Based on an article from Leamington Spa Today
See also Leamington Studio Artists

Leamington artist Neil Moore has accused the Pump Room gallery and museum of "blatant censorship" after it decided not to go ahead with a planned exhibition of his work.

Moore has lived in the town for 30 years and had his paintings displayed to critical acclaim across the UK and in Europe and America. The part-time lecturer at Warwickshire College is regarded as one of the district's more influential artists and teachers.

But his explicit figurative pieces, which he admits often possess a "ambiguity" and deal with "gender issues and issues of physical idealisation", were deemed inappropriate by Pump Room gallery managers.
A forthcoming exhibition, which Moore says was agreed with a previous curator, was pulled.

Accusing the gallery of nanny state-ism Moore said: I am perplexed by their decision as my work has often been exhibited in the gallery in group shows. The unelected guardians of public taste at the Pump Rooms, the manager Jeff Watkin and curator Chloe Johnson, are worried it may offend the delicate sensibilities of the people of Leamington.

The imagery, as you would expect from an artist, is sometimes challenging - but they were aware of this when I was encouraged to apply. Their patronising attitude amounts to blatant censorship and doesn't allow people of the district to make up their own minds.

I realise such decisions go through a hierarchy, but this is a recipe for asinine exhibitions in the future - and a battle I thought had been won at least half a century ago.

County council heritage and arts manager Watkin claimed the artist was never formally offered the showing - and that it was the age of some of the naked forms which prompted the decision: He met us and we had concerns about some of the images of young naked bodies. It's the kind of thing a commercial gallery would show, but we aim at a more family audience and suggested he need to think about providing fairly strong interpretation with the pieces to avoid it being inflammatory to our specific audience. These things are of course subjective.

From Martin Barker, to all readers of Melonfarmers:

Here is a very rare opportunity. We are doing some serious research into how audiences feel about, and respond to, films involving sexual violence. And we really want to include your views. If you don’t have time to read on through this message, then please at least notice this web address: www.extremefilmsresearch.org.uk

I think quite a few of you will know my name, and that I have long had an interest in issues around ‘effects’, and have been very critical of a lot of standard claims about this. Well, partly as an outcome of this, and of some other research I have done (on audience responses to Straw Dogs), we have gained the funding support to mount a research project from Aberystwyth into responses to five films which gave the BBFC pause for thought. In four cases they made cuts, of varying ‘strengths’. In the fifth case, they passed the film uncut. The five films are:

A Ma Soeur
Baise-Moi
House on the Edge of the Park
Ichi the Killer
Irreversible

The idea we pitched to the BBFC, was for a project to find out how actual (rather than possible or guessed at) audiences really felt about and responded to these films – and in particular, how they felt about the contribution that the scenes of sexual violence make to the films, and what differences any cuts made to the films. One part of this project involves the questionnaire which we have posted on a special website. We are not assuming you will have liked, or enjoyed, or approve of these films – in fact the whole point of the research is to try to get all kinds of responses to them. But whatever your views on them, it will help us greatly if you would complete the questionnaire, for as many of the five films as you have seen.

The BBFC have guaranteed that we can publish the findings of the research in any form that we choose. I will make sure that in due course we let everyone know, via Melonfarmers, where and how the findings will be published. The BBFC will listen to what we learn. It is then up to them if and how this influences their future policy on films of this kind. Our job is simply to make sure our research is strong and reliable.

So, please visit the research website and complete the questionnaire if you can – and tell other people, both in the UK and elsewhere.

Thanks very much

Martin

From The Telegraph

Ofcom is heading for a showdown with Brussels over plans for EU-wide regulation of the continent's €270bn (£180bn) telecoms industry.

The UK watchdog has been fearful for some time that the EU information society and media commissioner Viviane Reding wants to create a single, all-powerful telecoms industry regulator.

Last night she confirmed those plans.

Ofcom is known to be concerned about aspects of plans by the EU to regulate some content carried on the internet.

Many of Reding's proposals have sparked outrage among telecoms companies, who accuse her of being a populist who fails to listen to the industry.

Speaking two days before she officially unveils her plans to reform the industry, Reding's most controversial proposal was the creation of an independent European telecoms regulator to guide and instruct member states on how to apply EU rules: Variations of regulatory approach are today an obstacle to the internal market and to effective competition. The most effective way to achieve a real level playing field for telecom operators across the EU would of course be create an independent European telecom regulator that would work together with national regulators.

From CNET News

At a hearing before the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, politicians served up a dizzying slew of suggestions about what kind of new federal laws should be enacted.

The ideas were all over the map, and most were new. Only one or two have actually been turned into formal legislation so far, but politicians are vowing to take action in the very near future.

The following is a roundup of some of the proposals for new federal laws, rules or regulations that would target Americans in the name of child protection, if various members of Congress get their way.

• Forcibly blocking Web sites: Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, lauded a U.K. approach that involves compiling a list of illicit Web sites and using it to cordon off access to them.
   
• Eavesdropping on what Americans are doing online: Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, suggested surveillance might do the trick. One issue that keeps recurring is how these companies are monitoring communications that might reveal the contents are child pornography, she suggested.
   
• Making certain hyperlinks illegal: One antigambling bill in Congress a few years ago would have required companies to delete hyperlinks to offshore gambling sites. Now the idea is resurfacing. Who's able to link to which site...and how we filter that out is key, said Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican.
   
• Recording which customer is assigned which Internet Protocol address: Rep. Ed Whitfield, a Kentucky Republican said he wanted to learn about ISP's retention policies for IP addresses in particular.
   
• Dispatching "search and destroy" bots: The idea of disrupting peer-to-peer networks surfaced in 2002 in the House of Representatives, and Sen. Orrin Hatch said a year later that copyright holders should be allowed to remotely destroy the computers of music pirates. Now Rep. Walden has revived that idea, proposing that search and destroy bots be launched to scour the Internet for illicit content.
   
• Restricting naughty Webcams: Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican cited a New York Times article about an adolescent boy who charged customers to watch him perform erotic acts in front of his Web cam. We've heard about one Web site that had 140,000 images of adolescents from their Web cam.
   
• Recording e-mail correspondents and Web pages visited: Amazingly, even though we require telephone companies to keep records of telephone calls for 18 months...there is no federal law for Internet communications and there is no industry standard, said DeGette, the Colorado Democrat. DeGette has been a leading proponent in the House of Representatives of data retention and already drafted legislation making it mandatory for Internet providers and Web sites.
   
• Taking aim at search engines: Search engines were accused of selling sponsored links that relate to sex and minors. I have serious concerns about the adequacy of efforts by the search engine providers, said Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat.
   
• Letting government bureaucrats rate chat rooms: Video games and movies have ratings, so why not chat rooms, Rep. Stearns proposed.
   
• Permitting the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to send subpoenas to Internet providers: This idea came from Gerard Lewis, Comcast's deputy general counsel and chief privacy officer. A 1996 federal law called the Electronic Communication Transactional Records Act currently requires Internet providers to retain any "record" in their possession for 90 days "upon the request of a governmental entity."
   
• Targeting peer-to-peer networks: Politicians have been talking about enacting new laws targeting P2P networks since early 2003. Now it may happen. Government reports have talked about finding child pornography on P2P networks, and Stupak said he wants to find a way to pull the plug: We have to find a way to block the peer to peer from person to person.
  
  Granting Internet censorship power to federal bureaucrats: Under the current U.S. legal system, only a judge can decide what's legally obscene or pornographic. Barton said the judicial process takes too long to rule in prosecutions of child pornography. Why is it not possible to immediately terminate that site? You have to have some agency of the government definitively say that is child pornography. Once that's established, why can't we immediately cut off that site? (That would avoid) waiting for a court to go out and convict the people operating the site.

First rate work from Ofwatch in getting Ofcom to reveal a little more about how they made the decision to ban R18s.

More details and commentary at Ofwatch

After pressure from Ofwatch, Ofcom have now published minutes from some of the key meetings to discussion the issue of R18s on TV.

25th Content Board meeting minutes
26th Content Board meeting minutes

As far as the Content Board minutes were concerned it would appear that there was considerable disagreement at Ofcom over what should have happen regarding the R18 issue:

The (non unanimous) recommendation of the executive was:

That the transmission of “R18” sex material was acceptable under Article 22(1) of the TWF Directive i.e. the transmission of such material might not ‘seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of minors’; and

That generally accepted security standards could be applied, so that members of the public would be adequately protected from offensive and harmful material.

But that the executive had decided not to make a recommendation on the third test whether people under the age of 18 could be protected by means of adequate security mechanisms.

The Content board was divided over the first point, agreed with the second point but after considerable, the Content Board agreed that the current level of protection available would not adequately protect people under the age of 18.

It was also noted that should the R18 ban be lifted that Ofcom would need to identify what level/form of protection would be required and that any such requirements would need to be potentially achievable by all broadcasters/platform providers.

On balance (although the Board was very evenly divided), the Content Board felt that there was insufficient evidence to indicate whether or not the physical, mental or moral development of minors might be seriously impaired by the transmission of such material, and therefore until such evidence was available they should take a cautious approach to this issue.

The ideas mentioned above seem to have been adopted but now appear in a slightly different legislative vehicle.

From CNET News

Web site operators posting sexually explicit information must slap warning labels on their pages or face prison terms of up to 15 years, according to a proposal adopted by a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday.

During a day of debate on a wide-ranging communications bill, the Senate Commerce Committee approved an amendment backed by the Bush administration that proponents claim would help clean up the Internet and protect children online.

It says that commercial Web sites must not place "sexually explicit material" on their home pages upon pain of felony prosecution--and, in addition, they must rate each page or screen of the website that does contain sexually explicit material with a system to be devised by the Federal Trade Commission.

This will protect children from accidentally typing in the wrong address and immediately viewing indecent material, said Senator Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican.

