Censorship by govt. legistation vs. ban by petition in video games.
It #39;s been long overdue, but better to be late than never. ESRB #39;s Principles and Guidelines in censoring games: http://www.esrb.org/ratings/principles_guidelines.jsp CERO #39;s Rating System and...
By: Homer Ruglia Beoulve
Original post:
Censorship by govt. legistation vs. ban by petition in video games. - Video
Government censorship of the internet is a cat-and-mouse game. And despite more aggressive tactics in recent months, the cats have been largely frustrated while the mice wriggle away.
But this year, the challenges for Silicon Valley will mount, with Russia and Turkey in particular trying to tighten controls on foreign-based internet companies. Major American companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google are increasingly being put in the tricky position of figuring out which laws and orders to comply with around the world - and which to ignore or contest.
On Wednesday, Russia's president, Vladimir V Putin, signed the latest version of a personal data law that will require companies to store data about Russian users on computers inside the country, where it will be easier for the government to get access to it. With few companies expected to comply with the law, which goes into effect September 1, a confrontation may well erupt.
The clumsiness of current censorship efforts was apparent in mid-December, when Russia's internet regulator demanded that Facebook remove a page that was promoting an anti-government rally. After Facebook blocked the page for its 10 million or so Russian users, dozens of copycat pages popped up and the word spread on other social networks like Twitter. That created even more publicity for the planned January 15 event, intended to protest the sentencing of Aleksei A Navalny, a leading opposition figure.
Anton Nosik, a prominent Russian blogger whose work has been censored by regulators, said it was absurd for a government to think it could easily stamp out an article or video when it can be copied or found elsewhere with a few clicks. "The reader wants to see what he was prevented from seeing," Nosik said in an interview. "All that blocking doesn't work."
Instead, that prompted the government to switch tactics, moving Navalny's sentencing to December 30 with little notice in an attempt to diminish protests.
The Turkish government faced similar embarrassment when it tried to stop the dissemination of leaked documents and audio recordings on Twitter in March. The administration of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was then prime minister and is now president, ordered the shutdown of Twitter within Turkey after the company refused to block the posts, which implicated government officials in a corruption investigation.
Not only did the government lose a court fight on the issue, but while Twitter was blocked, legions of Turkish users taught one another technical tricks to evade the ban, even spray-painting the instructions on the walls of buildings.
"We all became hackers," Asli Tunc, a professor of communication at Istanbul Bilgi University, said in a phone interview. "And we all got on Twitter."
Despite such victories for free-speech advocates, governments around the world are stepping up their efforts to control the internet, escalating the confrontation.
Original post:
Web freedom is seen as a growing global issue
Shanghai, Jan 3:
Chinese officials in Shanghai have erected a wall of censorship on news related to the deadly New Years Eve stampede as they fear losing their jobs for failing to take preventive security measures to avert the tragedy, a media report today said.
Authorities have brought down a wall of strict censorship on local coverage of the tragedy of the deadly stampede as questions mount over how such a tragedy could have occurred in Chinas wealthiest and best-managed city, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
The censorship was unprecedented and harsh and officials were worried that they could be blamed for the stampede that killed at least 36 people, the Post report said.
Relatives and victims were under close police guard and local and overseas media were told to seek Shanghai propaganda department permission to speak to the injured, it said.
The Communist Partys propaganda department in Shanghai has issued several notices to local media in the past two days, instructing them on various issues, ranging from the scale of coverage and use of photos to interview protocols, according to three senior journalists.
It seems ridiculous that local newspapers were instructed not to use photos showing people mourning for the dead victims, it quoted a senior newspaper editor as saying.
Many district officials and police fear that they were likely to lose their jobs over the incident.
A lot of heads will roll because the tragedy had infuriated state leaders, an official said.
The incident was expected to have political ramifications as the Shanghai branch of the Communist Party of China (CPC) plays an influential role at the centre.
Read the original here:
Chinese censors suppressing Shanghai stampede coverage: Report
Mega Man Legends CENSORED - Tron Bonne Paprika The Dog - Video Game Censorship
Did you know non-Japanese versions of Mega Man Legends censor the scene where Tron Bonne is trapped by Paprika the dog? In the JP version of Mega Man Legends 1, you are actually able to kick.
By: Censored Gaming
Read the original post:
Mega Man Legends CENSORED - Tron Bonne & Paprika The Dog - Video Game Censorship - Video
San Francisco: Government censorship of the Internet is a cat-and-mouse game. And despite more aggressive tactics in recent months, the cats have been largely frustrated while the mice wriggle away.
But this year, the challenges for Silicon Valley will mount, with Russia and Turkey in particular trying to tighten controls on foreign-based Internet companies. Major U.S. companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google are increasingly being put in the tricky position of figuring out which laws and orders to comply with around the world - and which to ignore or contest.
On Wednesday, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, signed the latest version of a personal data law that will require companies to store data about Russian users on computers inside the country, where it will be easier for the government to get access to it. With few companies expected to comply with the law, which goes into effect Sept. 1, a confrontation may well erupt.
The clumsiness of current censorship efforts was apparent in mid-December, when Russia's Internet regulator demanded that Facebook remove a page that was promoting an anti-government rally. After Facebook blocked the page for its 10 million or so Russian users, dozens of copycat pages popped up and the word spread on other social networks like Twitter. That created even more publicity for the planned Jan. 15 event, intended to protest the sentencing of Aleksei A. Navalny, a leading opposition figure.
Anton Nosik, a prominent Russian blogger whose work has been censored by regulators, said it was absurd for a government to think it could easily stamp out an article or video when it can be copied or found elsewhere with a few clicks. "The reader wants to see what he was prevented from seeing," Nosik said in an interview. "All that blocking doesn't work."
Instead, that prompted the government to switch tactics, moving Navalny's sentencing to Dec. 30 with little notice in an attempt to diminish protests.
The Turkish government faced similar embarrassment when it tried to stop the dissemination of leaked documents and audio recordings on Twitter in March. The administration of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was then prime minister and is now president, ordered the shutdown of Twitter within Turkey after the company refused to block the posts, which implicated government officials in a corruption investigation.
Not only did the government lose a court fight on the issue, but while Twitter was blocked, legions of Turkish users also taught one another technical tricks to evade the ban, even spray-painting the instructions on the walls of buildings.
"We all became hackers," Asli Tunc, a professor of communication at Istanbul Bilgi University, said in a phone interview. "And we all got on Twitter."
Despite such victories for free-speech advocates, governments around the world are stepping up their efforts to control the Internet, escalating the confrontation.
Visit link:
Web Freedom Is Seen as a Growing Global Issue in 2015