Daily Archives: September 18, 2015

Sarah Tew/CNET

Following dipping sales, Sony this week announced a price drop for the PS4 in Japan. But the company's home turf isn't the only Asian country giving it grief, with China presenting a unique set of challenges.

"We are still challenged somewhat with a censorship regime that we have to work with," Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House told Reuters at the Tokyo Game Show on Thursday. "This can be time-consuming."

The PS4 launched in China back in March, a little over a year after the country's government revoked a ban on gaming consoles that had been in place for 14 years. However, China's censorship minefield has proven difficult for Sony to traverse: Only six launch titles accompanied the PS4 upon its release.

"I don't think it has been a kind of rocket launch start," House admitted, but added that he thinks there's "tremendous potential for gaming as an entertainment medium in China." The numbers certainly agree -- last year China's gaming population exceeded the entire population of the USA.

Titles released alongside the console, which retails for 2,899 yuan ($455), include Rayman Legends, Knack, and Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition. Noticeably absent are mega-popular western titles like Grand Theft Auto 5 or Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

The slim gaming portfolio officially available to Chinese gamers is not surprising given the country's censorship regulations. Any game deemed to promote drug use, violence, gambling or obscenity is immediately withdrawn from consideration of distribution.

Sony isn't the only one struggling though -- Microsoft last year launched the Xbox One in the country along with around 10 titles. However, though the Xbox has a few more games available, it's region locked, while the PS4 is not. This means that Chinese players can import and play games from around the world for Sony's console (at the risk of a fine) but not Microsoft's.

In July, research institute Niko Partners estimated that the combined number of Xbox Ones and PS4s sold in 2015 would be under 550,000, though this doesn't take into account sales of gaming hardware and software sold in China's widely used grey market.

Read more here:
Sony says China's censorship laws are stifling PS4 sales ...

Censorship is the suppression of statements or information for ideological reasons. Current examples of censorship include:

Political censorship involves a government preventing information from reaching its citizens. Perhaps the best-known contemporary example of this is China's censorship of the Google search engine, known as the "Golden Shield Project", which prevents Google from displaying search results of some human rights websites, websites promoting Tibetan independence, references to the 1989 Tianamen Square protests, and others. A famous example in fiction is George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which the main character works as a civil servant in the department responsible for altering or destroying historical information which the government wishes to keep secret. The rationale behind political censorship is that the political party in power can protect itself from revolution if the public is kept uninformed.

The term censorship derives from censor, the title of the Roman official who conducted the census and supervised public morality.

In the United States, the First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Broadly speaking, the First Amendment is designed to prevent the government from exercising censorship. However, the government sometimes censors political and religious speech anyway.

More specifically, the government should not exercise "prior restraint." That is, a citizen should not need advance permission from the government in order to publish something, unless it threatens national security. This does not mean that publication may not have consequences: a citizen can be sued for publishing libel, or incarcerated for disclosing military secrets, but the consequences typically occur after publication, not before.

Censorship is sometimes applied to prohibit obscenity that goes against common standards of public morality; under US law the first amendment does not protect material considered legally obscene. The definition of obscenity has and continues to vary, with the current Supreme Court definition being the Miller test. In practical terms, this allows harmful material such as pornography to be criminalized without violating the First Amendment.

Censorship may also be directed at religious ideas, as in the Saudi Arabian prohibition on preaching Christianity, liberal restrictions on public expressions of religion, or the Roman Catholic Church's now-recinded Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

Certain language and images that may have been censored in the past are typically common fare in the American media today. On the other hand, while nudity, for example, may be acceptable on mainstream French television, that is much less likely to be accepted in American television and even less acceptable in conservative Muslim countries.

Contrast with:

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Censorship - Conservapedia

Censorship blocks something from being read, heard, or seen. If you've ever heard the sound of bleeping when someone is speaking on television, that's censorship.

To "censor" is to review something and to choose to remove or hide parts of it that are considered unacceptable. Censorship is the name for the process or idea of keeping things like obscene word or graphic images from an audience. There is also such a thing as self-censorship, which is when you refrain from saying certain things or possibly re-wording them depending on who is listening.