Civil libertarians have opposed the mandatory labeling proposal, saying it violates the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. Also, courts have taken a dim view of mandatory rating systems: In a 1968 case called Interstate Circuit v. Dallas, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Dallas' ordinance requiring that movies be rated was unconstitutional because the criteria for rating were unclear and vague.

Burns' seven-page amendment is virtually identical to a standalone bill introduced earlier this month by Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican. Both proposals follow from a speech in April during which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called on Congress to "promptly" enact such a law.

The entire communications bill won't become law unless it receives final approval by the committee and, later, the full Senate. It must also be reconciled with a House of Representatives version that differs in many respects, including having no Internet labeling requirements.

From Malaysia Sun

The nutter premier of Bavaria wants to change Germany's 130-year-old blasphemy law, removing a requirement that to be a crime it must disrupt public peace.

Edmund Stoiber, in an interview last week, said that he plans to bring up the subject during a meeting next month with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Not everything that's holy should be allowed to be trampled on, he said. Stoiber pointed to the row over a Danish newspaper's cartoons of Mohammed as an example of how blasphemy can cause trouble.

But there appears to be limited support for his proposal, Deutsche Welle reports.

Lutheran leaders openly oppose it, and civil libertarians say that even loose talk in a tavern could become a crime. Prosecutors say enforcement could be a nightmare.

Muslim leaders accused Stoiber of being an opportunist. Burhan Kesici, vice president of the Islamic Federation, said that Stoiber called for freedom of speech during the cartoon flap and is now trying to appeal to conservative voters in Bavaria.

From The Times

Under a draft law being reviewed by China’s top law-making body, the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, media outlets could face fines ranging from £3,500 to £7,000 if they do not seek permission from local authorities before reporting riots, disasters, strikes or outbreaks of disease.

Local governments will be required to disseminate information on emergencies in a timely manner, but it is an exception if the release of information may jeopardise the handling of emergencies.”

The official Xinhua news agency said the decision to introduce the law was made because of errors in handling the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003. It said: The Government’s inexperience in dealing with the emerging crisis led to one of the country’s most serious health hazards. Sars originated in China and the nation was widely condemned for covering up the disease initially, enabling the virus to spread more easily.

It had been expected that China’s censors would relax their controls to prevent a recurrence of that embarrassing incident. On the contrary, officials charged with vetting information available to the public have tightened their grip in recent months.

China has a long history of covering up emergency incidents, and news blackouts are regularly imposed because of official nervousness that bad news could harm the image of the ruling Communist Party. For example, the deaths of 85,000 people in the central province of Henan in 1975, when dams burst during a typhoon, were revealed only in a book on China’s worst 20th-century disasters in 1998.

From The Hindu

Pakistan has ruled out lifting its ban on Indian films but said it would permit foreign movies starring Indian and Pakistani actors to be screened in the country.

Foreign movies staring Pakistani and Indian stars would be permitted to be exhibited in Pakistan and the Pakistan Censor Code had been amended to facilitate such productions, Minister for Culture G.G. Jamal said.

However, Pakistan would not permit the exhibition of films made in India

So where is the midnight restriction in Ofcom's programme code? and where are the 'revised' guidelines published? The published guidelines allow free to air channels to broadcast 18 rated material after the 9pm watershed.

There is a new forum devoted to the UK free to air softcore channels at The Babewatch Forum

From Ofcom

Babeworld TV, 11 April 2006, 22:15

A viewer complained about the explicit sexual content of this channel, which is transmitted free-to-air on satellite TV.

Response

Babeworld said that it was unable to supply a recording of the relevant part of the channel’s output for 11 April 2006 . This was due to a technical failure by the company administering the channel’s compliance recordings.

Nevertheless, it acknowledged that some of the content carried before midnight on Babeworld was “too explicit for our market”. As a result, it had changed its production and editorial partners, and the output was now being produced to revised guidelines.

Babeworld also confirmed that it was now producing its own compliance tapes, and was no longer dependant on outside contractors.

Decision

We welcome the steps Babeworld has taken to avoid any future failure to supply recordings.

It is a condition of a Cable and Satellite Licence that the licensee retains recordings of its output for 60 days, and provides Ofcom with any material on request. Failure to supply the recording from 11 April 2006 is a serious and significant breach of Babeworld TV’s licence. This will be held on record.

Breach of Licence Condition 11

From BoingBoing
See Also Nart Villeneuve's report
And Rebecca McKinnon's report

Internet censorship tech-expert Nart Villeneuve reports that Skype's Chinese client (distributed by China-based provider TOM Online) installs censorware on the user's computer without telling. An important point: the international version of Skype available at Skype.com does not include the censorware. Nart says:

Skype's partner in China, Tom Online, has implemented filtering of Skype's text chat for Chinese users. Skype is not being transparent about the filtering fucntionality that has been introduced. Here is my initial attempt at trying to figure out Tom-Skype's filtering. Tom-Skype can be downloaded from skype.tom.com and I installed in in Chinese and English. I also installed the 2.5 beta version, all appeared to function the same. The tests [that follow in this blog-post] are from Tom-Skype 2.0 installed in English. The first thing I noticed is that Tom-Skype is bundled with an executable called ContentFilter.exe. It is an application developed by Tom Online called Tom Word Review. It is digitally signed by Skype.

Rebecca McKinnon examined the app, too, and wrote:

The bottom line is: TOM-Skype doesn't censor much at all, but it is set up to censor whatever TOM Online employees plug into their "keyfile," at any time. And users (unless they have attained Nart's level of geekdom) have no way of knowing what is going on and why.

Let's hope that TOM Online and Skype do the right thing, which is:

1. Inform users that censorware is being downloaded onto their computers along with the Skype-branded chat client, and inform users exactly which Chinese law requires that this must happen.
2. Do not add any political or religious words to the "keyfile" unless forced to do so by written court order.
3. Make a list of those words added to the "keyfile" available to users so that they can be informed that any messages containing those words will not be received.

So far the only term located in the banned word keyfile is 'fuck'.

Thanks to Alan

The website www.brenus.net/indexfr2.htm contains vidcaps of mainly French actresses in nude scenes.

It seems that an attempt is being made in France to close the site by accusing the webmaster of infringing the privacy of certain actresses! (Err, how many people saw the flicks in the cinema?) The court case is on Monday 26th June, so if the site's disappeared the worst has happened.

From Ofcom

The regulation of internet services is the subject of significant international debate. Consumers expect to be protected from fraud or other forms of harm; and their children protected from inappropriate content. To date, this protection has been provided largely through a framework of domestic and international statutory regulation which has been evolving for decades. However, the global reach and open nature of the internet gives rise to some well-known problems, which cannot be addressed by a translation of existing powers and structures. These problems include the ubiquitous availability of pornography and increased availability of illegal imagery (e.g. violent pornography, child abuse), and easier access to products and services otherwise tightly-controlled like gambling or prescription drugs.

As the UK communications regulator, Ofcom has oversight of the wholesale and retail markets for internet connectivity. We also have a statutory duty to promote media literacy, a role in encouraging audiences to connect to the internet, and in helping them learn how to manage the risks to which they are exposed when online. We therefore have a clear interest in the protection of consumers from harm when they use the internet. Furthermore, the current draft of the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive proposed an extension of a broadcast-like regulatory framework to audiovisual content delivered in other ways – and might therefore require statutory content regulation to be applied to a broad range of internet services.

This document is a research report intended to inform the debate about the most appropriate ways to address the consumer protection challenges raised by the internet, such as those identified above. It is a broad survey of the key internet consumer protection issues and the national and international approaches taken to tackling those issues across the world. It does not include policy recommendations, though we do comment on the varying success of some of the initiatives adopted.

We can also draw some general lessons from the survey. There is no doubt that consumers will need to bear a greater degree of responsibility when they engage with internet services. Secondly, the broad range of internet services – from e-commerce to VoD to email – will require a broad and flexible set of regulatory solutions. There is no single answer to the issues to which the internet gives rise. However, there are already many factors contributing to consumer protection online, from the application of general law through to initiatives from individual internet players and collective industry bodies like the Internet Watch Foundation. We believe that such self-regulatory initiatives, allied to effective media literacy initiatives and supported by general law, will continue to be the most effective way to deliver consumer protection.

The full report can be downloaded from Ofcom

From Modbee

A media watchdog group protested the conviction of an Italian blogger for defamation, warning that such a verdict could lead to censorship of blogs in Italy.

Blogger Roberto Mancini, 59, was convicted of defamation last month in Aosta, northern Italy, and sentenced to pay $16,900 in fines and damages.

Four people, including two journalists, had filed a complaint against him over the content of his blog, which reports on local news in sarcastic and sometimes crude terms.

It looks like the blogger is being punished for his bad language and not because he posted false information, which is unacceptable, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. The group also said Mancini wrongly was held responsible for comments posted by readers.

Mancini denies writing the incriminating comments, according to his defense lawyer, Caterina Malavenda. She said he would appeal the verdict.

According to court documents, messages posted on the blog made clear, unflattering references to the four who filed the complaint, in one case mentioning that one of them had taken part in a bank robbery.

Malavenda, Mancini's lawyer, argued that the author of the defaming pieces could not be identified with certainty. She said authorities had seized in a raid photographs that appear on the blog, books on blogging and passwords: All the material shows he can be someone who used the blog, but there's no evidence that he is the author of those defaming pieces

Reporters Without Borders added the complainants were not able to show (the reports) were untrue and warned that the verdict might induce people who manage blogs to censor messages posted by visitors.

From Refused Classification

The game version of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs has just been banned by the Classification Board. This is the second game after Getting Up to be banned in 2006

The game is rated 18 for sale in the UK and is scheduled for an Autumn release. I notice that UK Amazon won't ship games to Australia. Good job we have a bit of people power with eBay otherwise the world's shops would be dominated by control freaks.

