Category Archives: Censorship

Unnecessary Censorship (SourceFed Edition)
Decided to have a little fun with some old SourceFed Videos. I do not own any of the media within, please check out and support the great team over at Source...

By: Carder Williams

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Unnecessary Censorship (SourceFed Edition) - Video

You Can #39;t Do That On Television ~ Censorship
You Can #39;t Do That On Television - Episode 101 ~ Censorship.

By: Felix Cooper

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You Can't Do That On Television ~ Censorship - Video

Chinese anti-censorship campaigners have rejoiced at the news that the man considered to be the architect of the country's 'great firewall', Fang Binxing, has announced plans to retire his post after suffering ill health.

In a speech to graduating students at Beijing's University of Post and Telecommunication at which he holds a professorship, 53 year-old Binxing cited a serious illness as the reason for his departure.

"Due to excessive demands on my body, and without enough time to replenish, I have experienced a serious illness and lost the capacity to stay up working day and night," he said in translated comments on the University's website.

"I can no longer put both academic research and administrative duty on my shoulders. This is why I have told the authorities that I will not serve for another term.

No date for that departure has been confirmed but already some of his critics expressed satisfaction at the news.

We are glad that you are gone! read one of the more polite comments translated from a post on China's equivalent of Twitter, Weibo.

The technocratic Binxing has become a touchstone for unhappiness at the State's censorship of Internet content. In May 2011, a campaigner reportedly threw eggs and shoes at him during one of his speeches. Some months before that incident his growing unpopularity was underlined by the defacement of a blog he published. Such open expresions of disrespect were considered highly unusual.

If as appears the case Binxing is gone for good, the 'golden shield' censorship system he helped create will mark him out as the key figure in the early period of China's digital growth. Whether it survives in in the long term is uncertain but few expect any short-term relaxation of its filtering.

With US politicians angsting about possible spying backdoors in equipment from telecoms firm Huawei, Binxing was also one figure willing to accuse US companies such as Google and Cisco of playing the same game to carry out surveillance on China.

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China's great firewall censorship architect retires citing ill health

Great artists will tell you on the regular that the key to making great art is to make it for yourself first, but thats not always a realistic end point for people creating art for a living especially when youve got to think about the audience. Do you make something for everyone globally, or do you make something for a small group? How do you actually make something that speaks to everyone?

Jetsetter, Digital Trends weekly column devoted to import gaming and game development outside the US, exists because its impossible to make art that truly speaks to everyone. Even if a game doesnt directly speak to you, even if it wasnt made with you in mind, that doesnt mean it isnt worth experiencing. Broaden those horizons!

Forget figuring out how to navigate the murky waters of finding your audience when youre designing a game, its hard enough just making sure your game can even legally get released around the world. Just because the ESRB in the US says a game is rated M for Mature audiences, that doesnt mean everyone agrees. Australia has long had a reputation for ferocious censorship of video games. It was only in 2012 thatthe country started rating games for audiences 18-years-old and up. Before that, games like Grand Theft Auto 4 were simply barred classification in the country and never legally released. Even with R18+ classification, though, Australia is still stopping games from release. Volitions Saints Row IV was refused just this past week due to implied sexual violence and illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards.

It is baffling what Australias ratings board does and does not consider appropriate. Drug use? Thats right out. A game like Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge, a game where gutting human beings is the whole point, is just fine.

Russia loves its MMOs, just look at the crazy following for World of Tanks in the country. Last December, 600,000 Russian citizens were playing that gameat the same time. Russian developer Allods Team recognizes a good thing when it sees it, hence why its developing Skyforge, a new fantasy MMO that actually looks pretty swell. In a market glutted with World of Warcraft knock offs, generic Korean fantasy MMOs, and dwindling online populations, a polished but familiar game like Skyforge actually stands out.

As reported by Eurogamer, Skyforge has some help in the form of Obsidian Entertainment, the famed RPG developer behind games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. Obsidian is busy cracking away on games like Project Eternity, but its taking time out to help advise Allods on how to bring Skyforge to the rest of the world. Its a good example of what needs to be done to rethink games for the world stage.

We love Atlus here at Jetsetter. A lot. So, so much. And not just because of its recent hits like Persona 4 and Catherine. We love Atlus from way back, like when they were pumping out import-only Sega Saturn games like Purikura Daisakusen. So the news that Atlus parent company Index is not only under investigation for fraud, but may also have to declare bankruptcy was distressing. What will happen to Persona 5?! Since Atlus is one of the healthiest parts of Indexs business, with a host of popular IPs with global appeal, its likely that the studio will be acquired by another company rather than shuttering alongside the parent should it come to that.

Seriously, go play Purikura Daisakusen! And Super Valis IV for Super Nintendo! And all the other amazing stuff Atlus has been pumping out for the past few decades.

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Jetsetter: Australia, censorship, and the banning of ‘Saints Row IV’

"Think of the children! Censorship and young people online" by Professor Andy Phippen
ORGCon conferences: Professor Andy Phippen, an expert on the effect on young people of their use of new technology, talked about children #39;s exposure to #39;harm...

By: OpenRightsGroup

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"Think of the children! Censorship and young people online" by Professor Andy Phippen - Video

MOSCOW Russian director Nikolai Dostal has accused the state-run TV channel Rossiya of censoring out profanities and sex scenes from his TV miniseries Shtrafbat (The Penal Battalion),which recently was re-aired by the station.

In a letter sent to Oleg Dobrodeyev, head of the state television group VGTRK, which runs Rossiya, Dostal complained of arbitrary and illegal censorship of the miniseries, which is focused on a penal battalion during the Second World War.

