Jack Homer
Frederick Abreu
James Carroll
Minsoo Kim
CENSORSHIP
What is censorship?
• Censorship -- the control of the information and ideas circulated within
a society -- has been a hallmark of dictatorships throughout history. In
the 20th Century, censorship was achieved through the examination
of books, plays, films, television and radio programs, news reports,
and other forms of communication for the purpose of altering or
suppressing ideas found to be objectionable or offensive. The
rationales for censorship have varied, with some censors targeting
material deemed to be indecent or obscene; heretical or
blasphemous; or seditious or treasonous. Thus, ideas have been
suppressed under the guise of protecting three basic social
institutions: the family, the church, and the state.
• Link: http://gilc.org/speech/osistudy/censorship/
Por_*cough*
• There are many examples of censorship that have
occurred throughout history from a religious aspect
such as the Bible’s influence over its readers. The
right to exercise one’s freedom of speech has also
come into question when censorship is involved.
The CDA was voted overwhelmingly into law in 1996, and made it a criminal
offense to send "indecent material by the Internet into others computers". The
law was attached to the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996 and passed
by congress on February 1st of the same year. It was signed by President
Clinton the following week. On the same day the bill was signed the American
Civil Liberties Union filed suit in Philadelphia on the ground that that the
statute banned speech protected by the First Amendment and subjected the
Internet to restrictions that were out of line with regulations faced by other
mediums.
Protecting Free Speech
Defense against censorship in
America and around the world
4
American Civil Liberties Union
ACLU is one of the main American organizations
that protect free speech online
Formed in 1920 and based in NYC it has made
numerous appeals to the Supreme Court in
defense of free speech online
Some other organizations that fight for online free
speech are Electronic Frontier Foundation, the
American Civil Liberties Union
Examples of attempts to limit
online free speech
1996 - Congress tried to pass the
Communications Decency act
1998 - Congress tried to pass the Child
Online Protection Act
The COPA is currently upheld in public
libraries
Some places do not protect free speech on the internet
 Reporters Without Borders Internet censorship ratings.
 No censorship
 Some censorship
 Under surveillance
 Internet black holes (most heavily censored nations)
Works cited stuff
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship
 http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/online-free-speech#history1998
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union
Censorship and the Internet
A Tumultuous Relationship
12/01/09
What to Censor?
✤
Pornography
✤
Social Networks
✤
Search Engines
✤
Political Blogs
✤
Information Sharing
The Big Offenders
✤
China
✤
Myanmar/Burma
✤
Iran
✤
North Korea
✤
Cuba
✤
Russia
Censorship
Types
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Types of Censorship
 Moral
 Military
 Political
 Religious
 Corporate
Types of Censorship
 Moral
◦ removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise morally
questionable
◦ For example, pornography
 Military
◦ the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics
confidential and away from the enemy
Types of Censorship
 Political
◦ governments hold back information from their citizens
◦ For example, to prevent rebellion
 Religious
◦ shun things when the content is not appropriate for certain
faith
 Corporate
◦ halt the publishing of negative information
Our opinion
 Censorship
is necessary
 Censorship
should not limit people’s basic rights to
know
 Censorship
justified
used for personal profits cannot be
Censorship in America
 Viacom
vs YouTube
◦ By winning lawsuit against Google,
◦ Viacom can get account information on YouTube
◦ Viacom can regulate freedom of expression by suing people
who upload copyright products
◦ Viacom censors video on YouTube that criticize their policy