Based on an article from The Guardian

45 complaints that one of Sony's campaigns encouraged violent and anti- social behaviour among young people and objectified women have been dismissed.

The nationwide poster campaign, for the PlayStation Portable gaming device, used four lines: "Strong language and scenes of a sexual nature here", "Your girlfriend's white bits here", "Take a running jump here" and "Saucy emails won't get you fired here".

Nutters thought that the reference to sex and bad language was offensive, irresponsible and unsuitable for children. Many of them predictably pointed out that the ads were near schools or bus stops and believed the campaign targeted young male teenagers.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's ad agency, TBWA/London, said that each of the campaign lines aimed to communicate different features of the PSP, including the ability to watch movies, view photos, play platform games and browse the internet wirelessly.

The agency added that each function was made prominent by an icon at the foot of each ad and that the irreverent tongue-in-cheek tone has always been part of PlayStation's strategy.

The Advertising Standards Authority said that while some complainants thought that the locations of the ads were unacceptable, they contained no explicit language or images likely to cause widespread offence or harm to children.

However, Sony did remove the ads from certain locations.

Based on an article from News.com.au

The search engines of two of China's most popular web portals are back in operation after they were upgraded to censor internet content even more repressively.

Authorities blocked the search engines of Sina.com and Sohu.com to try to increase their censorship facilities, website staff said.

Concerned government censors have been inspecting web portals including Sina and Sohu and others, a customer service employee at Sina said.

The Sina employee refused to specify what aspects of the search engine had been inspected. But on Tuesday Sina staff said the government was seeking to enhance the censorship capabilities to pre-empt supposedly "unhealthy" content.

Meanwhile Google has offloaded its minority stake in Baidu.com, China’s leading search engine. The sale of the stake comes two years after the Californian technology group bought a 2.6% holding in Baidu for about $60 million (£33 million), having paid $5 million for the holding in June 2004.

From BarLadies

The Thai authorities have added www.barladies.com to their ever expanding list of websites being blocked. Those using the ISP, True, were first to notice the blocking but no doubt the other ISPs will follow suit.

Even though Thailand claims to censor only such obvious sites as porn and gambling it is very worrying when they start on discussion forums.

Also will probably cause more people to seek out proxy services than it will end up blocking. On the other hand, the expats oriented website, Thai Visa, very quickly updated their policies to block the discussion of proxy services.

Based on an article from News.com.au

Following intense criticism from legislators, Australia’s Network Ten has pulled the plug on Big Brother—Adults Only, its late-night edition of the reality show.

TEN said the Big Brother franchise overall has been out-performing last year’s edition, and the axing of Adults Only does not affect the original show. In a statement, TEN noted, We are confident the show has complied with the Television Industry Code of Practice, and we have met all our undertakings. However, questions continue to be raised as to whether the show should be on air. We did not see that situation changing, regardless of how we treated the program, and that uncertainty was putting unfair pressure on our team. We have therefore decided the responsible and practical thing to do was conclude the show a few weeks early.

The series averaged about 1 million viewers each week.

From Reuters

A play about an American human rights activist who died in the Gaza Strip will now open in New York in October, six months after it was pulled from the schedule at another theater amid charges of censorship.

My Name is Rachel Corrie is a one-woman show based on the U.S. human rights campaigner killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003, trying to prevent demolition of a Palestinian building.

Producers Dena Hammerstein and Pam Pariseau said in a statement on Thursday the play would open at the off-Broadway Minetta Lane Theatre on Oct. 15, for a limited run to Nov. 19.

All very laudable but maybe they should think about applying it in the US first. There is absolutely no way that the US or any other Western Government would allow communications without keeping records etc. I would guess that the US Government already have a very cozy relationship with Google about control of Internet searches etc.

Based on an article from ZD Net

A congressional bill that would impose strict new obligations on American tech companies doing business with "Internet-restricting countries" like China has cleared its first hurdle to becoming law.

The Global Online Freedom Act, introduced in February by Rep. Christopher Smith, passed by a unanimous voice vote in the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that focuses on Africa, global human rights and international operations.

Smith proposed the bill just days after a daylong congressional hearing at which politicians lashed out at representatives from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Cisco Systems for compliance with China's state-sponsored censorship regime:The growth of the Internet and other information technologies can be a force for democratic change if the information is not subject to political censorship,

The concerns among politicians flared up after reports that, under pressure from the Chinese government, Microsoft had deleted a journalist's blog, Yahoo had turned over information leading to the conviction of at least one Chinese journalist, and Google was offering a restricted search service there.

The approved bill attempts to target those practices directly. Under its list of "minimum corporate standards," American businesses would be barred from keeping any electronic communication, such as e-mail, that contains personally identifiable information on servers or other storage facilities in "Internet-restricting countries." The rules would also prohibit them from turning over personal information about their subscribers to governments in those locales except for "legitimate law enforcement purposes."

All search engine providers would be required to give the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Internet Freedom a detailed breakdown of how their search results have been restricted or censored in such countries. All Web content hosts would have to supply a list of URLs that have been removed or blocked there.

Internet service providers could also face fines of up to $2 million per offense and imprisonment for blocking access to any U.S. government-sponsored Web site or content, such as Voice of America, in the blacklisted countries.

Although China has taken center stage, the bill says the rules would also apply to dealings with Belarus, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Tunisia and Vietnam--along with any other country on which the U.S. government decides to bestow an "Internet-restricting" designation.

Based on an article from the Washington Post

Now playing on your Web-enabled cell phone: a PG-rated version of the Internet. As people increasingly listen to music, watch TV, and access the Web on their handsets, they notice significant content restrictions that don't exist on PCs.

Major U.S. wireless carriers have set censorial guidelines for their content partners, restricting or banning potentially offensive language, ringtones, games, and videos--including, in some cases words, such as lesbian or pictures of women in swimsuits. In informal tests of text and multimedia messaging, we found that messages containing adult images and vulgar language did not always show up on the intended recipient's handset.

Why the restrictions? Wireless carriers want to ward off nutter complaints--and regulation by the Federal Communications Commission, according to Julie Ask, an analyst with Jupiter Research.

Are cell phones next on the feds' censorship wish list? You'd better believe it, said Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation .

CTIA , the wireless industry trade group, has proposed wireless content guidelines that encourage network operators to label, filter, and limit access to words, images, and even sounds that some adults may consider inappropriate for children. But wireless carriers are imposing restrictions even stricter than the rules that the FCC imposes on broadcast TV and radio.

In content available through its handsets, Verizon Wireless prohibits the use of obscene language as well as images or videos that depict "passionate kissing." The carrier has specific rules for how much bare skin models may show and for what titles of digital files people can download.

Anything you can access through your Verizon Wireless phone is appropriate for the entire family, says Verizon Wireless spokesperson Jeffrey Nelson.

Cingular Safe content guidelines, meanwhile, ban such words as words condom and lesbian along with images depicting or insinuating nudity or partial nudity. The guidelines, which Cingular distributes to its content-provider partners, cite theSports Illustratedswimsuit issue as an example of inappropriate material.

T-Mobile says that its standards for wireless content are on a par with those governing the covers of mainstream magazines displayed on newsstands.

Are carriers also censoring messages that one user sends to another? We sent a slew of R- and NC-17-rated text and images to handsets, using a variety of carriers, and found that some messages sent over Cingular and U.S. Cellular's networks did not reach their destination, or were changed in transit. Spokespersons for these carriers say that they don't censor text or multimedia messages.

However, messages do travel across numerous other network components outside U.S. Cellular, some of which may filter messages based on content, says Jonathan Guerin, U.S. Cellular spokesperson.

Cingular did not respond to our requests for an explanation of why images with mature-themed file names were replaced by a red X when they reached Cingular handsets.

Based on an article from The Guardian

South Africa's public broadcaster (SABC) has banned high-profile critics of the government from its programmes, demonstrating bias towards the ruling African National Congress.

At least six political analysts who have on occasion criticised the president, Thabo Mbeki, and his allies have been blacklisted on the grounds that they are ill-informed. The blacklist was drawn up by the head of news, Snuki Zikalala, an ANC member and former government spokesman who answers to a board appointed by an ANC-dominated parliamentary committee.

The decision followed several censorship rows that prompted accusations that the SABC had become a mouthpiece for the ANC. It ditched a documentary critical of the president and refused to show images of a cabinet minister being booed during a speech.

Based on an article from News.com.au

Late night antics on Channel 10's Big Brother program has again drawn the ire of nutter MPs.

Nutters in the Federal Government want to make it easier to force the show off air if it breaches broadcasting guidelines. The call came as Ten admitted that as many as 76,000 children could be watching Big Brother: Adults Only each week.

The show this week included high levels of nudity, simulated sex and discussions about masturbation, erections and sexual technique.

Not so Liberal MP Trish Draper yesterday said the Government needed to be able to take the adult show off the air within 48 hours if it broke censorship rules. Draper and National Party MP Paul Neville complained about the gratuitous nature of the program to Coalition colleagues at a joint party room meeting yesterday.

They said they were concerned it would take more than a month to have the adults-only version of Big Brother axed under existing rules if it breached MA+ guidelines.

Draper, who heads a parliamentary classifications committee, said she had asked Communications Minister Helen Coonan to examine the issue. We feel that ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) should be able to compel Channel 10 to sit down and go through the process immediately there are complaints, she said. Under existing rules, complaints must first be made to the TV network and are only taken to the ACMA if they are not resolved in 30 days.

A Ten spokeswoman said changes had been made this year to the adults-only version of Big Brother - formerly called Big Brother Uncut - to ensure it met MA+ requirements. But she admitted that about 8% of viewers, based on last year's figures, were under 18.

