From Lanka Business Online

Censors could ban the screening of a sexually-charged art film exploring the incestuous relationship between a Sri Lankan mother and child, a media rights group said recently.

The Free Media Movement (FMM) expressed its concern over the fate of Ashoka Handagama's Aksharaya, or Letter of Fire, which was produced partly with French funding.

Handagama said the Public Performances Board had earlier given him permission to screen the film but had now retracted it.

Such a ban would be tantamount to state censorship of independent filmmakers and a grave curtailment of Mr Handagama's freedom of expression, the FMM said in a statement: The imposition of a higher morality... deprives the public of artistic works of merit, denies people the freedom of choice and strangles the growth of free media and filmmaking in Sri Lanka.

The film explores an incestuous relationship and abuse. It is an unflinching look at the darker issues of humanity, exploring relationships between mother and son, husband and wife, gender and society, morality and sexuality, of those in positions of power and authority and those excluded from it.

Culture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana said he would not allow the film to be screened unless several cuts were made. He said an investigation should be conducted because a child actor in the film had to see a woman naked.I think a severe injustice had been done against the child actor who appears in the film, the minister said. This child who is less than 12 years old was exposed to full nudity of a young woman.
Then he commits two murders in the film. The film begins with the scene with nudity. We will only allow the film to be screened in public if these scenes were taken off.

From Mediawatch-UK, spotted by Teddy

The Home Office and Scottish Executive Consultation on the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material closed on Friday 2 December 2005. We have been advised that the issues raised, in the almost 400 responses, are currently being examined and the Government will indicate the way forward before the Summer Recess.

From Cyprus Weekly

From Thai Visa

Cambodian outrage was growing this week over the new Thai horror flick, Ghost Game, which is set in an abandoned Cambodian jail strongly resembling the infamous Khmer Rouge Toul Sleng torture centre.

Accusing the Thai film makers of disrespect for the victims of Cambodia's genocide, head of the Cambodian Culture Ministry's cinema department, Kong Kendara, said his office would cooperate with the Interior Ministry to confiscate and destroy any copies of the movie in shops in the capital.

Kendara said he had personally denied representatives of the Thai company Tifa Co permission to film the movie at Toul Sleng on June 27, 2005, because in the ministry's opinion, the script outline obviously failed to respect the memories of the victims of the Pol Pot-led Khmer Rouge regime.

Kendara said by telephone: The police and the Culture Ministry will cooperate, and when we find this movie, we will destroy it. I would rank it beside the videos from Iraq,

The set of Ghost Game, directed by Thailand's Sarawut Wichiensarn, reportedly depicts lines of photographs on the walls in a seemingly direct reference to Toul Sleng, as well as piles of skulls and skeletons. A group of 11 young Thais play characters in a TV reality show who must stay in the haunted Cambodian prison and brave angry ghosts to win prize money. The movie was due for release in Thailand on Thursday.

From MSN

Police in Pakistan have registered cases against the editor and publisher of a Danish newspaper and several other European dailies over publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons under a blasphemy law that carries the death penalty, an officer said.

Internet giants Yahoo, Hotmail, the Internet search engine, Google, were also named in the cases for allowing access to the drawings of Muhammad that were considered sacrilegious by many Muslims. The cases were submitted by a Pakistani lawyer who runs a citizens' no-rights group.

A Pakistani lawyer, Iqbal Haider, who runs Awami Himayat Tehrik or People's Support Movement, had petitioned the Supreme Court against the publication of the cartoons under a blasphemy law that allows the death penalty for anyone guilty of insulting the Prophet or the Quran.

Cases were registered against Jyllands-Posten, its editor, publisher, a cartoonist, and newspapers in France, Italy, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands at a police station in Karachi.

It is now the government's job to contact the Interpol and bring the offenders to a court of law in Pakistan, Haider said.

A government prosecutor, who opposed the petition, says Pakistan's courts have no jurisdiction over a crime committed abroad.

From The Telegraph

Pakistan has temporarily waived a 40-year ban on screening films from India in what is the most colourful expression of detente between the two nuclear rivals so far.

Its premiere of the Indian film The Great Moghul, a 1960 classic known as Bollywood's Gone With The Wind, took place in Lahore on Sunday. A second Indian epic, Taj Mahal, made in 2005, will make its Pakistani debut today.

The screening of Indian films was banned in Pakistan after the 1965 war between the countries, despite the local enthusiasm for Bollywood's all-singing, all-dancing output.

Despite the fact that these two films, and another, Sohni Mahiwal, have been cleared for screening, the authorities say that the overall ban on Bollywood films will remain in place.

Religious Groups March for Peace & Tolerance. Christians, Muslims and Jews united Sunday in protest of the British National Party by taking part in a peace walk around areas of the city being targeted by the BNP in local elections on May 4th.

The walk was organised by the Yorkshire Faiths Forum under the leadership of the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Jack Nicholls: We want to spread a message of peace and tolerance in our communities, and reject the one of animosity and division. In a divided world we need to be seen as united in our desire for all communities to live in peace and harmony. This is a walk of witness to our hope..

The walk from the Al-Rahman Mosque in Spital Hill to the Firth Park Methodist Church on Stubbin Lane was punctuated by short silent vigils for peace and unity held outside each place of worship passed by the group.

Bishop Nicholls was joined in the march for peace by the Rev Inderjit Bhogal, Director of the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Faith Forum, Bernard Rosenberg, President of the Sheffield Representative Jewish Council, and Abdool Qadir Gooljar, President of the Sheffield Branch of the Islamic Society of Great Britain.