Definitions of censorship

1

censorship in the form of prudish expurgation

censorship because of perceived obscenity or immorality

the act of deleting something written or printed

all types of censorship conducted by personnel of the armed forces

censorship under civil authority of communications entering or leaving of crossing the borders of the United States or its territories or possessions

military censorship of civilian communications (correspondence or printed matter of films) entering or leaving of circulating within territories controlled by armed forces

security review of news (including all information or material intended for dissemination to the public) subject to the jurisdiction of the armed forces

military censorship of communication to and from prisoners of war and civilian internees held by the armed forces

military censorship of personal communications to or from persons in the armed forces

intelligence activities concerned with identifying and counteracting the threat to security posed by hostile intelligence organizations or by individuals engaged in espionage or sabotage or subversion or terrorism

Read more here:
censorship - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

For clarification of my quote, "Anything posted of REAL (mind the emphases on REAL) activity of illegal actions that would be considered a federal crime such as child pornography isn't really in the realm of being censored or not, it's simply not even within the question.", the reasoning behind this is that of which it is a federal crime. Being a federal crime generally excepts the ideal principal that the vast majority see's it to be wrong and without question filtered. However, because this action is done out of the will of the vast majority of people, it would not be considered censorship because of its highly undemocratic characteristic.

Now, my opponent brings into the light of how the UK has treated certain kinds of hate speech causing him to rather agree with their actions. First of all, I hypocritically applaud the UK for banning Michael Savage and his arrogant racist bigotry. Unfortunately I feel it's the wrong approach by a government to blacklist an ideology. Even IF that said ideology was racist, hateful, and outright false. I guess this would be a reflection of me living in my country as well. You see we have a party here in our country that is hateful and outright false all the time but we as a nation do nothing to restrict there speech because we feel it is their democratic right, to speak their minds. I'm talking of course about the republican party. (zing)

Needless to say that just because I feel these parties should have protected speech does not mean that I feel that they should be above the law. Its really just a matter of free speech, press and assembly. If these particular parties actually commit acts of hate than that's another story.

Seems we've stumbled upon a semantics debate. It really comes down to what you view censorship as. For me, censorship is the restriction of speech, press etc. committed by a 2nd party to a specific group or persons against their will. Pro believes censorship can be an act of voluntarism.

<"Being a federal crime generally excepts the ideal principal that the vast majority see's it to be wrong"

It actually reflects the fact that the government see it as wrong; Governments create laws, not the general public.

<"because this action is done out of the will of the vast majority of people, it would not be considered censorship because of its highly undemocratic characteristic."

Anything a democratically elected government does is technically democratic, including censorship.

___

<"I feel it's the wrong approach by a government to blacklist an ideology."

No ideology is blacklisted by UK hate speech laws, (see sources in debate I linked above,) it's legal to be a bigot, it's only when you start encouraging others to perform violence that you break the laws. Con wants politicians speech protected, but would this still be the case if a party openly preached a doctrine of murder or genocide?

Free speech laws don't and shouldn't protect those who commit fraud through verbal dishonesty, those who shout out "bomb!" in a crowded airport, or those who incite violence and hate.

___

<"Seems we've stumbled upon a semantics debate. It really comes down to what you view censorship as. For me, censorship is the restriction of speech, press etc. committed by a 2nd party to a specific group or persons against their will. Pro believes censorship can be an act of voluntarism."

The definition we have is indeed a very broad one. Suppression of harmful material by the government would clearly include child porn etc., while "media outlets" suggests it covers voluntary self-censorship.

Since Con supplied the definition himself and is in favour of both of these forms of censorship, it seems he has conceded his position as Con towards the resolution. If he wanted to limit the debate to exterior, enforced censorship of legal activity, he should really have made it clear at the outset.

Thanks.

See the article here:
Debate Issue: Censorship | Debate.org

First of all, my opponent is trying to turn this debate into a moral issue. Morality should never be the basis of government. Justice and fairness should be.

Pro, argues that this debate is no about "Can the government censor?" but about "Should they?" As I stated previously no they shouldn't. Just because something is allowed, doesn't mean we should do it. I can stuff my face with 10 slices of pizza, does it mean I should? No

Pro, also mentioned I have not given example why censorship is bad. As you can read, I did.

I can give a list why censorship is bad in all corners. Here we go.

1. Dictators use censorship to promote a flattering image of themselves and for removing any information that goes against them. Whose to say the government can't do this too?

2. Political parties around the world already use media censorship for their own benefit. It stifles the opposition, broadcasting only a particular point of view.