Changes to the show followed a storm of criticism last year after an episode in which a male housemate was filmed rubbing his genitals on a female housemate while giving her a massage. The spokeswoman said two censors examined each adults-only episode before it was aired.

Family First senator Steve Fielding said the late-night version of the program was rotting children's brains. Show me any mum or dad who would say this is good for their kids to watch, he said. Family First believes this is smut, the language is vulgar and it can distort our children's views about relationships.. [And those with rotted brains have clearly gone onto to become politicians and Family First campaigners]

From The Independent

Egyptian authorities have ordered the release of an award-winning blogger and activist, imprisoned 45 days ago on charges including insulting the President.

Alaa Seif al-Islam who was arrested at a pro-reform demonstration on 7 May, had drawn the ire of the authorities for his provocative weblog and taking part in banned street protests. He is expected to be released from the Tora prison in Cairo today.

The release comes after a turbulent period of protest and violence in Egypt. Practically all groups opposed to President Hosni Mubarak, including the Muslim Brotherhood and secular groups such as Kifaya! (Enough!) and Youth for Change have had members beaten. Hundreds have been arrested.

Alaa's wife, Manal, with whom he runs the website Manalaa.net, which won an award from the media freedom group Reporters Without Borders, said after the decision: There's no going back now, we'll definitely be continuing our activities.

Supporters highlight Alaa's importance in pushing the boundaries for political dissent through the internet. Nora Younis, a fellow blogger and activist, said: He raises the ceiling of what is possible. After others were arrested on charges of 'insulting the President', he arranged a petition on his site that said 'we, the undersigned, insult the President' - to be given to the Public Prosecutor.

From the Times of India

India's Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday quashed the ban on the film The Da Vinci Code, holding the state government's June 1 order as a highly irrational restriction on freedom of speech and expression.

Petitioners Sony Entertainment and the distributor Lakshmi Enterprises were also awarded costs of Rs 10,000 each.

Justice G Raghuram who delivered the order said the government had imposed the ban only because some individuals and organisations had demanded it.

It had not assessed the likely consequences of its decision and the authorities had not even bothered to see the film to arrive at an informed opinion, as is required under the law.

The judge also pointed out that an expert body like the Censor Board had cleared the film and there was no reason why the government should have taken a contrary view.

He also found untenable the state government's argument of breach of peace as the film was being screened in other parts of the country without any violence.

Special chief secretary (home) Paul Bhuyan said the government would respond to the quashing of the ban only after studying the court order.

Letter from Shaun to the BBFC

Dear Ms Clark,,

Please tell your director Mr. Cooke, that many people simply don't want your attempts at censorship of the internet...

I suppose he's looking for extra work and all that... In case it's decided that video classification in the form of censorship isn't really necessary.

BUT: In case you had not realised, the **Internet Watch Foundation** already has the job of internet censorship, and we don't want any more classification (which really means censorship) than that thank you very much.

Also people don't believe you, when you (you=the BBFC) say you will "just classify. " You will censor, and cut, like you have ALWAYS censored, and cut, with your big scissors.

But censorship is beloved of repressive regimes the world over.

How would you censor content on P2P ? It is content on OTHER people's computers, and changes all the time. What about stuff on foreign web sites? What would you do if a work was "beyond" R18 or something ?

Anyway exactly WHO would be paying for all this? Are you going to do for free, for your love of humanity and your desire to protect us all? I doubt it.

It'll be Internet users I suppose? By an extra "fee" or internet tax I suppose?

Well sorry but it simply isn't necessary and it isn't wanted.

Did you know that I've got two children aged 12, and 15 (next week) with a connection to an 8mbit broadband connection ? Do you also know that despite regular spot checks, I've never had to worry about anything they have seen, such as explicit sex, because currently they simply are not interested. The only things I would really worry about are chat groups. How would you classify those?

Parents on a broadband Home network (including wireless networks) can use VNC or similar programs to see exactly what their children are doing, using another machine. They can see a copy of the kid's desktop on another machine elsewhere in the house.

This is what I do. My kids can see when I am doing it (their icon changes colour) so I don't need or want the BBFC to pre-vet to protect my kids, when I can do it myself.

See: www.tightvnc.com

Based on an article from The Times

Kiss FM humiliated a man on air in a hoax that Ofcom says is its worst breach of privacy case. The Kiss FM breakfast show has been given the largest fine to be imposed on a British radio station for serious breaches of broadcasting rules. Emap Radio, the owner, was ordered to pay £175,000 for a hoax interview and failing to protect children from strong and sexually explicit language during the show, presented by the DJ Bam Bam who has now been fired.

Bam Bam, whose real name is Peter Poulton,  had 800,000 listeners. He was the London station’s star DJ for seven years but Ofcom, the independent regulator, found his show guilty of eight broadcasting code breaches in six months. One of his offences was appearing to condone group and under-age sex when children were listening.

The most serious breach was when Bam Bam’s assistant, Streetboy, posed as a human resources officer and made a hoax call to a man to discuss his redundancy options. The man became increasingly desperate as he was told that he was fit only for “flipping burgers”. When the item ended, the presenters were heard laughing and acknowledging that Streetboy had been dealing with this guy’s whole future and career.

Ofcom was angered that strong language was broadcast despite being pre-recorded. Kiss FM was out of control, with management unable or unwilling to monitor its output. The regulator accused Emap of totally inexcusable broadcasts, which showed an almost wilful disregard by the licensee for not only Ofcom’s codes but also the station’s audience.

But Ofcom was annoyed that Emap had not improved its performance after being fined £125,000 last year over offensive remarks made about the murdered Iraq hostage Kenneth Bigley on its Manchester station. This time it fined Emap £75,000 for the hoax call and £100,000 for the seven sex and language breaches. The money goes to the Treasury.

From Twin Cities

A DVD featuring violent pit bull fights has unleashed protests against the distributor as well as several online merchants that had been selling the video, which may break federal laws against animal cruelty.

Amazon.com, Circuit City and Best Buy said they would pull the video, Hood Fights, Vol. 2, The Art of The Pit from their Web sites as soon as possible.

The Humane Society of United States has asked U.S. Attorney Roger Roper III in Dallas to investigate whether Hood Fights 2 violates a federal law against interstate or foreign commerce profiting from the depiction of animal cruelty. The DVD was released in April by a Texas-based Web site, streetheatdvd.com

Hood Fights 2 shows a series of staged matches in which trained fighting dogs suffer bloody, debilitating injuries for the apparent amusement of spectators, wrote the Humane Society's Ann Chynoweth.

From The Guardian at Bobbie Johnson's Blog which also includes a lively dicussion

According to reports this morning, the BBFC says it envisages being able to censor what is on the net.

In its annual report, the BBFC says it may be worth having a voluntary system of rating - spinning off from its rankings of U, PG, 12A, 15 and 18 - that can help people surf the web safely.

According to the Times, it says: No one should assume that such material will be confined to established platforms such as film and DVD. Whether in a regulatory or an advisory capacity, we believe we have unique expertise and experience to offer.

Outrageous, cry the web's hordes. Freedom is our watchword, and we will not bow to censors.

It's a laudable position, of course, but one that's not entirely true. Censorship already abounds on the net - just ask Google in China or go back to Yahoo's continental court case about the sale of Nazi memorabilia. We accept some forms of censorship, where appropriate, and in many ways the BBFC recommendations are in this mould.

Web pages and content have the ability to contain tags that promote an age rating. Parents can already employ web monitors like NetNanny to shepherd their children online and block unsavoury or unwanted information. Why not just crank up the regulation and make sure that every site has a rating?

The problem with such schemes, of course, is that the internet is a global phenomenon. How do you enforce censorship across nations? If you force any material hosted on British servers to carry advisory ratings, then some people would just move elsewhere (it's very easy to do). And if you don't enforce the rules, then those who do want to exploit them will just plough ahead and lie, or avoid the ratings altogether.

The ultimate problem, though, is how to regulate what people do in their own homes; how parents interact with technology and with their kids. While it's clear that an 18 certificate for a movie in a cinema stops a seven-year-old child watching the movie on the big screen, the private situation is far from clear. How effective, after all, is the 9pm watershed? How many pre-teens have watched 18-rated DVDs at home? How many kids play Grand Theft Auto with their parents' consent?

Even recent attempts to solve the conundrum have fallen foul of the very people who would welcome the BBFC's comments. When the porn industry suggested a .xxx domain name to house adult material (easily spotted by nanny programmes and blocked by parents), it seemed like a fair idea, but it was shot down by the Christian right - the same people who would no doubt welcome the BBFC's proposals. Why? Because pornography should never be legitimised, and creating a .xxx suffix would do exactly that.

So we're stuck in a world where the veto goes to those who want to have their cake and eat it while ideas are flung about for forcing new rules on producers and consumers alike. Any net censorship would be expensive and almost certainly unsuccessful - and in any case, it would be far easier and cheaper to teach people how to use the tools that already exist. But that would just be too simple, wouldn't it?

Based on an article from IT Week

Sue Clark, a spokeswoman for the shameful BBFC said that people recognised that the internet may not be regulated, ...BUT... expected certain types of content such as films to have passed through a classification process.

The BBFC knew of at least one distributor who sees video-on-demand as a way of getting around its controls on pornography: This guy has stated that he will be putting stuff out which the BBFC will not classify. He has to be prosecuted to stop that. [It should be pointed out that BBFC are censoring and cutting hardcore porn for a whole load of nonsensical reasons such as the the vague possibility that ice or a dildo may possibly cause harm if used in a whacky way by complete imbeciles. The BBFC view on what should be cut is proving near worthless and surely does not automatically infer that the cut material is obscene and liable to prosecution].