From The Telegraph

A KFC commercial that featured call centre staff singing with their mouths full has become the most complained-about advert of all time with 1,671 objections.

The advert was promoting the chain's Zinger Crunch salad and featured office workers singing inaudibly while eating the salad. A spokesman for the company said: The ad was always intended to be humorous and we apologised to those who felt that it wasn't.

Most callers said that it set a bad example to children, or ridiculed people with speech impediments. Some even claimed that it placed call centre employees in a bad light.

The ASA threw out the objections because the advert did not break any rules. The ASA did not censure any of the five adverts that attracted most complaints.

The other four were a poster promoting The L Word, a series on the Living TV cable channel about lesbians; a television commercial for Pot Noodle in which a man hid an oversized brass horn in his trousers; a Mazda commercial featuring a sexually-aroused mannequin and Ryanair's "London Fights Back" adverts in the wake of last July's bombings.

From the Daily Mail

Blasphemy laws could be extended to protect Muslims, it emerged yesterday. Ministers said they are willing to consider the case for changing the laws, which at present only cover attacks on the tenets and beliefs of the Church of England. The move raises the prospect of charges against anyone who criticises or pokes fun at Mohammad.

The fact Ministers are mulling a change in the blasphemy laws is a surprise as they have just passed a Religious and Racial Hatred Act in the face of fierce opposition in Parliament. Such laws were at one stage to have been abolished in favour of new religious hatred legislation but under pressure from Turkey, which wants EU-wide blasphemy regulations, Ministers may now look at extending the law. Any new blasphemy law could be used to strengthen the new religious hatred laws which were watered down in a rebellion by MPs and peers earlier this year.

From IOL

An Islamic court in the northern Nigerian city of Katsina on Monday ordered that a young man's hand be chopped off as a punishment for burglary, a court official said.

Lawal Bala Batsari, a prosecutor at the upper sharia court in Katsina, said a judge had ordered that 20-year old Idris Garba be amputated at the right wrist for stealing money and property from a house. Garba was arraigned last September after he was arrested with 14 000 naira (about $120) in cash and a video recorder, clothes and a tape deck worth a total of 27 000 naira, Batsari said. He has been given 30 days to appeal the sentence if he is not satisfied with the judgement but will remain in prison custody, Batsari said.

Katsina is one of a dozen predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria that have readopted a strict Islamic code since 1999, when the country returned to 'democracy' after 15 years of military rule.

Although several people have been convicted of theft since the law code was reintroduced in Katsina, no-one has yet been amputated in the state. Up to a dozen convicts have lost their hands in other parts of Nigeria.

From X Biz

Satellite TV viewers may be one step further away from tuning in to porn according to a ruling from a Pretoria high court judge.

Judge Ben du Plessis denied the application of Pretoria-based OtherChoice to sell smart cards that would enable viewers to pick up porn programs on their satellites from Spain’s Don’t Panic Television.

OtherChoice unsuccessfully argued that it did not need a broadcasting or signal license to sell the cards.

Du Plessis ruled that OtherChoice’s distribution of the cards violated South African law. Since local law would prohibit Don’t Panic from broadcasting pornographic material, the Judge ruled that distribution of the cards, which are required to access the programs, would circumvent South African law.

It is clear that Don't Panic TV, assisted by OtherChoice, is broadcasting into South Africa. Similarly, the two entities are providing a broadcasting service, Du Plessis wrote. By requiring a person who renders a service in this country to be licensed — albeit that person is in a foreign country while rendering the service — our legislature is not prescribing to that person what he or she may do in the foreign country. The legislature is prescribing what the effect of what the person does may be in this country.

Concluding that the service provided by OtherChoice and Don’t Panic requires a license under South African law, Du Plessis found that the South African government was free to interdict the applicant from unlawfully selling smart cards.”

From the China Post

Dancers, musicians and models rallied in Indonesia on Saturday against a proposed anti-pornography bill that could impose jail terms for kissing in public or baring "sensual" body parts.

Most of the nearly 1,000 protesters were women dressed in colorful traditional costumes that showed off their shoulders, cleavage, calves and midriffs. This bill defies logic, said rally coordinator Yeni Rosa Damayanti as they marched through the streets of the capital, Jakarta, under a light drizzle. The state shouldn't try to dictate how women dress.

The protesters said they fear traditional dancing, skimpy clothes and even bathing in rivers could be declared illegal if it is passed.

Muslim groups should not be allowed to force their beliefs on the whole country, said the demonstrators, who included actors, writers, beauty pageant finalists, and a truck loaded with transvestites.

More on Refused Classification

Back in February it was announced that control of OFLC policy would be moved to the Attorney-General’s Department. At the time this grab for power received little, or no media comment. Now it looks like staff at the OFLC are far from happy with this decision and the the Community and Public Sector Union has become involved.

from www.cpsu.org.au

The recent decision to abolish Office of Film & Literature Classification (OFLC) raises serious concerns about the future of an independent classification system that is in touch with community values and free from political interference.

Commonwealth Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock recently announced the policy and administrative functions of the OFLC would be relocated to the Attorney General's Department (AGD) in a process to be completed by 1st July 2006.

The decision was announced without consultation with key stakeholders including key industry groups, state and territory governments who share responsibility for classification and censorship in partnership with the Commonwealth, and OFLC staff.

