By: Rebekah Heacock Internet censorship has become a growing and pervasive global norm. Internet censorship policies implemented by states are premised on a number of motives and rationales including national security, the control of dissent, and appeals to morality. The…
EFF Files Amicus Brief to Defend Free Speech on Social Networks EFF filed a friend-of-the-court brief today urging a federal court to block the government’s use of the federal anti-stalking law to prosecute a man for posting criticism of a…
Children’s first exposure to the freedoms that Americans cherish sometimes comes not from kindly parents or wise teachers, but from an obnoxious jerk insulting someone or cursing at something. Ranting till the veins bulge in his neck. If confronted, the…
AUSTIN, Texas — “Banned, Burned, Seized, and Censored,” an exhibition at the Harry Ransom Center, reveals the rarely seen “machinery” of censorship in the United States between the two world wars. The exhibition runs from Sept. 6 to Jan. 22,…
Nearly half a million anti-government protesters filled the streets of the volatile Syrian city of Hama Friday. Two senior foreign envoys visited in a show of solidarity. Rights activists say Syrian security forces were tempered by the outside presence in…
This week saw two disappointing decisions by two major American companies, Microsoft and Cisco, that appear to be choosing to become little tech helpers to China’s repressive regime rather than choosing to be a force for good. For Cisco, it’s…
Apple has been silently deleting outgoing mail that contains unacceptable words and phrases. What sorts of words and phrases? Good question! Apple won’t say. It definitely doesn’t like political yammering. Shut up, hippies. One email that has repeatedly triggered a…
With protests raging throughout the country, the Syrian government is responding with deadly force. Citizens seeking freedom are relying on digital tools to organize and communicate — so much so that the government temporarily shut off Internet access. The parallels…
Chinese censors are apparently blocking online discussion of former president Jiang Zemin, whose absence from a key Communist Party event in Beijing has sparked speculation that he is seriously ill. The 84-year-old Jiang was conspicuously missing Friday from state celebrations…
The web has been humming with talk this week – talk, concern, worry and general shpilkes – about Internet security. There’s good reason: not only are there renewed questions about just which hacker group is responsible for what cyber-attack, but…
Censorship in America 