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has set up an inquiry into new media and the creative industries, which Clark hoped would lead to legislation or the introduction of a voluntary industry agreement: We have not asked the government to consider this because we think that it necessarily needs legislation. It may be that the industry signs up to a voluntary system. [As far as I can see the creative industries committee is unsurprisingly more concerned with licensing, IPR, DRM, piracy etc rather than worrying about censorship concerns of nutters and film censors facing redundancy]
 

From The Guardian

Video content on the internet could receive certificate 18-style classifications from film censors under plans submitted to the government today. The proposals could see web videos rated for language, violence, sex and themes in the same way as films, videos and DVDs.

The BBFC said the huge growth of online video content risked making the regulation of old media redundant as more and more people get access to video over the internet.

Internet video has mushroomed in recent years, with the spread of broadband and content-streaming technologies making downloading high-quality footage easier. The video site YouTube sees 35,000 new clips added and 30m clips downloaded every day, while it would take almost 500 years to watch all the content currently indexed by Blinkx, which claims to be the largest online video search engine.

Sue Clark, a spokeswoman for the shameful BBFC, said the government should be looking at ways of providing information to online viewers about the sort of material they were being exposed to: If there's some sort of standardised labelling system that people understand, then they know that it's material they can trust.

We don't want to go down the route of cutting and banning things and blocking sites...BUT... a lot of the content that's out there on the internet is not something the majority of people would want to view. [...Which they WILL of course cut and ban...] She cited the example of Terrorists, Killers and Middle East Wackos, a compilation of video clips of actual killings and terrorist attacks. The compilation is banned on video or DVD in the UK because the BBFC believed it to contravene the Obscene Publications Act, but it is freely available on the internet through file-sharing sites.

And for an organisation that doesn't want to go down the route of cutting and banning things, it has been reported that 27% of 18 certificate (sex) video works have been censored in 2006, along with 23% of R18’s.

The BBFC wrote to the department of culture, media and sport last month, asking the government to consider a system of classification. It said that the most likely scenario would see them advising companies providing video content on what material would be acceptable to viewers. [BOLLOX BBFC, you mean acceptable to the Government and to people who like to impose their views on others about what they should be watching. Eg spanking videos are obviously acceptable to informed viewers that choose to watch them, they are only not acceptable to people who would rather you did not watch them. ie the Government, nutters and censors!]

From ABC

The federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, says the states and territories need to take more responsibility for stopping the supply of unclassified pornographic and violent videos to Indigenous communities.

Delegates at yesterday's national forum to discuss violence and sexual abuse said the videos were pouring into communities and there is concern some Aboriginal people are emulating what they see on film.

Philip Ruddock says more needs to be done to track down the people supplying the material: If you have to go into Indigenous communities to get the evidence and to use that as part of the evidence trail, then so be it. That's the responsibility of police, and in relation to community policing, those responsibilities rest clearly with the states and territories.

From The Times

The Times has picked up the above story and added a couple of comments:

Simon Davies, of Privacy International, which campaigns for freedom of expression said It sounds like the most stupid intervention since the registration of fax machines and photocopiers in communist China.

Sue Clark, a spokeswoman for the board, said that people should be able to make informed choices about what to watch. Regulation, in this case, doesn’t mean banning or cutting. It is about providing information.

From Media Week

The Advertising Standards Authority has cleared Xfm over an ad campaign featuring toddlers dressed up like Noel and Liam Gallagher, with one of the children making a V sign with his fingers.

The authority received 23 complaints regarding the posters on the grounds of offence. Some people were also worried it would encourage children to copy the gesture.

However the ASA ruled in favour of Xfm. It said: We considered that the gesture of the toddler was synonymous with Liam Gallagher and that anyone familiar with Oasis would realise that and were likely to find the parody humorous.

The ad promoted the launch of Xfm Manchester 97.7 and used the strapline “A new station is born”.

From Silicon

Operators of commercial websites with sexually explicit content would have to post warning labels on each offending page or face imprisonment under a new proposal in the US Senate.

Caving in to earlier demands from the US Department of Justice, the proposed law focuses on a medley of new penalties related to child pornography and other sexual content on the internet.

The bill, which is called the Stop Adults' Facilitation of the Exploitation of Youth Act, or Internet Safety Act, beefs up the Justice Department's suggested penalties for negligent web labellers. It would impose up to 15 years in prison - an increase from the five years suggested in the original proposal - on any commercial site operator who fails to place "clearly identifiable marks or notices" prescribed by the federal government in either the site's code or on the pages themselves.

The bill would also create a new crime out of using misleading domain names to direct children to harmful material on the internet. Conviction would carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years. A similar sentence would apply to anyone who knowingly embeds words or images in the source code of their sites with the intention of deceiving minors into viewing "harmful" content.

The proposal drew criticism from civil liberties advocates, who said it presents enough ambiguities to prompt self-censorship of web content.

David Greene, director of a free-speech advocacy group called The First Amendment Project, said: Whether artistic works or political commentary or any type of images that may arguably come close to this category, people may not publish them for fear of being sent to jail for 15 years.

It's equally unclear how to draw the line between "commercial" websites, covered by the regulations, and "non-commercial" sites, which appear to be exempt, the bill's critics said.

The Internet Safety Act pulls its definition of sexually explicit material from existing federal law. It covers sexual intercourse of all types: bestiality, masturbation, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person.

In practice, however, courts have interpreted those definitions quite broadly - in one case courts ruled that the "lascivious exhibition" of the pubic area could include images of clothed people wearing bikini bathing suits, leotards and underwear.

The Senate proposal grants just one reprieve: sexual depictions that constitute a "small and insignificant part" of a large website do not have to be labelled.

From The Times

A British artist is facing up to three years’ jail in Turkey for exhibiting a collage that depicts its Prime Minister as a dog being awarded a rosette by President Bush in a pet show.

Police in Istanbul seized Michael Dickinson’s Best in Show — in which he superimposed the head of Recep Tayyip Erdogan on to a dog’s body — from his exhibition in the city.

He has been told that he is likely to be charged with insulting the dignity of the Prime Minister. The show’s organiser, Erkan Kara, will go on trial on September 12 on the same charge.

Dickinson said: It’s such an Alice in Wonderland feeling. The law is so absurd . . . This law exists in Turkey about insulting ‘Turkishness’ or the State. You’re not allowed to state your opinion.

The case could greatly embarrass Turkey and Britain, for it raises questions about Turkey’s human rights record as it seeks EU membership, with Tony Blair’s backing.

Dickinson has lived in Turkey for 20 years, teaching English at Yeditepe University. His exhibition was staged in Istanbul by the Global Peace and Justice Coalition. The collage, hung with anti-war images, refers to the Prime Minister having taken legal action over cartoons depicting him as various animals.

Charles Thomson, of the Stuckist art movement, to which Dickinson belongs, has told Blair that it is intolerable for an EU applicant to censor political comment: I trust you will communicate your strongest condemnation and ask for this case to be abandoned, he wrote, urging Blair to oppose Turkey’s EU membership until it changes its stance on human rights.

Thomson has also written to Olli Rehn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, saying that in the Union the collage would be considered acceptable free expression.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said: Everybody will have to wait and see whether the court decides if this is about freedom of expression or not. A spokesman said that Turkey’s laws should be respected and suggested that the international community was too hasty in condemning it.

From CNET News

Reporters Without Borders has issued a report finding that of the major Internet search engines operating in China, Yahoo censored more terms in a limited test it conducted.

The group used six terms, including "Falungong," "Tibet Independence" and "Democracy," and noted what the first 10 results were on the Chinese sites of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and the local Baidu.com. While there is no official published list of banned terms provided by the Chinese government, the companies are believed to follow the same general guidelines.

While yahoo.cn censors results as strictly as baidu.cn, search engines google.cn and the beta version of msn.cn (beta.search.msn.com.cn) let through more information from sources that are not authorized by the authorities, Reporters Without Borders said.

The press freedom organization is particularly shocked by the scale of censorship on yahoo.cn. first because the search results on 'subversive' key words are 97 percent pro-Beijing, the group said. It is therefore censoring more than its Chinese competitor Baidu.

Reporters Without Borders called on search engines operating in what it said were "repressive" countries to refuse to censor protected content, such as information about human rights and democracy.

From the Bangkok Post

Vietnam's communist government has issued strict new press regulations that punish "denying revolutionary achievements" and require journalists to have articles reviewed before publication, officials and state media said Friday.

The new Decree on Cultural and Information Activities follows aggressive reporting in Vietnam's state-controlled press of a massive corruption scandal that forced the resignation of the transport minister and the arrest of his deputy over embezzlement of some 7 million dollars in state funds.

The press regulations came even as Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, in a speech to the National Assembly before his retirement, called for measures to ensure transparency and openness of state agencies. But added that the people's right to be informed must be clearly regulated.

Such regulations will be strengthened with the new degree that Khai signed in June and set to take effect July 1. Under the new rules, Vietnamese journalists can be fined 3 million dong (190 dollars) for publishing stories with anonymous sources and up to 7 million dong (450 dollars) for refusing to allow an interviewee to read an article before publication.

Disseminating reactionary ideology is banned, along with any articles that reveal Party secrets, state secrets, military secrets and economic secrets, which carry fines of up to 30 million dong ( 2,000 dollars).

Vietnam already has criminal laws on the books that punish "revealing state secrets" with up to 15 years in prison. Vietnamese journalists can also be fined for defaming national heroes, although the decree does not spell out who is a national hero.

Vu Xuan Thanh, head of the Ministry of Culture and Information Inspection Department, said the ministry would decide which national figures are considered heroes and said that the law would not be used to shield government officials from legitimate criticism.

A spokesman in Paris for the press freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders condemned the new press regulations as a step backward for Vietnam. In a period where we felt that something may be changing in this country, because a few journalists started investigating on corruption scandals, this is a very bad news, said RWB's Julien Pain.

From AVN

President Bush toady signed a bill calling for an increase in fines for broadcasters who violate indecency regulations from $32,500 to $325,000.