Classification staff have expressed a number of issues and concerns at this move by the Attorney General. This places a question mark over the continued existence of an independent classification review process, at arms length from government. Further questions have been raised as to the transparency of the decision given the lack of consultation prior to the government's announcement. The changes will also impact on staff, with transitional arrangements unclear and the prospect of job losses.

Independence at stake: CPSU has spoken to staff about their issues in concerns. As a result of these discussions, the union has produced an issues paper that covers the decision making process and the possible implications for the community at large.  See www.cpsu.org.au

From the Jakarta Post

Artists, public figures, and members of ethnic groups from throughout the country are planning to march through Central Jakarta on Saturday to show their cultural opposition to the pornography bill.

Organizers say the parade organizers will demonstrate Indonesia's cultural diversity as part of a national movement to reject the bill.

The legislation, supported by Muslim leaders and the Indonesian Ulema Council, contains articles which could make it illegal for women bare their thighs, breasts or navels in public.

Those opposed to the bill say it could also end up outlawing the traditional costumes of non-Muslim ethnic groups in the country, along with the traditional kebaya and kemben dresses used in ethnic dances throughout the country.

Artist, activist and march organizer Ratna Sarumpaet said Thursday in Jakarta that around 5,000 people were expected to join the parade, gathering at 11 a.m. at the National Monument.

Ratna said the parade would present traditional dances, including Aceh's Seudati and West Java's Jaipong, a series of Papuan performances and Central Java's mesmeric Kuda Lumping.

Activist Yeni Rosa Damayanti said that the parade was not about debating religious values. Instead it was about protecting Indonesia's cultural diversity, which the bill had put under threat.

From The Times

The fine for kissing in public in Delhi, India has increased tenfold, so couples caught flouting the law now face a fine of 500 rupees (£6.21).

Officials in the Indian capital determined that the previous tariff of 50 rupees, established in 1936, was not deterring amorous couples. Sindhushree Khullar, the chairwoman of the municipal council, said: Couples found in a compromising position cause embarrassment. We want to monitor the activities of such couples.

[The Melon Framers said: Councillors found abusing their powers cause repression. We want to monitor the activities of such nutters]

From Jon

II just read your 12th April news item, about the tossers at e-Bay banning the sale of the UK Box Of The Banned DVD box set, and Joseph Mulryan's response about the films, because: Under our policy, eBay does not allow items or descriptions that graphically portray violence or victims of violence, and lacks substantial social, artistic or political value. For example, eBay will disallow sales of explicit crime scene or morgue photos and videos, the type often found in this series.

If that is the case, how come on e-Bay today (18th April), I can bid on any
of the following:

1 - DVD releases of "Men Behind The Sun" and its offspring
2 - DVD of shockumentary footage
3 - Other Box Of The Banned DVD's
4 - A DVD pirate-copy of the uncut Dutch VHS version of Anthropophagus: The Grim-Reaper

I feel that e-Bay seems to not have a single bloody clue about what it allows and doesn't allow. Oh, and did we forget to mention the numerous amount of pirated DVD's of mainstream films, and CD's, not forgetting brand-name shoes, clothing, etc, that e-Bay also seems to not notice?!

From Iran Focus

The Supreme Court reserved judgment Wednesday in the case of a Vancouver gay and lesbian bookstore that wants Ottawa to pick up the legal tab for a lawsuit against Canada Customs.

The arguments drew pointed questions from the justices for both sides, which lawyer Joseph Avray saw as a good thing he said after the hearing: I think they understand that this is a complex question. As they are wont to do, they like to explore it from all sides. They like to have their questions answered, they like to be helped with what's troubling them. They posed tough questions to all counsel.

He said the suit would never have been filed if Customs had followed the last ruling and improved the way it makes obscenity decisions: The court's order last time around simply didn't have enough teeth and we're here to get a court order with plenty of teeth.

From Brunei Direct

Internet service and content providers have been told to watch content which goes against public interest, national harmony, decency and social morals.

The Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office said yesterday unhealthy and inaccurate content on the Internet could mar Brunei's image to the outside world and investor interest towards the country.

Pg Dato Paduka Hi Ismail also called on managers of cyber cafes to be extra vigilant in making sure that their users get registered in ensuring that the Internet is not abused.

Speaking on cyber cafes which have been told to use a logbook for users, he urged them to install a firewall to ensure that students do not abuse the facility at the cafes.

The Broadcasting Act requires that any licence holder that provides any broadcasting service must ensure that their service is not used or continued to be used for lottery purposes. It must also ensure that the service is not abused to advertise, supply or promote any religions besides Islam, any practice against the teachings of Islam or to attract customers for prostitution or any immoral acts.

Meanwhile, the Internet code of practice stipulates that a licence holder must ensure that content is not against the public interest or country's harmony. In particular, the content does not contain material-that brings hatred, insult or spark dissatisfaction towards His Majesty, the government or people in Brunei that attempts at reform unless through legitimate ways

From the BBC

An ITV1 children's drama which showed a character gagged and apparently hanging from coat hooks has been criticised by TV regulator Ofcom.

The January episode of ITV1's Bernard showed the lead character taking steps to prevent a class bully from ruining a school jousting tournament. But Ofcom said the scene, in a school changing room, was "problematic". It added that broadcasters should be aware of showing dangerous behaviour which could be easily imitated. The regulator said it was concerned that children could imitate this behaviour, without recognising the consequences.

