.

As displayed in a video by Facebooks My Stealthy Freedom, the censor team at ILNA later reverted to a simple censorship bar for Therons body. But they got a little creative again when Iranian-American engineer Anousheh Ansari took the stage to accept the award on Farhadis behalf. (The director boycotted the ceremony in protest of the policies of President Donald Trump.) Rather than editing out all of Ansaris pretty modest dress, they simply filled in one exposed bit of skin with blurring, resisting the urge to add some earrings or a new pattern of their own devising to her ensemble as they did.

For the record, heres what Theron and Ansari were both wearing Sunday night:

(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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Iranian TV censors got creative with Charlize Theron's Oscars dress - A.V. Club (blog)

North Koreans have gained unprecedented connectedness with greater access to media and devices like cellphones over Kim Jong Un's five-year rule. But private citizens' embrace of a state-controlled network has opened the way to unparalleled state censorship and surveillance in the long-isolated, totalitarian country.

A U.S.-government-funded report, released Wednesday, said technology is giving North Korean authorities "more modern forms of control" as they step up efforts to stop foreign content creeping in.

"North Korea not only demonstrates technological sophistication but also has the ability to dictate what devices their citizens use, and they have complete control over hardware and software that essentially no other country does," said Nat Kretchun, co-author of the report by the consulting group Intermedia.

While the global explosion of network communications and internet use over the past two decades has provided surveillance opportunities for both authoritarian and democratic governments, North Korea's case is unique. The communist government prohibits public access to the World Wide Web. Outside media trickles in, but with significant challenges.

The state's stranglehold over the flow of information was first subverted during a famine in the 1990s when informal markets emerged and citizens began trading with each other. For the past decade or more, outside digital devices and content have flowed into North Korea across the border from China, enabling people to watch forbidden content, typically South Korean and Chinese soap operas.

The Intermedia report, which is based on interviews with North Korean defectors, refugees and travelers, found more such information making its way in over the past five years, notwithstanding Kim's intensified efforts to stop it. He took power after his father's death in late 2011 and has cracked down on smuggling and illicit viewing of foreign media.

Nearly every segment of society, from the elite in Pyongyang to farmers in inland areas, has access at least to televisions and DVD players, the report found. North Koreans have shifted toward using thumb drives instead of compact discs as they can hold more content and are easier to hide and share.

Viewing outside content, rather than the stodgy fare of state broadcasters, is shaping people's behavior.

The report quoted a 22-year-old construction worker who defected in 2014 as saying that South Korean and Chinese dramas have made men more willing to voice their affection to women. He said men increasingly marry women they date rather than having arranged marriages.

The report also cites respondents who have more than one TV. One is fixed to the state TV channel and put on display in the house; the other is concealed and dedicated to South Korean programing.

The government is finding new methods of control. Kretchun said North Korea was taking steps on regulation of cellphones "to regain control of the information climate." It can do so without relying on internet service providers to spy on people in its network, as other governments might.

There are now more than 3 million cellphone users in the North Korea-only network that was established in 2008. The growth has allowed authorities that traditionally relied on human surveillance to gain "a far greater ability to monitor the communications of its citizens," the report found.

Authorities have tried to stop people sharing and viewing nonsanctioned media content on their phones, the report said. Around three years ago, authorities updated software used by all phones, making nonsanctioned media files unplayable.

North Korea also uses a program that records the browsing history on the user's SD data card, making it harder to conceal illicit content. While laptops and computers are less widespread, the operating system they use "watermarks" files, allowing authorities to track their origin.

In effect, North Korean devices are "completely compromised," Kretchun said, creating options for state surveillance and censorship "much more effective than just about anywhere else."

To call outside the country, North Koreans need illicit phones that can tap into Chinese networks along the nation's northern border. Limiting that option is now a priority for North Korea, the report found, and its technological capability to locate users has improved.

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As North Koreans use phones, state finds new ways to censor - ABC News

Ren Hang, the controversial Bejing photographer, has died at 29 of suicide.

Always provocative and often surreal, Hang featured his friends (and later his fans) nude. While his work was controversial in conservative China, it was revered worldwide. Like Ai Wei Wei, Ren Hang was on the front lines for expression in art in a China. The battle wasn't easy, and he was often censored and arrested for his explicit photographs.