We must ensure that decency standards for broadcasters are effectively enforced, Bush told a crowd during a bill signing ceremony at the White House. That’s the duty of the FCC. That’s why we’ve got the chairman standing right here.

By law, radio stations and over-the-air television channels are prohibited from airing obscene material at any time. They also may not air indecent material between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. which is considered a period when children may be watching or listening.  Cable and satellite broadcasts are exempt from such rules.

According to the FCC, indecent material is defined as that which contains sexual or excretory material that is not deemed obscene.

From AVN

Televisions stations affiliated with CBS Corp. have asked the FCC to drop a $3.3 million fine for alleged violations of federal broadcast standards for indecent content.

At issue is a fine levied by the agency against the network and its affiliates for airing a 2004 episode of the show Without a Trace which involved references to a teenage orgy and flashback sequences of young people in sexually suggestive positions, but with no nudity.

The affiliates said in their appeal to the agency that none of the e-mailed complaints to the FCC were from actual viewers but were instead e-mails sent by members of the conservative groups Parents for Television Council and from the American Family Association.

The stations cited the fact that the episode was a repeat airing of a show that drew no complaints when it was originally aired.

The FCC had fined each of the 103 CBS stations $32,500 for allegedly showing broadcast material graphically showing teenage boys and girls participating in a sexual orgy.”

About 8.2 million people saw the Dec. 31, 2004 episode, but complaints about the show did not begin arriving at the FCC until Jan. 12.

Based on an article from From ABC

Federal Communications Minister Helen Coonan says she is preparing to extend bans on Internet pornography to mobile phones and other portable electronic devices.

The Government placed a ban on Internet pornography in 2000 and the current penalty for service providers that breach the law is $55,000 a day.

Senator Coonan says the Government wants to protect the community from inappropriate and harmful material. She says the changes will impose criminal charges for those who break the rules and will be similar to the safeguards in place for traditional media: It will include the prohibition of content rated, X18-plus and above as well as consumer advice and age restrictions on access to content suited only to adults. These prohibitions will be backed up by strong sanctions.

The Government's backbench committee on communications, led by Nationals MP Paul Neville, has expressed concern that proposed changes to media laws could threaten diversity and local content, particularly in regional areas.

Senator Coonan says she is still preparing up to nine pieces of legislation to support the reforms and is optimistic they can be implemented by the end of the year. But she says removing large parts parts of the legislation to address concerns will not be an option.

From Associated Press

Egypt's culture minister vowed to ban the film The Da Vinci Code for insulting religion and said  that he would also pull the novel from store shelves.

Farouk Hosni told parliament he had told the movie censorship board not to allow copies of the Hollywood hit into the country because it insults religions, and what is blasphemous to Jesus Christ is considered insulting to Islam as well. The Culture Ministry will also seek out the book and confiscate it.

The promised ban was a move to assuage Christians and show the government seeks to protect their religion at a time when Egypt has seen an increase in tensions between its Muslim majority and large Christian community, thought to make up about 10% of its 73 million people.

Earlier this month, Egyptian police seized 2,000 pirated DVDs of The Da Vinci Code.

Ali Abu Shadi, director of Egypt's censorship board, said the film hasn't been officially banned from theatres because copies of the film have not been sent to Egypt. But he said he expected it would be rejected.

I can't ban something I haven't seen, but if it violates religions, it will be banned according to law, not me, Abu Shadi told The Associated Press on Wednesday: If the movie is anything like the book, it will be banned.

 Based on an article from the BBC

Hundreds of Christian protesters gathered outside the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) as the curtain went up on Jerry Springer - The Opera.

The hymn-singing demonstrators were said to represent one of the largest protests yet in a tour which has encountered repeated opposition.

But the Cardiff concert hall said more tickets had been sold for its Welsh run than anywhere in the 21-venue UK tour.

Managers said it was their job to put on performances that were challenging.

Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan said the opera deliberately set about inciting religious hatred: The producer of this opera says that if he manages to incite religious hatred then the opera has done its job, I think that is a terrible intention for an opera to have.  I have seen bits of it on the television and it really is blasphemous. It really does belittle the Christian faith and if something like this was produced about the Prophet Muhammad there would be a riot.

The protesters said they would continue their stand throughout the Cardiff run.

Based on an article from Australian IT

Hardcore video porn delivered to 3G mobile phones will be outlawed by regulations to be unveiled by Communications Minister Helen Coonan today.

Under pressure for greater intervention from her own backbench, Senator Coonan will also outline future plans for limiting children's access to internet porn.

She will outline new rules for phone companies aimed at limiting the way mobile phones can be used to access pornographic internet services.

The new measures would strengthen censorship illegal and so called offensive content over 3G phones, which are capable of displaying full-motion video services from the internet.

A spokeswoman for Senator Coonan said the regulatory package would include mandatory requirements for phone companies to verify the age of customers using "adult chat rooms" that can be accessed via 3G phones.

They new rules would include child protection mechanisms that companies must enforce inside adult chat rooms.

Senator Coonan has been under pressure to curb internet pornography. Led by Tasmanian Senator Guy Barnett, 62 backbenchers wrote to Prime Minister John Howard demanding that internet service providers (ISPs) be forced to filter all services coming into Australia. Senator Coonan is expected to argue that "mandatory filtering" is not a practical solution, but will also put forward plans to limit porn.

From The Guardian

The trial of Oriana Fallaci, a journalist and author accused of defaming Islam in a book, was opened and adjourned yesterday in an Italian court.

The charge stems from a recent book, The Force of Reason, one of a trilogy she has published since the September 11 attacks on the US. In the book, Fallaci is alleged to have made 18 blasphemous statements, including referring to Islam as "a pool that never purifies".

She has been charged with violating a law that forbids defamatory statements about a religion acknowledged by the Italian state. The offence is punishable with a fine of up to €6,000.

Fallaci has frequently stirred debate with her views, which are largely based on the notion that Muslims are engaged in a plot to conquer Europe by immigration. She has been accused of trying to incite racial hatred, but has also been applauded by rightwing factions and free speech activists.

Adel Smith, head of the Italian Muslim Union, brought the lawsuit against her.

The judge ordered another hearing on June 26.

From The Tribune

The Indian Supreme Court dismissed two petitions for a ban on the Hollywood movie The Da Vinci Code, which has already been prohibited by five states on the ground that it hurt the sentiments of Christians.

Rejecting the petitions of All-India Christians Welfare Association (AICWA) and North India Cathedral Churches’ member Mathews, the Judges said the remedy was not under Article 32 but “somewhere else”, which the court apparently meant executive wing of the government.

The court dismissed the petitions after the counsel for the petitioners failed to name even a single country with Christianity as the dominant religion, having banned the movie when the Bench put a specific query to them about it.

The advocates appearing for the petitioners could not also gave a satisfactory reply to another query as to what formed the basis for seeking the ban.

The court said the movie had been cleared by the censor board. If some body was not satisfied with the board’s decision then there was a mechanism of approaching the appellate authority against it.

When the book (The Da Vinci Code) released by publishers in 2003 says that it was not based on facts but was a work of fiction, then why you have any objection to the movie, the Judges observed, pointing out that even the petitioners had admitted that it was a “fiction”.

Based on an article from Post Chronicle

British employees who e-mail or text message lewd jokes around the office could cost their companies large sums in compensation for sexual harassment. The Equal Opportunities Commission has concluded that circulating offensive e-mail can constitute harassment, even if it is not sent directly to a colleague, but only sent to others in the workplace,

Looking at pornography on a computer screen next to a colleague who finds it offensive can also constitute harassment. Commission chairloon Jenny Watson said electronic sexual harassment is a "significant new issue" for employers: At every stage, as technology has the potential to improve lives, it has the potential to have a negative impact in other ways. It would be quite possible for an offensive e-mail to be part of an environment that constituted sexual harassment.

Watson said it is difficult to detect sexual harassment by e-mail because it is silent, immediate and almost indistinguishable from proper work: Today's world makes it harder for employers to guard against sexual harassment because it could be conducted below their radar. You can't always tell what people are sending on their computers.

More on Refused Classification where this is a list of films banned in Australia

The Classification Board banned My Brother's Wife on May 31st. This is Siren's fourth hentai feature to be Refused Classification this year. Spotlight was banned earlier in the month, Hooligan in March, and Darling in January.

This DVD is available from Critical Mass Video with the following info

Producers Shyuuta Biwajima and Chikara Niki (HOT FOR TEACHER / NAUGHTY NURSES / DEBTS OF DESIRE) return with a tale of envy and lust as Takashi tries to win his brother's sexy wife for his own!

All his life, Takashi has been compared to his older brother, Satoshi. Satoshi is smarter. More athletic. More handsome. More successful. But despite the constant reminders that he's "not as good as his brother", Takashi was never jealous because Satoshi took him in after their parents died. But that was before Satoshi stole Miwa, the love of Takashi’s life, and married her.

Miwa. Both incredibly beautiful and kind, she captured Takashi's heart long before she ever agreed to marry his brother. And now that she’s Satoshi's wife, Takashi sees her every day. Sees her with him. Hears her having sex with him through the bedroom wall. And each day Takashi's jealousy towards his brother grows a little more.

But it seems the tables may turn when Takashi's voluptuous college professor discovers that Takashi scores in one way over his brother: his sexual prowess. Now with the right clothing, the right hairstyle, and lots and lots of hands-on sexual tutoring, she's going to turn Takashi into a ladies' man that even his brother will envy!

From Wired

China has lifted its online blockade of Google.com after a two-week crackdown that had prevented direct access to the site and temporarily thwarted popular workarounds.

Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said that tests revealed the uncensored version of the search site was accessible again to internet users in Beijing and Shanghai. The crackdown overlapped with the June 4 anniversary of the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

A Google spokesperson confirmed this, saying that we have heard no further reports from users in China of problems accessing Google.com.