Nicolette, the class bully in the show, appeared to be hanging directly from the coat hangers with rope, Ofcom said: Although the scene illustrated Bernard's success in foiling Nicolette's plans, this did not provide a sufficient editorial justification for this content.nd we have no reason to doubt this - this was not apparent from the footage, the watchdog said.

From All Headline News

Philippine film censors are being pressured to join the bandwagon in trying to block the film The Da Vinci Code. Besides certain religious groups, this governmental agency is now reviewing whether to allow the controversial film to be viewed in that nation.

Censors are now under intense pressure to ban the public screening of the controversial film in the predominantly Catholic country.

Consoliza Laguardia, head of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), says a local anti-pornography group has sought the banning of the film.

The film, based on the book by Dan Brown, centers around the theory that Jesus Christ had a relationship with Mary Magdalene and they had children.

Laguardia says the MTRCB still has to decide what course of action to take on the petition to stop the public screening of the movie, which is scheduled for worldwide release on May 19. She says, There is pressure, but we have to see it first and see the context in its entirety.

Vendors in the business of selling leaked or pirated DVDs and CDs have reported an increase in requests for the film.

Based on an article from CTV. See also Little Sisters Bookstore

Little Sisters, the Vancouver gay and lesbian book store that has been fighting government censorship rules for 20 years, is back before the Supreme Court of Canada this week, asking for financial help to pay for its latest court challenge.

The cost of the store's fight against bureaucrats who label books and magazines obscene and block them at the border is far beyond its resources, says Jim Deva, co-owner of Little Sisters.

A lower-court judge in British Columbia ruled that the case was important enough to deserve federal financial aid, but the provincial court of appeal decided otherwise last year.

The store won a key Supreme Court ruling in 2000, with a decision that said Customs had a right to censor material, but had to change the way it did so.

Little Sisters, though, says Customs has not changed. Its latest censorship case involves four publications that were ruled obscene in 2001 and 2003, including two series of comic books and two books on bondage and sadomasochism.

But that fight is on hold while lawyers argue the financing. What we're after is some financial help so we can actually get the court case to court, Deva said. Precedents say that people can get government funding for court challenges deemed to be of major importance. Deva is upset that the appeal court didn't see his case as important.

The latest case has drawn a flock of intervenors, including the Canadian Bar Association, Egale Canada, the Canadian Aids Society, the Sierra Legal Defence Fund and Environmental Law Centre and the attorneys general of both Ontario and British Columbia.

From Middle East Online

Two Oscar-winning US films have caused headaches for government censors in the conservative Muslim Arab states of the Gulf, including Dubai.

Syriana is a sinister tale of the United States' goals of "fighting terrorism", promoting democracy in the Middle East and securing its oil and military interests. It premiered in theatres in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday with two minutes of controversial scenes cut out.

Before it could be released, it took four months for censors to comb through the movie, partly shot in Dubai two years ago. Missing from the UAE version were scenes showing mistreatment of Asian workers in the Gulf, and references to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a late Saudi king.

The movie has already opened in Egypt but is unlikely to be screened anywhere else in the Middle East, distributor Shooting Stars said. It has been assailed by many as anti-Arab, anti-US or both.

As for Brokeback Mountain, a story of two male cowboys falling in love in the conservative American West, its Beirut-based distributor, Italia Films, said it had dropped plans to try to show the movie in the Gulf after discussing its taboo topic with concerned ministries and receiving negative feedback.

We asked whether a film with such a subject would be approved. They told us they would rather not deal with it, Jean Shaheen of Italia Films said. Homosexuality is a serious offence in the Gulf, punishable by flogging and imprisonment. In February, 11 men were sentenced to six years in jail in the UAE after a raid on a gay party in a desert hotel.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all to varying degrees censor or ban books, music, magazines, newspapers and films they deem offensive to social and religious values or threatening to their political stability and security. Ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia bans movie theatres altogether.

Kuwait has the toughest censorship. 50% of movies are banned, said Salim Ramia, founder of Dubai-based Gulf Film.

Many say censorship has spurred piracy and even clandestine Internet screenings of movies like Syriana and Brokeback Mountain in the region. On a recent afternoon Chinese vendors were seen hawking pirated DVDs of both films and hundreds of others at an outdoor coffee shop in Dubai's centre.

The practice of censorship in Dubai clashes with the image the city wants to project as a cosmopolitan business centre and a glamorous tourist destination aiming to attract 15 million visitors by 2010.

It is part of the gimmick. If you come as a tourist, sit on a beach, eat well and do a desert safari then you are not going to see the things that are contrary to what they advertise, Ramia said.

Aleem Jumaa, head of the Dubai censorship office, said: We would never allow anything that is disrespectful to the country or the president, causes security problems, insults religions, exhibits immorality like nudity or promotes vices like alcohol and drugs. He said these prohibitions were outlined in the country's printing and publishing law.

Jumaa said Syriana was an exception because his office felt it required a second opinion from authorities in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the seven-emirate federation and the source of its oil wealth. The cut scenes show Asian workers fired from an oil rig and one of the labourers, Wassim, getting into an argument with police who beat him and his father with batons. Wassim is later lured by a radical Islamist cleric.

UAE censors also did not like a comment made by US actor Matt Damon's character that a major Saudi construction company owned by bin Laden's family air-conditioned (the holy city of) Mecca and made billions and billions. They also cut a brief shot showing late Saudi king Fahd, who was a close US ally, in a framed photograph posing with the powerful and corrupt lawyer character played by Canadian actor Christopher Plummer.

