Censorship

An American lawyer is demanding that Facebook executives explain why the site decided to allow users to set-up groups promoting the denial of the Holocaust. Brian Cuban wants CEO Mark Zuckerberg to detail his personal involvement in the decision. ... Cuban, whose brother Mark is the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has previously complained that such groups violate national laws in countries which ban the act of denying the Holocaust, and are thus inherently against Facebook's terms and conditions. However, perhaps recognizing that this logic could be stretched too far (for example, ... (view more)

Six Pennsylvania high school students are among the latest teens facing child pornography charges also known as sexting : the act of sending or receiving nude or semi-nude pictures on cell phones and sharing them with others. The term 'sexting' ... comes from 'texting', which is text-messaging over a cell phone. Three teenage girls aged 14 and 15 are facing charges for taking nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves and sending them via their cell phones to three boys aged 16 and 17. The boys are facing charges of possession. The photos were discovered in October after school officials ... (view more)

I'd hate to be a web writer, editor, or site owner while living in China. The country recently shut down over a thousand web sites it claimed were illicit and inappropriate, and critics are already speculating that those pages targeted might have ... displayed more than just nudies. At first, the site closures seem to be limited to those violating China's laws of "social morality," laws meant to protect the delicate "physical and mental health of youths." Images on sites like tiexue.com and vodone.com included a number of under-dressed women. However, at the same time official outlet People's ... (view more)

The British Government is contemplating the third-party construction of a super database containing the identities and location of every person in Britain. The 'super database,' which comes at the hefty cost of 12 billion British pounds, would be ... run by one or a number of private companies and would track every citizen's Internet usage, every phone call, every text message, as well as many other transactions. The government claims the database is necessary to fight terrorism and serious crime. Of course, the government also claims it would come with stringent safeguards to protect a user's ... (view more)

The Internet Watch Foundation has removed a Wikipedia page from its 'banned' list. The page, featuring an album cover by rock band Scorpions, had been blocked by several British Internet providers during the row. The organization, which has no legal ... authority, is a self-regulated charity. It monitors websites for content which is illegal to display in the United Kingdom and maintains a list of such material. What gives the IWF so much power and influence is that many of Britain's largest Internet providers (covering an estimated 95% of users) automatically block any pages that appear on the ... (view more)

A group that supports online freedom of the press has recently admonished China for being among the worst culprits of systemic online censorship. The organization, known as Reporters without Borders, has also claimed that of the 61 people currently ... imprisoned worldwide for "subversive" content, 52 originate from China. (Source: theglobeandmail.com ) Reporters without Borders is an international non-government organization that promotes worldwide freedom of the press and Internet etiquette. China is one of 13 countries singled out by the group following a recent protest against Internet ... (view more)