On June 6, RSF reported that Google.com was blocked throughout much of China, and that programs like DynaPass and Ultrasurf, which allowed users in China access to censored web content, were also being blocked on a large scale successfully for the first time.

It's always the same thing that happens in China [at this time of year] -- they heavily censor the internet because they think people will be discussing the event, said Julien Pain, RSF Internet Freedom desk chief. This year, what's new is that they blocked Google at this period.

RSF's Pain criticized Google for creating the Google.cn site, saying it gives the Chinese government an option to fall back on if they decide block Google.com. If you give them the option … in time of crisis they will block it. And in the long run, they will block it. If you leave the option open to the Chinese, you have to be really naïve to think that they won't use it.

Based on an article from Post Chronicle

Australia is to censor books and films that encourage terrorism, including those that support violent jihad or suicide bombings.

Australia's Attorney General Philip Ruddock has written to state and territory censorship ministers, asking them to work with the federal government on the crackdown.

Ruddock turned to the state and territorial officials after efforts on the federal level were blocked. The official said he was forced to act after the Australian Federal Police and the director of public prosecutions reported they were unable to use new sedition laws to pursue prosecutions.

You have to weigh up people's right to life and safety and security with freedom of expression, Ruddock said. And I think most reasonable people would take the view that publications that were likely to encourage or promote terrorism should be looked at very carefully.

Ruddock also asked the federal Classification Review Board to review its rulings that eight books and one film did not incite or promote violence.

From Inquisition 21st Century

A fascinating piece, No one using the Internet is safe, suggests that the UK & US police are stockpiling credit card records of adult porn transactions  and using them to target entrapment operations with child porn. Scary stuff and very compelling

From Kuwait News Agency

China has ordered cinemas to stop showing The Da Vinci Code from today, media officials said.

Authorities said the withdrawal - an unprecedented move - was to make way for films produced in China, an industry executive reported yesterday. This is coming directly from the film bureau, she said, adding that it was the first time the government had pulled a foreign film from cinemas.

The film had been given the widest release yet for a foreign production in China, with 393 prints sent to cinemas..

A possible explanation is that officials do not want the film to do well in China. Having made £7 million there since its release on 19 May, it was on its way to becoming one of the highest-ever earning foreign films in China, the executive said.

The Da Vinci Code has been opposed by Christian groups because it suggests Jesus fathered children who continued his lineage. China's state-backed Catholic church urged followers to boycott the film, but few of China's 1.3 billion people are Christians. Estimates range from 16 million to 47 million.

Relations between Beijing and the Vatican - who do not have diplomatic ties - reached a new low last month when the Pope censured China for installing two bishops in the state-backed Catholic church without the Holy See's approval.

The government has issued an internal notice to state media asking them not to promote the film any longer, said another Chinese media source, who also asked not to be identified. The notice ordered us not to comment, discuss the film or even mention the name of the movie in any form in print, said the source.

The withdrawal of The Da Vinci Code from cinemas will not prevent many viewers from watching it. Pirated DVD copies are available in China, which has come under much fire for allegedly weak intellectual property protection.

From X Biz

The makers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas agreed Thursday to settle Federal Trade Commission charges for failing to disclose that animated sex scenes were hidden on the game.

With the settlement, New York-based Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. and Rockstar Games Inc. face fines of up to $11,000 per violation if they violate the order, once it becomes final. The companies also must recall existing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas games and offer a software patch.

Brian Shuster, CEO of Utherverse, said all of the publicity surrounding the controversy worked economically well for the two companies. It was the greatest marketing move in the game industry. Geez, how many times were they mentioned in the press?”

Take-Two’s best-selling Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas game included the sex scene known as "Hot Coffee," which could only be unlocked and viewed with a computer download and implementing “cheat codes” on PlayStation 2 and Xbox equipment. Retailers that do not carry adult-rated games pulled the title from shelves putting a chill on an industry accustomed to self-censorship. Later, the gaming industry’s ratings board slapped an "Adults Only 18+" label on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

With the FTC deal, company officials must properly notify consumers of racy content on future games. The companies also have released a patch that, if downloaded and installed on the game, disables the “Hot Coffee” program; the patch is available for download at www.nomorehotcoffee.com. The companies also will be subject to compliance reporting requirements to ensure that they meet the terms of the order.

Parents have the right to rely on the accuracy of the entertainment rating system, said Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. We allege that Take-Two and Rockstar’s actions undermined the industry’s own rating system and deceived consumers. This is a matter of serious concern to the commission, and if they violate this order, they can be heavily fined.

From the Daily Mail

Tory leader David Cameron has accused Radio 1 of encouraging knife and gun crime. Cameron singled out the station's Saturday night schedules which feature DJ Tim Westwood's hip-hop show.

I would say to Radio 1, do you realise that some of the stuff you play on Saturday nights encourages people to carry guns and knives?  he told the British Society of Magazine Editors. Cameron said his remarks were an example of having the courage to speak up when you see something that is wrong despite the fact that you will get a lot of bricks thrown at you.

Only five months ago the Tory leader appeared on Radio 1 in a bid to demonstrate his youth credentials. Interviewed on the Colin and Edith Show by presenters Colin Murray and Edith Bowman, he declared himself a fan of The Smiths, Radiohead and Pulp, and admitted to fancying Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy.

The station hit back at Cameron's remarks. Radio 1 strongly refutes any suggestion that the station condones or encourages knife or gun culture, a spokesman said.The station takes its responsibilities very seriously and has strict producer guidelines that govern all of the output. Hip-hop is a huge international genre with a vibrant UK scene and that music reflects the sometimes harsher realities of people's lives and cultures."

From BBC

Chinese authorities have blocked most domestic users from the main Google.com search engine. Internet users in major Chinese cities faced difficulties accessing Google's international site in the past week, Reporters Without Borders said.

But www.Google.cn, the controversial Chinese language version launched in January, has not been affected.
The site blocks politically sensitive material to comply with government censorship rules. [Melon Farmers appears ok]

It was only to be expected that Google.com would be gradually sidelined after the censored version was launched in January, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement: Google has just definitively joined the club of Western companies that comply with online censorship in China.

Google.com, the search engine's uncensored international site, had previously been available to Chinese web users, but problems accessing the site had been reported across the country recently. It was blocked nationwide on 31 May, the statement said. The blocking was also being extended to Google News and Google Mail, Reporters Without Borders said.

On Tuesday, Google co-founder Sergey Brin defended his company's decision to launch the censored Google.cn service, a move which drew heavy criticism. We felt that perhaps we could compromise our principles but provide ultimately more information for the Chinese and be a more effective service, he said: Perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense.

Based on an article from Mlive

Two years after Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction", Congress has approved heavy fines for broadcasters airing indecent material.

The U.S. House Wednesday passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which would boost the maximum fines for indecency from $32,000 to $325,000. The Senate bill, approved 275-35, moves next to the president, who is expected to sign it.

Most broadcasters are responsible, and many recently have taken steps to redouble their commitment to keeping indecency off the public airwaves, said nutter Representative. Fred Upton, who sponsored the House version. But for those broadcasters who are less than responsible, the FCC needs to have the teeth to enforce the law, and this bill ... will give the FCC that teeth.

From MSNBC

A prominent Turkish journalist went on trial on Wednesday charged with undermining the authority of the armed forces by writing in support of a young man who refused to do military service.

Perihan Magden is one of several journalists and writers who face the courts this week as nationalist prosecutors inside the criminal justice system try to silence opinion and comment that, they argue, threaten Turkey's unity or the integrity of the state.

Magden's trial, which was adjourned until late next month, is being closely watched by the European Union. Brussels is taking an increasingly hard line with Turkey over restrictions on freedom of expression.

Separately, some staff at TRT, the state broadcasting network, demonstrated in Istanbul yesterday against alleged censorship and interference by the government, which has its roots in political Islam. Some 150 people, mostly employees of state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), staged a demonstration on Wednesday to denounce the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for what they called censorship, pressure, partisan appointments and increased religious broadcasts.

The group demonstrated outside TRT's radio building in downtown Istanbul, holding up posters that read: "No to censorship, end pressure" and "Allow us to do our jobs" and accused TRT of becoming a mouthpiece for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government.

The employees were members of a journalists' trade union. Representatives of journalists associations and other nongovernmental organizations were present in a show of solidarity.

Freedom of expression in Turkey, which has frequently clamped down on dissident views in the past for fear of stoking separatist or leftist strife, is one of the most contentious issues in Ankara's relations with the EU. It is expected to feature high on the agenda at a bilateral meeting on Monday aimed at making progress on Turkey's bid to join the Union.

 Based on an article from ic Liverpool

Audience members walked past hundreds of nutters to see Jerry Springer - the Opera on the opening night of a week-long run at the Liverpool Empire.

At one point Rolf Saxon, the man who plays Springer in the show, came out to face the protesters and put his own view across. He said: I think it's people's right to protest, but it's absurd if they haven't seen the show.

Last night, around 1,000 people gathered on both sides of Lime Street to sing hymns as theatregoers walked in.

Placards carried slogans like "Theatre backs hate", "They wouldn't treat Mohammed this way", and "Springer Opera mocks our faith."

Organisers insisted it was a peaceful act of worship. Ian McFadzean of the Servants Group said: This is just an act of worship. I have seen the show. It's just offensive. The first act is just bad theatre, but it sets up blasphemous ideas for the second half.

Anne Kitchen, from Birkenhead, said: I think that it's very sad that it's being put on here, in what used to be called a Christian country.

Representatives from Christian Action Liverpool, the Servants Group and Pray Knowsley visited the theatre to hand a petition in.

Last night, a spokeswoman for the theatre said: We respect the right of groups to protest peacefully. However, the multi-award-winning show Jerry Springer - the Opera is a show that has previously received great critical acclaim from audiences and critics around the country. It is not our job to act as censors - it is up to the people of Liverpool to judge for themselves, as with any show within our diverse programme of events.