A spokesman for the movie's distributor said censors went over the script and told the makers to remove all references to Gulf leaders and countries before allowing them to shoot here. So what emerged was a country somewhere in "the Persian Gulf" and events and characters that appear to be a composite of the real thing.

From Calendar Live

In a move that seems certain to force a showdown over what constitutes indecency on the airwaves, four TV broadcast networks and their affiliates announced Friday that they had united to challenge a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling that deemed language used in several of their shows indecent.

CBS, Fox, ABC and Hearst-Argyle Television Inc. filed notices of appeal in federal court. They are seeking to overturn a March 15 ruling that found some broadcasts of the CBS News program The Early Show, Billboard Music Awards on Fox and ABC's drama NYPD Blue to be indecent because they contained variations on two obscenities: 'fuck' and 'shit'.

Of the offending incidents, which all aired between 2002 and 2004, those on CBS and Fox involved words that the networks said were blurted out spontaneously. Those on ABC were scripted.

None of the incidents involved NBC, but the network filed a petition to intervene on behalf of the three other networks and their affiliates. NBC is waiting to resolve its own FCC complaints, including one involving U2 lead singer Bono, who uttered an obscenity while accepting an award at the 2003 Golden Globes.

The networks want the FCC to not only reverse its ruling but also to establish clearer guidelines about what is indecent.

In addition to going to court, the networks and affiliate groups representing more than 800 of the nation's TV stations issued an unusual joint statement Friday, calling the ruling unconstitutional and arguing that any obscenities contained in the programs were fleeting, isolated — and in some cases unintentional. The FCC overstepped its authority in an attempt to regulate content protected by the 1st Amendment, acted arbitrarily and failed to provide broadcasters with a clear and consistent standard for determining what content the government intends to penalize.

Privately, network executives vowed that this week's filings were the first of what will be many challenges they intend to file against the FCC in the coming months.

From The Independent

Anti-terror measures planned in the aftermath of the July 7 bombings and brought into force yesterday have been given a hostile reception by MPs and civil liberty lawyers who branded them absurd and a curtailment of free speech.

The new laws, included in the Terrorism Act 2006, make it a criminal offence to say or do anything that glorifies terrorism. They also give more powers to the Government to ban groups which publish material that seeks to support any form of terrorism.

But MPs and civil liberty lawyers said the laws were unnecessary, as there was already legislation in place to combat terrorism. The Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn described the glorification ban as "absurd". He said: The legislation is misguided and the whole concept of glorification is frankly absurd, and will end up entrapping the innocent and preventing legitimate debate. He argued that one person's terrorist was another's freedom fighter: Nelson Mandela was branded a terrorist by Margaret Thatcher.

Muslim groups appealed to the Government to exercise "maximum restraint and caution" over applying the new measures. The Muslim Council of Britain's secretary general Sir Iqbal Sacranie said: The fact that these laws are based upon a number of false premises and an unacceptably vague definition of terrorism makes them a recipe for disaster, as well as a huge blow to our freedoms.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, warned that the new law was not only oppressive but unworkable.

From the BBC

The duo behind South Park have used the cartoon's latest episode to attack their network for banning them from using an image of the Prophet Muhammad.

Comedy Central prevented Matt Stone and Trey Parker from using the image after the furore caused by a Danish newspaper publishing caricatures of Muhammad.

Instead, Wednesday's episode showed an image of Jesus Christ defecating on President George Bush and the US flag.

Comedy Central said in a statement that it stood by its decision: In light of recent world events, we feel we made the right decision.

From The Digital Divide, See also www.DearAOL.com

AOL was caught red-handed today censoring email to AOL customers that included a link to an AOL opposition site.

Over 300 people reported that they had tried sending AOL subscribers messages that contained a link to www.DearAOL.com but received a bounceback message informing them that their email "failed permanently."

After the DearAOL.com Coalition (600 organizations convened by Free Press, MoveOn and EFF to protest AOL's pay-to-send email plan) notified the press of this blocking, AOL quickly cleared the opposition URL from their filters, alleging a "software glitch."

Today’s events prove the DearAOL.com Coalition’s point entirely: Left to their own devices, AOL will always put its own self interest ahead of the public interest. AOL wants us to believe they won’t hurt free email when their pay-to-send system is up and running. But if AOL is willing to censor the flow of information to silence their critics, today, how could anyone trust that they will preserve the free and open internet down the road?

According to EFF's Danny O'Brien, ISPs like AOL can silently ban huge swathes of legitimate mail for the flimsiest of reasons. The problem is that no-one hears about it. It's only when DearAOL users cried foul, that this censorship came to light. This begs the question: how many other emails with important information have been barred by AOL?

AOL's actions today should put everyone on alert against network giants promising to be good stewards of a free and open Internet.

I find it hard to believe that a one filter-fits-all could ever be very useful to even those that think it may be useful. If a family had kids of various ages, where would one set the filter? At a level only suitable for 5 year olds, 10 year olds, 15 year olds? What happens if the parents would like to have free reign when they surf? Presumably they will have to opt for a full feed and install a properly controllable local filter anyway.

Based on an article from News.com

An Australian-first trial to filter Internet pornography will begin in Tasmania this year. Organised by Tasmanian senator Guy Barnett, the trial is supposedly aimed at preventing children from accessing inappropriate internet material by blocking pornographic material at the ISP level. The technology also will be used to filter extreme violence.

