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Twitter sets its sights on China. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo (right) arrives at Shanghai's Pudong Airport on Monday, March 17. Costolo will meet with Shanghai government officials, academics and students during his first visit to China, signifying Twitter's interest in cracking a lucrative but thorny market with 600 million Internet users. Reuters/Aly Song

The Pew Research Center found a majority opposed to government restrictions on online activity in 22 of 24 countries surveyed.

Support was especially high among younger people and in countries with a high percentage of people using the Internet.

Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed in Venezuela said they supported an unfettered Internet, as did at least 80 percent in Lebanon, Chile, Egypt, Argentina and Brazil.

The numbers were high in Mexico (79 percent), South Africa (77 percent), Bolivia (76 percent), Malaysia and the Philippines (both at 73 percent) and Nigeria (72 percent).

"Support for Internet freedom tends to be strong in nations with high rates of Internet penetration, such as Chile and Argentina, where roughly two-thirds of the population is online," the Pew report said.

"It is less common in nations with lower penetration rates, like Indonesia and Uganda," where 55 and 49 percent, respectively, said they oppose government censorship.

The report comes days after the US government announced it was giving up its key role in charge of the Internet's technical operations, handing over those functions to "the global multistakeholder community."

While US officials said they would work to maintain a free and open Internet, critics of the decision said the move opens the door to other countries to impose new controls on online activity.

In the Pew survey, Pakistan had the lowest percentage of people expressing opposition to censorship -- 22 percent -- but 62 percent of people polled gave no response or were undecided.

Continued here:
Support strong for open Internet in PHL, developing world Pew Research survey

Down with campus censorship!
University ain #39;t what it used to be. With bans on everything from inflammatory cartoons to mildly sexist pop songs, censorship has laid siege to British camp...

By: spiked

See the original post here:
Down with campus censorship! - Video

Censorship of Memory
Having grown up in a country with strong cultural and religious traditions under the oppression of a Communist regime, I have seen the ghosts of a lost histo...

By: Vlad Basarab

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Censorship of Memory - Video

Journalistic censorship in the Ukraine getting worse!
An international media company in Kiev said it was visited by unknown people armed with knives, who threatened the employees against working with Russian TV ...

By: Adept Yogi

Originally posted here:
Journalistic censorship in the Ukraine getting worse! - Video

A Bangalore paper reports the incident

I am currently in India, where I am co-producing a new play, Ali J by Shekinah Jacob, with Evam, a Chennai-based theatre company.

We premiered the production at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe followed by a short tour of India last autumn to a strong critical response. Earlier this year, we remounted the play for a spring tour including performances in Bangalore, Rangashankara and Mumbai where it had the honour of being part of the official selection of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

The play deals with identity and what it means to be Indian today. Telling the story of a Muslim boy, grappling with living in a confused secular state is he more of a Muslim or more of an Indian? Does he belong to this side of the border or the other? Was partition necessary; is it even relevant today? Is Ali J a Gandhi or is he a Jinnah?

This current tour of the play has resulted in a wave of protest in India from a right-wing Hindu fundamentalist group, which has resulted in both the play and our actor receiving police protection in Rangashankara and Bangalore. The subsequent cancellation of its Mumbai Festival run two days before its performances was the result of one fundamentalist group filing a complaint with the local police station that the play was anti-national.

The complaint lodged by them saw the police approach the festival who advised them to call off the play for security purposes which the festival organisers reluctantly chose to do. All these various incidents have gone onto receive considerable news coverage in India. In the run up to April 2014s election, it has also ignited again the debate about freedom of speech in India and seen a number of Indias leading actors and writers who have taken to twitter, calling for the end of censorship.

The actual protest towards our play all stems from a small group of individuals. None of these right-wing fundamentalists themselves have, at this time, actually seen the play despite being invited to do so and along with the invitation to discuss their issues with the creative team. However, they have gained attention and notoriety in celebrating online their success at not just our production being halted but that of other theatre, events, music and literature where they have raised similar protest.

In New Zealand, just over two weeks ago, Odd Future, an American hip-hop collective co-founded by Tyler the Creator, was banned 12 hours before leaving Los Angeles to appear as one of the support acts for Eminem at his concert in Auckland.

In the few days prior to the concert, there had been a campaign waged by a local pressure group (and stemming from one letter sent to a local councillor) objecting to the lyrical content of Odd Future. It is fair to say that the bands lyrics can be unpleasant and challenging but no more so than Eminem, the artist for whom they were opening and to whom no objection was made.

What is perhaps interesting is that in the revoking the groups visa entry just hours before their departure, Immigration New Zealand released a statement saying the ban on allowing Odd Future into the country to perform had nothing to do with its lyrics but a potential threat to public order. This is in spite of the fact that the group had previously played in New Zealand. The timing of their remark does far more in appearing to counter-foil any argument it was to prevent freedom of speech.

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Mister Producer: Censorship of the arts in India and New Zealand