I can't imagine the IWF would relish changing from a body with a well supported role into a despised bunch of state censorship snitches.

From Backlash

I've had a surprisingly friendly and sincere exchange of e-mails with people from the IWF regarding the Extreme Pornography proposals. Whilst they don't seem to have that much positive enthusiasm for the legislation, they are VERY pessimistic about our prospects of stopping this (don't forget, the IWF have been afforded meetings with HO officials). We'll see what emerges in due course...

 Based on an article from the BBC

The Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) has rejected calls to cancel its staging of the musical, Jerry Springer the Opera. The musical begins a six-day run at the WMC in Cardiff next week.

More than 100 church leaders had signed a letter calling for the cancellation of the show. The letter follows criticism of the show from the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, who last month said the show was blasphemous and gratuitously offensive.

The WMC said art should both challenge and entertain, adding it had met church leaders to discuss the show. The WMC said it was committed to staging art that would "push the boundaries": History is full of controversial pieces of art which today appear tame.  Jerry Springer - The Opera may be thought provoking, but then again art should both challenge and entertain people.

The Cardiff performances, between 12 June and 17 June, are part of the show's 21-venue tour of the UK.

The WMC has previously said that it would allow Christian literature to be distributed in the centre's foyer over the period the show is there.

Reverend Peter Naylor, of Llandaff Presbyterian Church (Reformed), in Cardiff, said: Christians in Cardiff and south Wales are deeply offended that a national venue paid for by our tax money is being used to mock God and his son, Jesus Christ, in the most vulgar way. I cannot imagine the Millennium Centre staging a show which mocked any other religion in this way.

From the Times of India

Indian health minister A Ramadoss recently said the order banning depiction of smoking in films and TV serials: will be implemented as soon as the Delhi high court gives us the clean chit. The new rules will be so strict that directors will find it difficult to show actors smoking.

Minister P R Dasmunsi had earlier questioned the ban saying how could a film show a character like Winston Churchill without a cigar.

Clarifying the new rules, joint secretary in the health ministry, Bhavani Thyaga- rajan, said: All new movies with smoking scenes passed by the new censor committee will have to have disclaimers by the actors themselves seen smoking on screen.

In old movies, a warning and an advisory on the screen a minute before and after the smoking scene will have to be carried. The new rules will be very restrictive but will not take away the freedom of expression.

The new censor panel will only give permission to those films to portray scenes where it is absolutely essential to the story line.

From Kuwait News Agency

The government of Pakistan has banned both an American novel The Da Vinci Code and the novel-based movie.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Sher Afgan demanded the government confiscate copies of the novel and ban the exhibition of the novel-based film under the blasphemy ordinance in the country.

He said in a statement that the materials of both the novel and film are against the religious sentiments of Christian community, especially the Catholic Christians.

On Thursday, the Christian community held peaceful demonstrations here and in other parts of the country to protest the novel and demanded the government to confiscate both the novel and its movie.

Based on an article from the Financial Express

Sharmila Tagore, head of the Indian National Film Censor Board said that Information Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi's move to vet the The Da Vinci Code could prompt government ministers to begin scrutinizing more films in the future.

Dasmunshi put a temporary hold on the film's release until he was able to view it with representatives of church groups, who had objected to its content. Dasmunshi approved the movie's release, but said it would have to run a disclaimer and children would not be allowed to watch it.

Tagore said the move: will set a bad precedent. Now if everyone (opposed to a film) decides to go to the ultimate authority, there will be problems ahead. This could also lead to the creation of a parallel censor board,

There will be a lot of petitions now. And I don't think the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has the time or the expertise to watch every film, she said. However, having seen one film, there will be questions. The minister cannot choose to see one film and not another if there is a protest.

Meanwhile hundreds of Christian protesters have marched against cinemas showing The Da Vinci Code in Fiji. Cinemas in the two biggest cities of Suva and Lautoka on Friday have  said they will not to show it again.

Based on an article from Reuters

Singapore director Royston Tan's Cut has settled a score with chief censor Amy Chua for mutilating one of his films about local youth gangs. 15 had 27 cuts for offensive language, violence and gang chants which the authorities feared might incite violence and glorify gang culture.

In Cut, a film buff chases a frumpy censor as she wheels her trolley down a supermarket aisle, and reels off a string of films which the bureaucrat had snipped, from Lost in Translation to Titanic. Cut itself, first shown in 2004, was not censored.

This film misrepresents the Board of Film Censors (BFC) because we are portrayed as being "scissors-happy" when this is far from the truth, according to Chua, the scissors-happy BFC's chairwoman.

The film won a following among cineastes in the city-state, where an outing to the cinema often used to be memorable not so much for the film itself as for the jerky edits excising bare breasts, sex scenes and supposed obscenities.

Two years ago, following a review of censorship practices, Singapore revised its classification of films and videos, giving a wider range of ratings. Now there is a category for viewers over 18 years old, in addition to existing ones for 16-plus and 21-plus. Now there is less need to cut "adult" scenes as a film can be rated for a mature audience.

Censorship is a reflection of a country's social norms and values, said Chua, a demure woman in her fifties who is in charge of content for film, video, broadcast and publications at the information ministry's Media Development Authority. In Scandinavia full nudity (on screen) might not be a problem, but if we had full nudity, parents would complain.

The censors' vetting of videos brought into the country for personal use may be scrapped next, Chua said.

Singapore's sensitivities extend beyond sex, violence and swear words to political, racial and religious issues, reflecting more than four decades of one-party rule and a population mix of ethnic Chinese, Malays and Indians.

Last year, Singaporean film director Martyn See had to withdraw his documentary on opposition politician Chee Soon Juan from a film festival. See was then questioned by police, who confiscated copies of the film as well as his film equipment. Political subjects can be treated in a film. It's how you treat it, whether it's balanced, said Chua.

Things have improved, but it's often a case of two steps forward, one step back, said poet and writer Felix Cheong.

Based on an article from The Age

Pornography should be banned from remote Aboriginal communities, according to a mad scientist.

Judy Atkinson, director of the College of Indigenous Australian Peoples at Southern Cross University in NSW, said pornography was fuelling the problem of sexual assault in remote communities: There is a difference between a middle class couple in Canberra watching this and a group of young boys in some remote community in the NT, who have no real access to education, no access to the real world, and think that's the way that Western people behave.

She said that non-Aboriginal men had introduced pornography to Aboriginal communities, and it was being accessed by teenagers, and in some cases children as young as six.

Atkinson said the problem was linked with substance abuse: People have got lots of DVD machines. Blue movies are brought into the community, they have become a commodity . . . and are even more lethal than alcohol.

Nationals MP John Anderson said he had also discussed the issue with Aboriginal elders based in his NSW electorate of Gwydir, which has a high indigenous population. Anderson said a respected elder had told him that the real problem was that young people were becoming "socialised" by obscene and violent videos.

Atkinson said research for a new study about indigenous violence suggests that hard porn including "snuff movies" [sounds like she is bandying terms with negative connotations without any regard to reality] was now being accessed by children. She said she interviewed a six-year-old Aboriginal boy who had been traumatised by a movie he watched with his uncle showing a woman being killed during sexual intercourse.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said that while pornography needed to be addressed, the focus had to be on policing and sentencing. He said he wanted to ensure that Aboriginal customary law could not be used as a defence to sexual assault or crimes of violence.

Based on an article from AND

Muslims across Malawi are planning to march in the main urban centres of the country to protest against the Da Vinci Code.

The Muslim Association of Malawi's (MAM) General Secretary Imran Shareef said  that although the film is not yet in Malawi, it is clear that is contains acts of blasphemy and as such should not be distributed in a country where Jesus is accepted as Allah’s prophet.
We Muslims are doing this on our own right, and not because of the Christian faith. Under the law of apostasy, punishment to anyone who defames a prophet of Jesus’ status is death, Shareef told the paper.

The movie, in representing the view that Jesus was married to Marry Magdalene, has insulted and blasphemed a belief by not only the Christian faith but also the Muslim community, says Shareef in the statement.

Over the weekend the Christian community also called on government to ban the film. However the Censorship board says it will not ban a film before its importation.

From the BBC

The House special committee on the pornography bill will rework its draft to focus on curbing the prevalence of obscene materials, a development that brings the heated discussion about its contents back to square one.

The decision was made after committee members agreed that the current draft denied people's basic rights and also was rife with inconsistencies.

Lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari said: Proponents of the bill have repeatedly said that it was to protect women and children, but there was no mention in the bill about laws that protect women and children as its legal consideration.

She said that after taking into account the demonstrations for and against the bill, committee members also agreed to focus on measures to curb the production and distribution of pornographic materials, instead of restricting individual behaviour: Preparation of the new draft alone will take at least three months.

Special committee Chairman, Balkan Kaplale, insisted the deliberation of the bill to be completed by mid-June, with only a plenary session necessary for its endorsement.

From the Khaleej Times

A Jordanian court Tuesday sentenced to prison two newspaper editors for “attacking religious sentiment” by reprinting cartoons deemed offensive to Prophet Mohammad, their lawyer said.

Jihad Momani, former editor of the weekly Shihane tabloid, and Hisham Al Khalidi, editor-in-chief of the tabloid Al Mehwar, were each sentenced to two months in prison.

The journalist's attorney, Mohammed Kteishat, said he will appeal the verdict

The defendants have been on bail since their arrest in February for printing the drawings, first published in September by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.

Momeni and Khalidi both pleaded not guilty.

Their arrests have been condemned by international press watchdogs, who say journalists should not be jailed for what they publish.

Early in February, King Abdullah II said insulting the prophet was an unjustifiable crime ... that could not be justified on the pretext of freedom of expression.