The trial will be conducted by two companies, Sydney-based Internet Sheriff Technology and US filtering company RuleSpace. It is understood Internet Sheriff Technology has reached agreement with about 50% of ISPs to participate.

Once the trial begins, adults wanting access to pornography will have to contact their ISP to opt out of the filtering.

Senator Barnett, announcing the trial in Launceston yesterday, said he believed every Australian had a fundamental right to access the internet free from pornography and extreme violence.

If successful, the three-month trial could be expanded nationally, Senator Barnett said and he would be advising Communications Minister Helen Coonan of the results of the trial.

From  Backlash

The Home Office said they won't be doing the same as the Scottish Executive and publishing responses. We can though, by right, request any that are there via the freedom of information route.

Several copies are up for auction at the moment along with all of the constituent films.

Thanks to David

I was bidding on a DVD box set via eBay only to find that when I woke up the following day the item had been removed. I had also received an e-mail from eBay informing me the listing had been removed by eBay for not being within their criteria of what can and cannot be sold on eBay.

The box set in question: Box of the Banned by Anchor Bay which features 18 certificate versions of: The Evil Dead, Last House on the Left, Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, Driller Killer, I Spit on Your Grave, Zombie Flesh Eaters + two documentaries Ban the Sadist Videos & Fear, Panic & Censorship which are generally about the censorship of video nasties in the UK.

This box set is available in Virgin, HMV etc…as well as on Amazon and almost every other DVD retailer on the web but seemingly eBay are having none of it.

I mailed eBay asking to explain why it had been removed and received the response below.

Why did you stop this auction? This set of DVDs is sold in HMV, Virgin etc etc... I am curious to know your justification in removing this item. Every film included in this set has been classified certificate 18 by the British Board of Film Classification. Your rules are becoming very hostile and rather petulant to say the least! Please explain.

EBay’s response:

Even if an item is given a rating for general sale in the UK by the BBFC, this does not exempt such an item from eBay policy.

Under our policy, eBay does not allow items or descriptions that graphically portray violence or victims of violence, and lacks substantial social, artistic or political value. For example, eBay will disallow sales of explicit crime scene or morgue photos and videos, the type often found in this series.

Please refer to the following link for more information regarding the above policy:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/community/png-offensive.html

Joseph Mulryan
eBay Community Watch Team

From Oh My News

President George W. Bush and the Justice Department are among the winners of the 2006 Jefferson Muzzle awards, given by a free-speech group to those it considers the worst violators of constitutional rights in the past year.

Bush led the list, compiled by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, for authorizing the National Security Agency to tap the phones of U.S. citizens who make calls overseas. The wiretaps were conducted without authorization from a federal court. The White House predictably defended the warrantless wiretapping program as necessary to fight terrorism.

The Justice Department earned a Muzzle for demanding that Google turn over thousands of Internet records, prompting concerns that more invasive requests could follow if the government prevails.

If individuals are fearful that their communications will be intercepted by the government, such fears are likely to chill their speech, the Jefferson center said.

Other winners of the 15th annual awards include the Department of Homeland Security for barring an air marshal from expressing concerns about public safety; the Yelm, Washington state, City Council for banning the words ''Wal-Mart'' and ''big-box stores'' at public hearings; and students at the University of Connecticut who heckled conservative columnist Ann Coulter.

The center, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, awards the Muzzles each year to mark the April 13 birthday of Thomas Jefferson, the third president and a First Amendment advocate. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees such basic rights as freedom of speech and the press.

From the Press Gazette

A freelance photographer has been arrested and charged with obstructing the police after taking pictures of armed officers in central Nottingham.

Alan Lodge had his mobile phone and camera confiscated. He says the police action flies in the face of a protocol on dealing with the press which was agreed with the force just a month ago. One of these guidelines sates: Police officers do not have the authority to prevent a person taking a photograph or to confiscate cameras or film, and such conduct could result in criminal, civil or disciplinary action.

The guidelines continue: The media has a legitimate role to play in informing the public and they will attend the scene of incidents. The presence of a photographer or reporter at an incident does not of itself constitute any unlawful obstruction or interference.

According to the Nottingham NUJ branch, he was in the St Ann's area of Nottingham when he saw armed police on an operation and started to photograph them. They approached him and asked him to stop taking photos. He said no, I'm in a public place and I'm not breaking the law.

Lodge was then arrested and charged with "wilfully obstructing a police officer". He appeared in court last week and was released on bail to appear again on 2 May.

From Iran Focus

Iran’s hard-line culture minister has berated cinemas in the country for being too “vulgar” and said that he planned to carry out a major shake-up of the institution so that it conformed to Islam’s “moral foundations”.

Unfortunately, Iran’s cinemas have become vulgarised over the past few years due to inattention by certain officials, Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi said

Saffar-Harandi is a close advisor to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is a former deputy editor in chief of ultra-conservative daily Kayhan.

In November, the Revolutionary Guard general-turned-media censor announced that he was purging his ministry of officials he viewed as having failed to protect Islamic values: Books published in Iran should not attack our religious values.

From Scoop. The DVD is available from Amazon, Canada

Banned in India, Water Deepa Mehta’s new film examines the complexities of the caste system.

Deepa Mehta’s courage in making the film and fighting the institutional restrictions that still exist in India, reflects the ability of one person with a vision to make a powerful political statement. Conservative protesters, who destroyed film sets, threatened to set themselves ablaze and imposed death threats on Mehta herself, halted filming. The disruption caused the filming to be shut down and although the film has been made, five years after initial production, it continues to be banned in India.

