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By Sisi Wei, ProPublica, Dec. 17, 2014

Every day since Nov. 17, 2014, ProPublica has been testing whether the homepages of international news organizations are accessible to browsers inside China. Of the 18 in our test, 9 are currently blocked. Below are the results. To test, we use GreatFire.org, a censorship monitoring service in China that launched in 2011. Methodology

Hover over the graphic to see dates. Click on a date to see more details.

Our automated tests run shortly after midnight U.S. Eastern Time, which is 1 p.m. in Beijing. They run on up to eight servers in separate locations in China, and can return one of four results:

ProPublica will continue to monitor news sites daily, and may add additional news sites in the future. Know a site we should add? E-mail Sisi Wei at sisi.wei@propublica.org.

Additional design and development by Lena Groeger, Mike Tigas and Yue Qiu.

ProPublica, with permission, used data from GreatFire.org, a free service that anybody can use to test if a website is accessible within China. Its pseudonymous founders are activists who created the site to highlight online censorship in China.

GreatFire.org runs tests only upon request. Historical test results are therefore not necessarily available every day. On Nov. 17, 2014, ProPublica began initiating daily tests for 15 international news sites, and on Dec. 5, we added three more sites for testing. We plan to continue testing and updating this database every day for the foreseeable future.

We chose the 18 sites in our test because of their status as internationally important news sites or because theyve recently run stories that led them to be blocked inside China. We are able to add more sites to the database. If you think you know a site we should be testing, let us know by emailing sisi.wei@propublica.org.

The most accurate test of censorship is conducted inside the censoring country, but doing so comes with a variety of risks. Continual attempts to visit blocked sites are detectable by the local authorities, and can therefore be dangerous political activity. ProPublica has spent the last year attempting to perfect a way to test censorship around the world using computers inside each censoring country. We have not yet found a testing method that would ensure participants safety, though we continue to look for a solution. In the meantime, were using the GreatFire service already available inside China.

Go here to read the rest:
Inside the Firewall: Tracking the News That China Blocks

The newly-released iPad port ofPapers, Please, Lucas Popes dystopian bureaucracy simulator, has had its pixelated nudity restored after Apple rolled back itsinitial kibosh, according to a tweet from Pope.

The 2013 game casts you as a border control agent for the fictional country of Arstotzka. As the game goes on, the rules governing whom you can and cannot allow into the country grow increasingly complicated, as do the means at your disposal for determining who is eligible. One of the tools added later in the game is a full body scanner, much like thosecontroversially instituted by the TSAin American airports in recent years. The scan is used to check for smuggled contraband.

Related:Have a bureaucratic holiday: Papers, Please coming to iPads on December 12

In the original game, a menu option toggles whether the people are revealed in their underwear or fully nude. When the game was submitted by Pope for iPad, Apple originally rejected the feature as a violation of the companys pornography policy, forcing Pope to remove the option.

Through subsequent conversations Pope was able to convince the censors otherwise. The feature has since been reinstated via an update, and can now be turned on from the options menu. The games rating has also been accordingly bumped up to 17+.

Papers, Please is available now for iPad only through the iOS App Store for $8.

Continue reading here:
Apple reverses censorship of pixelated nudity in iPad game Papers, Please

After terrorist threats against moviegoers, Sony has canceled its Christmas Day release of "The Interview," starring Seth Rogan and James Franco.

Marcus theaters said they respect Sony's decision not to release the movie.

"The Interview" is a comedy about a U.S. government plot to kill North Korea's leader. North Korea didn't find it funny. Then came terrorist threats from hackers and Sony canceled a Christmas Day release after major theater operators said they wouldn't show it.

Milwaukee-area movie producer, screenwriter and actor Jeff Gendelman said he respects the theater owners decision to put safety first, but is concerned about censorship.

You know, here in America, we're free, and now we're letting other people tell us what we should or should not see. And that is a problem, Gendelman said.

Gendelman said he suspects the film will be more popular than ever when it's finally released. WISN 12 News reporter Terry Sater also talked to movie goers.

Obviously, we live in a country where typically it's not smiled upon to cower to terrorist threats, that kind of thing. But at the same time I don't think it's really worth it to risk public lives over a movie that critics said wasn't really supposed to be that funny, Henry Hammond said.

The world isn't what it was 30 years ago, and you have to be realistic about that, Kirstin Roble said.

You don't want to cause uproar. There's so many different things going on the world that you don't want to cause a stir in the world. You just don't want to cause problems, Tyler Schaller said.

After all, it's just a movie. It's just a movie, Ben Cheesman said.

Link:
Local movie producer concerned about censorship after Sony pulls film

Rich of ReviewTechUSA - Loot Crate Is Pro Censorship (Dec 15 2014)
Basically Rich got dropped from Loot Crate for his Feminazi video he made a week ago. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXK9YTLc7NM) Rich ended up removing this video as soon as he uploaded.

By: FANtomCore

Link:
Rich of ReviewTechUSA - Loot Crate Is Pro Censorship (Dec 15 2014) - Video

Intrigue piles upon intrigue in the Chinese online TV world right now, as top U.S. shows are banned from online streaming sites but are being lined up to re-appear on the state broadcaster CCTV.

So fiendish are the twists and turns of the story so far that it would not be out of place among the fleshpots and ultraviolent warriors of the HBO series Game of Thrones, which, incredibly, aired on Chinas national broadcaster CCTV on Sunday.

Webizens are wailing and gnashing their teeth over a government decision to pull The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, The Good Wife and The Practice from online streaming sites. They are calling it the latest attack on free speech, and poignantly asking for the return of Sheldon, one of Big Bang Theorys most beloved stars in China.

However, this may really be all about business and re-imposing state control.

As Game of Thrones Cersei Lannister would put it: You win or you die."

They are showing Game of Thrones and yet Big Bang Theory isnt safe. Something is wrong with that, a senior source at an online TV company, who requested anonymity, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Until now, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has allowed video websites to operate with few of the restrictions imposed on movies or TV, as it tries to encourage a high-tech industry where China has opportunities to lead the field.

Online companies such as Youku, Tencent and Sohu have operated with far more freedom to show edgy material, such asThe Walking DeadandHouse of Cards, than the traditional media, such as TV and cinema. Its long been baffling how the government allows shows likeHouse of Cards, particularly the second season, which had a storyline critical of Chinese government corruption.

As reported inThe Hollywood Reporterearlier this month, SAPPRFT said it was planning to increase censorship of foreign content .

The regulators have been working on proper regulations since 2009. I firmly believe that the government will leave enough room for us and the online TV content providers. We provide lots of revenues for them, said the source.

Read the original:
Harsher Censorship or Cunning Plot? Confusion Reigns Over Chinese Online TV Bans