Much of Hang's work is explicit (featuring erections, urine, and sexual acts), but on a broader spectrum he explored youth, sexuality, and nature in beautiful ways. Dwarfing nude human forms against monstrous Beijing architecture, or juxtaposing a sullen subject against milky waters, his work often feltethereal. While the focus of his critics was always been the explicit quality, he wasn't interested in discussing sex and gender. After being pressed on why he so heavily featured penises in a VICE interview, he responded: "Gender isnt important when Im taking pictures, it only matters to me when Im having sex.

Hang's perhaps most endearing quality was his humility and bluntness. He wasn't pretentious by any stretch of the imagination, casually shrugging off his controversies. I dont really view my work as taboo, because I dont think so much in cultural context, or political context." he said. "I dont intentionally push boundaries, I just do what I do."

In addition to being an acclaimed photographer, Ren Hang was also a poet. He documented his long-fought battle with depression on his website, sharing poems and stream-of-consciousness musings.

Ren Hang's arrests came from violating China's obscenity laws, shooting his subjects nude outside. He faced resistance throughout his career from arrests, his exhibitions in China getting cancelled, and his website being shut down twice.

His most recent collection spanning his entire, albeit brief, six year career was released just last month via Taschen. His long-time parter,Jiaqi, is featured on the cover.

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Ren Hang, one of China's most influencial and controversial photographers, has died at 29. - Daily Beast

... a nefarious assault by left-wing technocrats ...

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Left-wing technocrats have begun a nefarious assault on the First and FourthAmendment rights of conservative and right-wing media outlets. In truly cowardly fashion, socialist technocrats are now using divide and conquer methods to single out, and then gang up and try to destroy anyone or any website they disagree with. This is accomplished by essentially pulling the plug on targeted Internet content and potentially prioritizing news search content supporting the narrative in the news cycle that the leftists favor in their sole discretion. Of course all of this is certainly plausible given the political leanings of the people who run and, for the most part, work at Google.

Take, for, example, Natural News, which was recently delisted from the Google News index.

The website bills itself as a science-based natural health advocacy organization led by activist-turned-scientist Mike Adams, the Health Ranger.

The key mission of Natural News is to empower consumers with factual information about the synthetic chemicals, heavy metals, hormone disruptors and other chemicals found in foods, medicines, personal care products, childrens toys and other items.

Google techies have sought cover for delisting Adams popular website by alleging Natural Newsutilized a mobile application that was not approved. Their action essentially removed public access from thousands of pages of information and opinion via the Internet. Adams has complained that his site was delisted without any warning, and if true, this could be determined to be a violation of civil law and tortious business interference, and a violation of his FourthAmendment rights.

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Google, in what might seem as a plausible basis and defense for itsunilateral action, might seek to claim it hadsome form of user agreement in place with Adams and his enterprise. However, no agreement thatpurports to usurp the constitutional rights of any American is valid. In America, the last time I checked, nobody (including Google) can separate a citizen from his or herconstitutional rights via any contract or agreement, and any such agreement or contract determined to bedoing so shouldbe struck down in part or in its entirety by the courts.

Google initiated the assault on Natural News, which is extremely concerning given that millions of online articles and Facebook and Twitter posts also use links shortened with a Google technology that is also monitored and controlled by the company. And this could allow Google, in its sole discretion, to disable any such shortened links, or possibly worse, redirect those links to data that conflict with any published article, as opposed to supporting the article as intended by its author. This is a very serious concern for all media outlets regardless of political sway, since this same technique could be used at any time by anyone or group against any position or opinion expressed in any article on any website.

As an opinion writer and architect of one of the Internets first complex algorithms used for online greeting cards, I understand the ramifications of Googles actions, which must be immediately called into question by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

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Added to the ploy of delisting the pages of any site that Google, in its sole discretion, deems to violate rules italleges as cover for itsactions in this case, Google may have further modified its News search algorithm to give priority to leftist and Democratic-supporting websites and articles. The search algorithm mighthave not only delisted Natural News pages, but also integrated select meta data terms related to negativity toward the site, resulting in a News search result that is top-heavy with attacks on Adams and Natural News.