At AIDWATCH’s presentation of Water in Australia, Wendy Bacon free speech campaigner for over three decades, will highlight the links between the current context in India and the looming issues surrounding censorship and aid and the imminent threats to advocacy groups in Australia.

From Iran Focus

The new Palestinian culture minister has set his sights on stamping out pornography — and belly dancing.

Atallah Abu Al Subbah, a senior official of Hamas, said belly dancing was “a form of striptease”: I do not regard forms of pornography and striptease as culture. They are destructive.

Abu Al Subbah blamed Israel for the spread of pornographic movies in Gaza and the West Bank. He vowed to confront the vice by boosting the “culture of resistance” and Islamic values. Israel spreads pornographic movies among our people as a means to recruit them, the minister said.

From the BBC

A religious group in Korea has applied for a provisional injunction to stop the release of the movie version of the novel The Da Vinci Code

The Christian Council of Korea (CCK) filed its application in Seoul against the film's distributor Sony Pictures, according to Screen International.  CCK said the film was "an insult and defamation" of the holiness of Jesus Christ and the Bible.  The group added that they were concerned about the damage that would be caused to individuals' faith because of the film's content.

Strange times indeed when mere communication is deemed so dangerous

From The Telegraph, See also www.bebo.com

Schools across the country are banning pupils from accessing a popular social networking website.

Schools have become so concerned about the site that they are also warning parents to monitor closely their children's internet use when they are at home.

Up to 4.5 million people in Britain have signed up to the site since its launch last summer. It is at the heart of a growing on-line social networking craze among youngsters. The site is aimed at people between the ages of 13 and 30, but has proved particularly popular with school students, and even primary school pupils. It allows members to create mini-homepages with pictures and personal profiles. They can also share pictures and messages with other users.

One school to have banned the site is Kent College, an independent girls boarding school near Tunbridge Wells. Bill Burles, the school's director of information and communication technology (ICT), said: When we found the site, about 170 of our pupils had signed up to it. There was stuff on there slagging off teachers, there was bad language, bullying and inappropriate images. We held a parents information evening about it, and there was a lot of jaw dropping from parents when we told them what was going on. Burles added: The girls don't realise this stuff is available to everyone. They think it is only accessible for their friends. They don't realise the whole world can view it.

In Norfolk, the website has been blocked in all 453 schools and parents have now been warned about their children logging on at home. It is understood to be the first education authority to impose a blanket ban, although others are now thought to be following suit.

Jim Scheinman, Bebo's vice president, described the decision to ban the site from schools as "censorship".

He said: We take privacy and security very seriously. The internet and social networking have not created bullying. When bullying occurs on-line, just like off line, this creates a teachable moment for educators, parents and students. Engaging the students in these teachable moments seems more sensible than censorship.

From the BBC

Chinese authorities have added Rough Justice from the Bigger Bang album to the Rollin Stone's banned list of  Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Woman, Beast of Burden and Let's Spend the Night Together.

Lead singer Sir Mick Jagger said the band were not worried by the censorship and had fully expected it.

The Rolling Stones do not have such a devoted Chinese following and it is widely expected the majority of the audience will be non-Chinese. Sir Mick sarcastically added: I'm pleased that the Ministry of Culture is protecting the morals of the expat bankers and their girlfriends that are going to be coming.

From the New York Times

Only a few months ago Mariwan Halabjayi was an obscure Kurdish writer. Now he is a famous fugitive who moves from house to house, not daring to go near the windows for fear that assassins will catch sight of him.

He says he has been receiving death threats by phone since January, when his new book on sex and Islam touched off angry street demonstrations in several Kurdish cities in Iraq. He says his ordeal is proof that even here in Kurdistan, the most secular and peaceful part of Iraq, there is no escape from militant Islam.

After the protests started, the book was discussed on editorial pages and television and radio talk shows, with some clerics angrily calling for the author to be punished. The regional government's minister for endowments and religion, Muhammad Gaznay, publicly denounced it. Halabjayi says the Kurdistan Islamic Group, one of the region's main Islamist parties, threatened him with death for insulting Islam.

It is his 14th book, and the latest of several that criticize Islam, he said. But the earlier critiques of Islam were published under pseudonyms. This time he used his own name on the cover, and in passages about sex he used vulgar language, including slang terms for the male and female genitalia.

The book, Halabjayi said, argues that "women have no rights in Islam" and condemns polygamy and other practices allowed under many interpretations of the Koran. It also portrays the religion generally as a formula for terrorism and extremism. Halabjayi said he had been raised as a Muslim but no longer considered himself one.

His new book was published in November. It went through two editions of 1,000 copies each with only minor protests from religious figures. In January there were street demonstrations in Iraqi Kurdistan against the Danish cartoons, and the protesters denounced Halabjayi's book too. Halabjayi grants that the criticism helped sell the book, which quickly went through two more editions.

It was then that the threats began, he said, mostly anonymous phone calls. At the same time, a group of Muslim clerics presented a petition to a court in Sulaimaniya asking that Iraq's blasphemy laws be invoked against the author. A judge opened an investigation and ordered Halabjayi to appear at a hearing.

So far Halabjayi has refused to do so. He says he does not trust the Iraqi legal system to judge him fairly.

From ABC

Retailers in Western Australia will be forced to store violent video games separately from lower rated games,

The state Government's Censorship Amendment Bill makes it an offence, carrying a $5,000 fine, to sell or rent games with an MA-15 plus rating to minors.