STORY:Head of Russian Film Production Company Detained

According to Dostal, all expletives were excised from the miniseries, including a song sung by criminals. It is common knowledge that at the war, profanities were used a lot, and in the [miniseries], words of that kind are to be heard rarely, plus not the strongest ones, and they are said by criminals, he said, defending his use of strong language in the series.

The director added that a sex scene in one of the episodes was shortened, and another scene, in which a man from the penal battalion rapes a Russian girl, was cut so dramatically that the rape seems to have not happened. Dostal complained that the cut had an impact on the storys further events, making them look less motivated.

I understand that you [Oleg Dobrodeyev] didnt do it personally and probably you didnt give direct orders to do it, Dostal observed, adding that he still feels ashamed for this kind of crude, petty and hypocritical censorship on the part of the station.

The re-airing of the series occurred at a time when some deputies of the State Duma, the lower chamber of Russian parliament, were calling for a ban on profanity in Russian films and TV programs. Legislation was, in fact, passed earlier this year banning profane language in the media.

The Penal Battalionwaswas originally commissioned by Rossiya and premiered in 2004. It was later re-aired several times in its original, uncut version.

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Russian Director Nikolai Dostal Accuses Local TV Channel of Censorship

Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) June 27, 2013

idcloak Technologies has released two free tools for bypassing Google search censorship. Google is required by certain countries to filter out politically sensitive keyphrases from search results. The only way users from these countries may see the hidden results is by accessing Google through a remote computer. These computers are known as proxies.

idcloak offers two different types of Google proxy. Each is best suited for different conditions, as idcloaks Robin Welles explains, First, we have the Google proxy list, a customizable database of public IP proxies from over a hundred countries around the globe. These are great for regular anonymization tasks against, since they require no user action once set up. They are also the best option for beating high-grade censorship because they carry no content that can betray they are providing a proxy service.

The second unblocker service released by idcloak is the site-based web proxy. Welles says this is a much simpler and user-friendly service that performs all basic proxy tasks. You use the proxy through a webpage-based interface. Because you dont need to configure your network settings, its ideal for anyone with low computer skills or those carrying out one-off anonymization tasks. Some censorship filters will block access to the page, however, meaning users will then either need to switch to IP proxies or invest in a VPN.

There is of course some danger that entering politically sensitive search terms might bring unwanted attention on a user. Asked about which of idcloaks two free proxy services were safest for political research, Welles sided with the web proxy.

The most important thing is to have Google encrypted on top of its standard https connection, and both the web proxy and IP proxies will do this. But perhaps the web proxy is the safer of the two services as it additionally allows you to encrypt the page before it enters the encrypted tunnel.

Some skeptics also doubt the trustworthiness of IP proxies: One problem peculiar to IP proxies is that they are public and nobody knows who administers them. Theoretically, even government censors could be setting up the proxy and using it to monitor search traffic. Our webpage-based proxy, on the other hand, is administered in-house, and we have our users trust.

To learn more, visit http://www.idcloak.com. The Dallas-based firm provides free censorship circumvention services and knowledge.

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Google Proxies Tunnel Out Of Search Censorship

Aruling bya court inthe central Russian town ofUlyanovsk ordering astate-run Internet provider toblock access to15 websites, including those oftwo prominent national newspapers, has sparked fears ofa broader campaign ofInternet censorship inthe country.

Two ofthe blocked websites, Gazeta.ru andKomsomolskaya Pravda, are among thetop 10 news websites inRussia. Thetwo media outlets said they had not been notified ofthe court hearings or theverdict they learned about it fromtheir readers andtherefore were unable todefend themselves.

Local prosecutors said ina statement Wednesday that theruling was based onthe presence onthe websites ofarticles explaining theintricacies ofgiving abribe inRussia andhow toescape prosecution afterward.

Prosecutors emphasized that thecourt ruling had not ordered whole websites tobe blocked but only specific pages containing theillicit information. Internet provider Rostelecom made thedecision toblock thesites themselves, going beyond thecourt's instructions, they said.

Rostelecom, which is one offour Internet providers inUlyanovsk, told Vedomosti that it blocked theentire websites because it did not have thetechnical capability toblock specific pages andthat thecourt ruling did not specify particular pages totarget anyway.

Federal Mass Media Inspection Service spokesman Vladimir Pikov told thenewspaper that his agency was surprised that thewebsites were blocked, since according toa recently enacted Internet censorship law, media outlets cannot be blocked.

InJuly oflast year, President Vladimir Putin signed thecensorship bill, which allows thefederal government toset up aregistry ofblacklisted websites containing child pornography, content promoting drug use andextremism, andother resources ruled illegal inRussia.

While bribery is acriminal offense inRussia, it is not specifically mentioned inthe bill.

"We expected this tohappen," said Galina Arapova, director ofthe enter forProtection ofMedia Rights. "The legislation is so vague andlacks any technical regulation."

Intheir statement, prosecutors did not identify theweb pages that they wanted blocked. Komsomolskaya Pravda said it found asarcastic article titled "On How toGive andReceive Bribes inthe Right Way" published more than adecade ago, while Gazeta.ru was unable tofind thelikely culprit.

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Blockage of Major News Websites Raises Censorship Fears

Smackdown #39;s Unnecessary Censorship
On tonight #39;s edition of unnecessary censorship. Randy Orton.

By: DJREELdotcom

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Smackdown's Unnecessary Censorship - Video

Singularities and cosmic censorship in general relativity - Part 1: Q A (Mihalis Dafermos)
Questions and answers session from the mini-series "Infinities and Cosmology" from the "Philosophy of Cosmology" project. A University of Oxford and Cambridg...

By: PhilosophyCosmology

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Singularities and cosmic censorship in general relativity - Part 1: Q