In fact, as I searched Google News for information about the delisting of Natural News, the top stories that appeared in the search results were all from leftist websites who condemned Adams and the content on Natural News. The search result seemed to have stacked all of the anti-Adams stories on top, a programming trick that can also be time-enabled for a day to two and then suddenly disappear once the news cycle has been dominated (tainted) with the desired narrative, in this case, berating and disparaging Adams and Natural News. Regardless of what his opinions are, and whether or not anyone agrees with him or not, nobody has the right to muzzle his FirstAmendment rights, especially not Google.

Some articles I found using Google News search were going as far as to allege that Natural News and Mike Adams made claims for medical treatments and cures that were false, as well as posing many different conspiracy theories. That said, Adams has like most other websites that offer medical opinions (WebMD, etc.), conspiracy theories, far-ranging religious beliefs, etc. a disclaimer on his pages thatcovers the statements and or claims and opinions that are expressed at his site:

The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind.

This seemingly prioritized attack by many leftist bloggers seems cooperatively timed and executed with Googles claim that Natural News employed some sort of illicit mobile application.

Any company such as Google, operating on a public domain (the Internet), should not be allowed to unilaterally and arbitrarily interfere with any other private enterprise operating over the Internet without public oversight. That power should reside only with the oversight of an independent publicly governed watchdog, as we have with the Federal Communications Commission and the Consumer Protection Agency, not Google, Facebook or Twitter.

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What we see with this action against Natural News by Google is little more than a plausible scheme to effectively shut down, without any due process under the FourthAmendment, the livelihood of a mans business and an information/entertainment portal that his millions of readers seem to enjoy, even if some of the opinions and claims are questionable to others.

Google should be taken to task immediately by the attorney general and brought into question as to its action, which sets a very dangerous precedent for the First and FourthAmendment rights of citizens operating websites on the Internet, at least in America.

The views expressed in this opinion article are solely those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.

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Internet Censorship: Google and Liberal Media Gang Up On Natural ... - Western Journalism

The European Parliament is introducing a new rule set to curb hate speech, cutting live debate feeds and removing video/audio traces of offensive remarks. A fierce backlash from press and MEPs has critics accusing the EU Parliament of censorship.

The new rule would let the chair of a debate cut a live feed from the parliament in the case of defamatory, racist or xenophobic language or behavior by a member, also imposing a $9,500 fine on the offender. Remarks deemed offensive could also be erased from the audiovisual record of proceedings.

The step apparently aims to tackle racist remarks by far-right members of the EU parliament. For instance last year, Eleftherios Synadinos, an MEP for Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party, was expelled from the parliament after calling Turks dirty and polluted and comparing them to wild dogs.

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Some MEPs agree that far-right rhetoric can go over the top at the parliament.

There have been a growing number of cases of politicians saying things that are beyond the pale of normal parliamentary discussion and debate, said Richard Corbett, a UK MEP who backed the new rule, according to AP.

What if this became not isolated incidents, but specific, where people could say: Hey, this is a fantastic platform. It's broad, it's live-streamed. It can be recorded and repeated. Let's use it for something more vociferous, more spectacular, he added.

The latest step wasnt made public and triggered a massive backlash by the press representatives and MEPs, with many of them questioning if the latest measure could amount to censorship.

This undermines the reliability of the Parliament's archives at a moment where the suspicion of fake news and manipulation threatens the credibility of the media and the politicians, Tom Weingaertner, president of the Brussels-based International Press Association, told AP.

Many journalists and MEPs took to Twitter to vent over the latest development.

It should be noted that the issue was on the table as early as last December. Back then Gerolf Annemans, an MEP from Vlaams Belang, Belgium's Flemish independence party, voiced his concern that the measure could be abused by those who have hysterical reactions to things that they qualify as racist, xenophobic, when people are just expressing politically incorrect views, as cited by AP.

Some of the MEPs voiced more balanced views, with German deputy Helmut Scholz saying that EU lawmakers are chosen to speak out on the state of Europe, adding that one can't limit or deny this right. At the same time, he said a tool was needed to tackle Nazi shouts and racists remarks.

We need an instrument against that, to take it out of the record, to stop distribution of such slogans, such ideas, Scholz argued.

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Critics accuse European Parliament of censorship over 'kill switch' to cut racist remarks - RT