The Liberals and the Greens combined in the Upper House last night to also make it an offence for shopkeepers to freely display the games.

Opposition's spokesman for children Barbara Scott says it will help prevent children accessing the games: At the moment, a child can go in with their carer or babysitter or parent. There's no problem with that person, an adult hiring it or buying it, but this measure will now at least make that adult be aware that the contents are not appropriate for young children.

Based on an article from the Brussels Journal

An Estonian soldier on his way home after having served with the coalition forces in Afghanistan, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates and will be flogged. Andrei Korol was accused of being drunk and harassing a local policewoman while he was in transit at Sharjah international airport where they “make your life easy.”

The incident happened on 23 February. There were no witnesses of the alleged harassment. Korol’s comrades say that he was so tired and drunk that most of the time at the airport he was napping. UAE law does not allow locals to drink at all while foreigners can do it only in certain designated areas.

A court sentenced the Estonian sergeant major to a one month jail sentence for drinking and had him choose between either three months in jail or a barbarous 80 lashes with a whip (which could be fatal). His lawyer says Korol chose flogging. He has already spent more than a month in a local jail.

Estonia has soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The soldiers are there for six months on a voluntary basis.

Based on an article from Yorkshire Post Today

Nutters in Bradford campaigning against Jerry Springer: The Opera won a hollow victory when councillors agreed to debate their petition but only after the show is staged at the Alhambra theatre in May.

The nutters  were invited to present their case to a full meeting of Bradford Council, which owns the Alhambra, where the comic musical has been booked from May 22 to May 27. They packed the public gallery at City Hall to support a petition for the council to withdraw the show from the city. Many more stood outside the building handing out leaflets to the public explaining why the musical should not come to the Alhambra.

One of the clergymen organising the Bradford protest, Nick Jones, vicar of St John's in Great Horton read a statement to council members supporting the petition. Jones is one of the organisers of a loose federation called Prayer For Bradford, which raised 2,208 signatures against the Jerry Springer show from 59 churches. They objected to jokes about Jesus, the crucifixion and the virgin birth.
He said: In our belief, this show gives offence in that it defames and denigrates the name and person of Jesus Christ, belief in whom is central to the faith of thousands of Christians in the Bradford district.

Later, he said I am pleased the council is going to give this further consideration but we will be pressing them to hold a meeting before the show is staged in May.

From AVN

Just before moving to the post, Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice barred porn magazines from the U.S. State Department, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The news magazine is reporting that Rice was alerted by an aide last year about porn magazines encased in plain brown paper were placed along with other magazines on newsstands.

Once she was confirmed by the Senate to her new post, Rice had the magazines removed and permanently barred from the public building. An aide said that Rice didn’t understand how her department could stand for women’s rights around the world while selling pornography that supposedly degrades women.

Rice reportedly said such magazines added to a “hostile work environment.”

From Ofcom

After being withdrawn from Showtime in the USA, Takashi Miike's Imprint will be screened on Bravo next month as part of the Masters of Horror series.There will be a preview on Friday 7th April at 11pm.  The director of Audition and Ichi the Killer was unsurprised by Showtime's decision said, 'I could not suppress the volume of terror that this film conveys'.

The next volume of the Masters of Horror  series, which includes Mick Garris' 'Chocolate' and Don Coscarelli's 'Incident On and Off a Mountain Road', is available on DVD from 15th May 2006.

Based on an article from Mac User

The online meeting place Myspace has been ejecting tens of thousands of profiles from its service. According to reports, it has removed some 200,000 'objectionable' profiles from its service on grounds ranging from racist comments to being too risqué.

The MySpace social networking service, which claims millions of regular users, was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp last year. It is now cracking down on those who do not abide by the rules of online behaviour as set by News Corp.

Under the safety tips on the site, Myspace states Harassment, hate speech and inappropriate content should be reported. If you feel someone's behaviour is inappropriate, react. Talk with a trusted adult, or report it to MySpace or the authorities. It also warns that people should think twice before posting a photo or info you wouldn't want your parents or boss to see, and that If you lie about your age, MySpace will delete your profile. MySpace users should be at least 14 years old.

News Corp, which also owns the noxious Fox News in the US, is particularly concerned by a possible backlash from parents and teachers who complain about objectionable content visible to the millions of American teenagers who use the service.

From the Bangkok Post

New Internet technologies such as podcasting and videocasting cannot be used for disseminating political information during the upcoming Singapore general election, the government said in a recent published statement.

Bloggers are allowed to discuss politics but will have to register their sites if they consistently espouse a political line.

Streaming of "explicit political content" by parties or individuals has been banned under election advertising rules set in 2001.

The latest clarifications are supposedly aimed at curtailing the scope of those who hoped to use the internet to influence the polls, said Dr Balaji Sadasivan, senior minister of state for information, communications and the arts, in a breakdown of the new rules in The Straits Times.

Increasingly popular is podcasting, an Internet audio feed. Podcasting is not among the "positive list" of regulations which spells out what political parties, candidates and election agents can do to promote themselves during the campaign, Balaji said.

In the November 2001 polls, online electioneering was limited mainly to political parties posting their candidates' biographies and rally information on websites. In elaborating, Balaji said that websites of political parties and those who take an avowedly political stance have to be registered by the Media Development Authority (MDA).

Bloggers who "persistently propagate, promote or circulate political issues relating to Singapore" are also required to register with the MDA. During the election period, these registered persons will not be permitted to provide material online that constitutes election advertising, he said.