Daily Archives: January 20, 2015

Ukraine Russia - Startups Under War Censorship - Jan 5 2015
SPEAKERS: Anna Degtereva, Happy Farm (UA); Vitaly Golomb, Keen Systems (US | UA); Anna Dvornikova, TEC Ventures (US | RU); Max Skibinsky, Stealth Bitcoin Startup (RU | US); Vlad ...

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Ukraine & Russia - Startups Under War & Censorship - Jan 5 2015 - Video

BIG HERO 6 | Unnecessary Censorship | Censored Disney Pixar Parody Bleep Video
This week in unnecessary censorship, BIG HERO 6!! Do you think it will win the Oscars? *SPOILER ALERT* Check out our other channel Ninja Panda Too for more videos: ...

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BIG HERO 6 | Unnecessary Censorship | Censored Disney Pixar Parody Bleep Video - Video

THE resignation of the chair person and some other members of the Central Board of Film Certification in India raises a controversy. In India, irrespective of whichever government is in office, adults are not allowed to have even the freedom of viewing scenes which may have political, moral, sexual and other kinds of physical content which officials may think corrupt their minds. The attitude betrays authoritarian and narrow- minded guarding of received notions and values. Kissing and intimacy are now being shown in Indian films, though in small doses. However , warnings against smoking and drinking are displayed whenever such acts are shown on screen, along with the pointless statement that the actors do not indulge in either vice. What a pity if that goes with a film like Devdas or I will cry tomorrow! Woody Allen did not have one of his recent films shown In India for that reason. Indian DVDs of international film classics are also sometimes subjected to cuts, for instance, of Fellinis La Dolce Vita. There was a joke that during the prime ministership of Morarji Desai, even Hamlet was banned because Claudius was shown drinking out of a goblet. Freedom of expression in cinema is sometimes bridled to protect obscurantism as was done in the case of Water for some time and when UP chief minister Mayavati wanted to clamp down on Samrakhshan on a mistaken notion about the content. Indian censorship should at least approximate to what is done in the advanced countries. Censorship should be done by an independent body. There should be no political or sectarian interference. But, of course, liberty should not degenerate into licence. Self-censorship should be ideal but based on intelligent understanding of creative imagination. It is hard to understand why some scenes of Titanic which won 11 academy awards were take out in India while a film like Dirty Picture could be shown without cuts.

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Censorship controversy

Microsoft's Outlook email service in China was hacked by the country's censorship authority, an internet watchdog has claimed, as the government continues its crackdown on U.S. technology giants. Greatfire.org, which monitors censorship in China, said that Microsoft's servers were subject to a so-called man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack, enabling hackers to intercept private emails between users. A Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC they were aware of "a small number of customers impacted by malicious routing to a server impersonating Outlook.com." It is hard for a victim to detect this type of attack because the man-in-the-middle is often just eavesdropping and mining the data being sent. In this instance, hackers targeted the technology which communicates with Microsoft's servers and enables users to access emails on their smartphones. "We suspect that the Cyberspace Administration of China, which is directly in charge of censorship is directly responsible for the MITM attack against Outlook, and the recent related MITM attacks in China," Greatfire's report said. The attack follows a complete block of Google's Gmail in China and highlights the way in which Chinese authorities are allegedly tightly controlling communication in the world's second-largest economy.

--- Arjun Kharpal, CNBC

First published January 20 2015, 7:22 AM

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Microsoft Outlook 'Hacked' by Chinese: Watchdog

The watchdog called this form of attack which affects mobile devices when emails are being downloaded automatically in the background as "especially devious."

"The warning messages users receive from their email clients are much less noticeable than the warning messages delivered to modern browsers," Greatfire's report said.

Read MoreUS charges China with cyber-spying on American firms

The Microsoft spokesperson added: "If a customer sees a certificate warning, they should contact their service provider for assistance."

When a user opened their inbox on their phone, a message popped up which said the identity of the email server could not be verified. But the Greatfire report said consumers will "not think twice" before clicking the "continue" option on the error message as they would likely attribute it to a network problem.

If a user hit continue, their emails and login credentials would be in the hands of the hackers.

"We strongly recommend that users never bypass certificate error messages by clicking 'continue'," the report warned.

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Microsoft Outlook 'hacked' by China

'The reason the Sun alone was singled out for such concern is largely that it is owned by Rupert Murdoch.' Photograph: Clive Gee/PA

So its farewell nipples. They are to vanish from the Suns Page 3. So they will remain online, except in the Daily Star, except in a hundred magazines and a thousand tasteful fashion shoots. So what next?

Children are already pixelated. What about female (and male) bottoms, singers crotch shots, David Beckhams ill-concealed genitalia or naked female flesh in general? The BBC is awash with nipples after the watershed, so is the stage, the cinema and the art gallery. I am told that some Muslims are offended by scantily clad models that grace the side of buses. They are sexier than Page 3 of the Sun, which is about as arousing as an ankle at a Victorian dance.

I hate censorship, even when government considers it vital in the interests of law and order. It is ironic that the Suns move should come just weeks after terrorists attempted the most brutal form of censorship in France. Of course no one was planning to murder the Sun and its hapless models, but some campaigners wanted it banned or confined to pornography shelves and starved of advertising. Like millions of Muslims, they claimed Page 3 caused them offence a claim which in English law nowadays is sufficient reason to invoke curbs on freedom of speech.

The reason the Sun alone was singled out for such concern is largely that it is owned by Rupert Murdoch (whereas the similar Daily Star is not). But then taste in Britain has always been bound up with class or, as the protesters say, context. No one calls for a ban on bare-breasted Kate Moss or Madonna, but instead applauds them for being in control. Protesters have not barracked Covent Garden or the Coliseum for objectifying women by depicting orgies on stage. They do not picket Lars von Triers films or the Chapman brothers galleries.

A YouGov survey last year revealed that a full 86% of Guardian readers wanted Page 3 stopped (by whom?), against two thirds of Sun readers who wanted it retained. Sun readers were not invited to suggest offending content for censorship in the Guardian.

The truth appears to be that Page 3 has outlived its editorial purpose, which is how it should be. It is not that nudity in public places has become taboo, but that it has become the opposite, ubiquitous and banal. Mens bodies are now as objectified as womens, on editorial pages and advertisements alike. Sex still sells. For better or worse, most people seem to take the public depiction of sexuality in their stride, and others are having to put up with it.

Sometimes we all have to take a deep breath and acknowledge that other people enjoy different things from us, and this may sometimes upset us. But since it gets ever harder indeed dangerous to say live and let live, we need to remember the alternative is far more appalling.

Read more:
Page 3s demise smacks of censorship | Simon Jenkins