Mediaboss Marketing

The Washington Post reports that Facebook has complied with a Russian government demand to block access to a page supporting Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny:

In a sign of new limits on Facebooks ability to serve as a platform for political opposition movements, Russian users appear to have been blocked from accessing a page calling for a protest in support of a prominent dissident.

In 2011, Facebook was hailed by opposition movements during the Arab Spring and in Russia as a powerful new tool to spread information beyond the control of repressive governments. That may no longer be the case, at least not in Russia. Russian Internet regulators said Saturday that they had sent Facebook a demand that it block access to a page calling for a demonstration in support of Alexei Navalny, the most prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At the moment, the demand to block the page is being fulfilled by Facebook, Vadim Ampelonsky, a spokesman for the Russian Internet regulator, told the Interfax news service.

Facebook should be ashamed of cooperating with this demand for censorship by Russias repressive government, and should rescind that cooperation immediately. In fairness, the Post article quotes a Facebook spokeswoman to the effect that the company is studying the matter. But she didnt deny the Russian governments claim that Facebook has fulfilled its demand, and the site does indeed seem to be blocked for Russian users. If it turns out that the Russian government somehow managed to block the site without Facebooks cooperation and is now lying about that, I will be happy to correct this post. For now, however, the available evidence strongly suggests that Facebook did in fact fulfill the governments demands.

If the problem is that Facebook worried about Russian retaliation against its physical presence in Russia (the article notes that Facebook tries to comply with demands by governments in nations where it has such a presence), then it would do well to withdraw that presence, so as to eliminate that vulnerability.

Navalny is one of the leading domestic opponents of a government that has engaged in extensive repression at home, and committed gross violations of human rights and international law abroad. Particularly at a time when falling oil prices and the collapse of the ruble have potentially made the Putin regime vulnerable, Facebook and other western enterprises should not cooperate with its efforts to repress opposition speech.

Ilya Somin is Professor of Law at George Mason University. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, and popular political participation. He is the author of "The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain" (forthcoming) and "Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter."

More here:
Volokh Conspiracy: Facebook should stop cooperating with Russian government censorship

Actor Aamir Khan said Censorship shall not be creative images.
TV9 - Actor Aamir Khan said Censorship shall not be creative images. Subscribe to Tv9 Kannada: https://youtube.com/tv9kannada Circle us on G+: https://plus.google.com/+tv9kannada ...

By: Tv9 Kannada

Visit link:
Actor Aamir Khan said Censorship shall not be creative images. - Video

Everything Wrong With the Games Industry Episode 12- Censorship
While we love gaming, some aspects of the games industry do make us want to punch ourselves in the face. SUBSCRIBE HERE- ...

By: Nightstalker Gaming

Read this article:
Everything Wrong With the Games Industry Episode 12- Censorship - Video

"We cannot have a society in which some dictator ... can start imposing censorship here in the U.S.," Obama said.

President Obama today criticized Sony Pictures for axing the release of The Interview following the hack of its network, arguing that it sets a terrible precedent.

"I think they made a mistake," Obama said during a press conference from Washington, D.C. "I wish they'd spoken to me first. I would've told them [to] not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated by these types of criminal attacks."

"We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the U.S.," the president said.

If a country like North Korea can impact the release of a satirical movie, imagine what can be done if they see a documentary or a news report they don't like, Obama said. "Even worse, imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self-censorship because they don't want to offend the sensibilities of somebody whose sensibilities probably need to be offended."

"That's not who we are," Obama continued. "That's not what America is about."

Obama's press conference came after the FBI this morning confirmed that the devastating hack of Sony Pictures was pulled off by the North Korean government. The agency said it found links between the Sony hack and previous hacks that are confirmed to have been pulled off by North Korea.

Obama said today that there is no indication that North Korea worked with another country - like China - on the hack.

The breach, however, highlights the need for stronger cyber security, Obama said. "We're not even close to where we need to be," he said.

As a result, we need legislation that would allow for information sharing between the public and private sector, Obama said. Congress has made efforts to get cyber-security legislation like that passed - most notably CISPA in 2012 - but the issue is very politically charged, and tech firms are concerned that laws on evolving technology could stifle innovation.

Read the original:
Obama: Sony 'Made a Mistake' by Pulling 'The Interview'

Google Inc. (GOOG) sued to block what it called overly broad demands by Mississippi in its investigation of online contraband sales, after accusing the states attorney general of doing Hollywoods bidding.

The lawsuit was filed today in federal court in Jackson, after Google, citing hacked Sony Corp. e-mails, expressed concerns about reports that the Motion Picture Association of America pushed states to pressure the search-engine giant.

In an item posted on its public policy blog yesterday and updated today, Google said the MPAA did legal legwork for Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hoods investigation by drafting a letter making numerous accusations about the company that he later sent.

The company asked the court to block Hoods subpoena, which seeks information about how it restricts -- or doesnt restrict -- material created by third parties and available through Googles services and also asks for information about the importation of prescription drugs.

Little in the subpoena seems to relate to the valid subjects of regulation by the attorney general, Google said in its complaint. It is instead, consistent with the attorney generals prior public statements, designed only to impose burdensome obligation on Google in order to coerce Google to agree to the changes to its business practices.

In a statement today, Hood struck a conciliatory tone, saying he was calling a time out and would seek to reach a peaceful resolution with Google. Still, he chided the companys general counsel for feeding the media a salacious Hollywood tale.

Some of its more excitable people have sued trying to stop the state of Mississippi for daring to ask some questions, he said.

Google claimed Hoods threats of civil and criminal enforcement violate the federal Communications Decency Act, which it said grants Internet companies broad immunity from prosecution for making third-party content available. Hoods demands also violate constitutional protections of free speech and against unreasonable searches, Mountain View, California-based Google said.

The effect of the attorney generals inquiry is to chill the operation of Googles search engine and other services such as the YouTube video-sharing site, threatening to silence vast amounts of protected speech, according to the complaint.

The MPAA yesterday said Googles effort to position itself as a defender of free speech is shameful.

Read the original post:
Google Says Mississippi Sales Probe Amounts to Censorship