3. Censorship makes us believe what were are told, not what we are not. Why do conspiracy theorists exist? Because they believe the government isn't telling us something.

4. Area 51, 9/11, New World Order. Do you really think the gorvernment should keep all those things censored.

5. It makes the US complete hyprocite. The Constitution says we have Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion, Petition and Protest, so why does the gorvernment censor this? For there own benefit.

Thank you. By the way, the voters can vote for whoever they want. Vote whatever you like! 🙂

As to his rebuttals, they are also contradictory. I have not said that he did not give instances of bad censorship, I merely pointed out that a few bad examples does not imply that censorship in all circumstances is immoral. I would like to point out that my opponent has done nothing to refute my ethical system of utilitarianism or propose one of his own that is not logically contradictory. Under my ethical system, government should censor when the results of said censorship maximize happiness or minimize pain. Until my opponent addresses this point, I should be considered the winner.

Go here to read the rest:
Debate Argument: Censorship | Debate.org

US internet censorship mirrors China's 5/5/2015 - Of the world's great powers, China, is perhaps the most restrictive when it comes to freedom of speech and expression. That said, it should come as little surprise, then, that the Communist Party leadership of China works overtime to monitor, control and censor what the Chinese people are allowed to... Facebook is deliberately censoring alternative media, pushing globalist agenda 10/30/2014 - Increasingly, Facebook is being accused of censoring material that users post on the world's largest social media website, prompting outrage and confusion from many who see hypocrisy in the site's rules. In one recent instance, as reported by InfoWars.com, multiple users of the site have complained... Freedom of the press vanishing from student newspapers across America 12/9/2013 - Most of us don't pay attention to student newspapers. Yet, these publications are where many budding journalists get their feet wet for the first time. It's exciting to learn to craft a story that your peers will read. Knowing the paper is sure to be read by teachers and school administrators, too,... Google reports 'alarming' rise in government censorship requests 6/23/2012 - In what may be the most ironic thing to happen all year, tech giant Google - a serial privacy violator - says the company is experiencing what it describes as an "alarming" increase in the number of censorship requests being received by Western (in particular, the U.S.) governments. Seems the Leviathan... At least 7,000 websites black out their homepages in protest of SOPA and PIPA internet censorship bills 1/19/2012 - On January 18, 2012, thousands of websites from around the world came out in protest of two pieces of legislation that threaten to censor the internet as we know it. Google, WordPress, Wired.com, Wikipedia, Tumblr, The Daily Paul, reddit, NaturalNews, and thousands of other websites censored portions... FDA censorship of nutritional science threatens health of all Americans 9/9/2010 - Concerned about breast cancer? There are three nutrients that virtually eliminate your risk of the disease, even if you carry "breast cancer genes." Wondering how to cure arthritis? A combination of four different nutrients virtually eliminates arthritis symptoms. Afraid of diabetes? Five different... Google calls for end to internet censorship 8/9/2010 - Testifying before a Congressional panel, Google's director of public policy, Alan Davidson, called for firm action to end censorship of the Internet. "The growing problem for Internet censorship is not isolated to one country or one region," Davidson said before the Congressional-Executive Commission... FDA defeated in federal court over censorship of truthful health claims 6/4/2010 - Health freedom has just been handed a significant victory by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which ruled last week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) violated the First Amendment rights of a nutritional supplement company when it censored truthful, scientifically-backed... GMO alert: U.S. attempting global censorship of GMO food labeling 5/4/2010 - I received an urgent alert from Jeffrey Smith today about a dangerous situation taking place right now at the international CODEX conference. The U.S. is attempting to push its agenda to censor all GMO labeling of foods everywhere around the world. This would result in a global GMO cover-up as consumers... FDA tyranny and the censorship of cherry health facts (opinion) 5/2/2006 - In the past, I jokingly said that broccoli might someday be banned as soon as the public begins to learn about the potent anti-cancer chemicals found in the vegetable. Thats because, as I jested, the FDA wouldnt want people treating their own cancer with the anti-cancer medicines found in cruciferous... See all 102 censorship feature articles. Corruption: Prescription drugs: Dangerous drugs: Drug companies: The FDA: Pharmaceutical companies: Drug racket: FDA: Big Pharma: Ethics: Vioxx: Drug safety: Sodium: America: Medicine: Drugs: Today's Top Stories on NaturalNews

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