Censor Watch

UK TV censor Ofcom has received six complaints following a lesbian kiss on Doctor Who, reports Gay Star News.

The complaints came after a scene in which Madame Vastra helps to keep her wife Jenny alive in response to a threat from droids that only move when they can sense breath.

A few worthless tweets were also dredged up.

Update: Ofcom will not investigate the whinges

28th August 2014. From strangethingsarehappening.com. Thanks to Nick

A spokesman for TV censor Ofcom has now responded to the complaints:

Ofcom can confirm it received six complaints about a kiss broadcast in an episode of Doctor Who on Saturday 23 August.

Having assessed the complaints, we can confirm that they do not raise issues warranting further investigation. Our rules do not discriminate between scenes involving opposite sex and same sex couples.

Update: Censored in Asia

31st August 2014. See article from dailymail.co.uk

The BBC cut a lesbian kiss scene from Doctor Who to avoid offending audiences (and TV censors) when it was screened in Asia.

The feature-length edition was broadcast to viewers in Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore last Monday. BBC insiders say the scene, which lasted just a couple of seconds, was cut to avoid falling foul of a broadcasting code in Singapore which says programmes should avoid any content that could justify homosexual and lesbian lifestyles.

George Dixon, BBC Worldwide's global editorial director, said:

When preparing shows for international transmission, we occasionally have to make edits to ensure we're not breaking any local broadcasting rules.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was not impressed. He said:

The BBC should not bow to censorship demands from other countries. If these countries are bigoted and are not willing to show same-sex love, they have no right to demand that the BBC conforms to their standards of prejudice.

Rona Fairhead, the former head of the Financial Times Group, has been chosen as the new chairwoman of the BBC Trust.

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said Fairhead was the preferred candidate to replace Chris Patten, who quit in May. She will be the first woman to chair the trust, which is the body in charge of overseeing the BBC.

Patten, who was appointed in 2011, left the job of chairman on health grounds following major heart surgery.

A BBC spokeswoman said there was an appointment process that still needed to be completed. But we welcome the announcement of Rona Fairhead as the preferred candidate for chair of the BBC Trust, she said.

A member of Russia'a culture committee recently recommended a ban on foreign films that demonize Russia.

While the idea of stricter control over the image of Russia and Russians in foreign films has been floated by top officials time and again over the last few years, the first concrete proposal aimed at banning foreign films that demonize Russia was recently made by Batu Khasikov, a member of the culture committee at Russia's Federation Council, the upper chamber of Parliament. He proposed:

Specific requirements should be introduced for film exhibition in the country, and movies where everything related to Russia is overtly demonized or shown in a primitive and silly way should be banned from theatrical distribution.

The supermarket chain Aldi has withdrawn Roald Dahl's classic children's book Revolting Rhymes from its Australian stores following a few whinges on its Facebook page.

An Aldi spokesprat said the book had been pulled after:

Comments by a limited number of concerned customers regarding the language used in this particular book. Aldi Australia would like to inform all of our customers that we take the concerns from the community seriously.

The particular poem that prompted the whinges, reads:

Poor Cindy's heart was torn to shreds.
My Prince! she thought. He chops off heads!
How could I marry anyone who does that sort of thing for fun?
The Prince cried, 'Who's this dirty slut? Off with her nut! Off with her nut!'

Exhibit B , by artist Brett Bailey, has people chained and caged in a reflection of the human zoos popular in the 19th century, to demonstrate the brutal reality behind colonisation .

Brett, a white man with a wealthy background who grew up in Apartheid South Africa, reckons his piece is thought-provoking. He said:

It is a piece about humanity; about a system of dehumanisation that affects everybody within society, regardless of skin colour, ethnic or cultural background, that scours the humanity from the 'looker' and the 'looked at.'

PC Activists have called for the work to be censored. About 2,500 people have signed a petition calling for it to be banned. Campaigner Zita Holbourne said:

We don't believe that in order to remind people of the horrors of racism, enslavement, apartheid and colonial rule it is necessary to place black people in cages and put them on display in an exhibition and that this exhibition does nothing to promote race equality.

The petition, started by journalist Sara Myers, includes:

We wish to register our utmost disgust at what we consider to be an outrageous act of complicit racism with the Barbican agreeing to the housing and display of this production.

Exhibit B is set to open at The Barbican in London from September 23-27.

The government of the Gambia has passed a controversial law that imposed extreme penalties for producing and selling pornographic materials.

Under the new legislation, it is an offence to produce, publish, procure, import, export and sell any form of pornography into the West African nation.

The legislation imposes a mandatory fine of not less than D20,000 or a ten-year jail term, or both for anyone guilty of participating in the production, trafficking, and publication of pornography.

Found is a 2012 USA horror by Scott Schirmer.
Starring Gavin Brown, Ethan Philbeck and Phyllis Munro.

Banned

The uncut version of the movie was banned by the the Australian film censors earlier this year in May.

Re-banned

The distributor, Monster Pictures, has just resubmitted a cut version, approximately 6 minutes shorter than the previous submission.

However the film censors did not relent and the film is still banned, even in its cut form.

Unbanned

The Australian film censors relented after the film was submit for the third time, this time with about 7 minutes being cut.

The heavily cut film is now rated R18+ for high impact sexualised violence, violence and themes

The extended classification information reads,:

• High impact: themes, violence
• Moderate impact: language, nudity

Still no word how the film is faring at the BBFC. It is due for UK release on 13th October 2014.

Australia's parliament has just passed a bill to allow the government the option to allow the use of classification tools for the classification of specified categories of media, particularly computer games.

The target of the legislation is the vast amount of apps and small games available online. Current law suggests these require to be censored by the Classification Board. However in reality this is totally uneconomic and unfeasible. The plan is to allow users to classify the apps using government approved classification tools, presumably taking the form of a questionnaire for the games makers.

An ad for the video game Wolfenstein: The New Order was displayed on a gaming website, www.eurogamer.net. An ad bordered the home page and was headed Wolfenstein: The New Order ...] HOVER TO EXPAND THE VIDEO and pictured two figures holding guns. A PEGI 18 symbol was also shown. Hovering over the top section of the border for three seconds, without clicking, opened a video trailer ad over the home page and played automatically. On-screen text at the start of the video stated MATURE 17+ ... Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs . The video included a scene depicted in black and white where two Nazi officers wearing gas masks walked amongst the bodies of dead peace protestors. One Nazi soldier was shown executing a man on the ground with a bullet to the head, whilst a robot animal walked in the background. The trailer included other scenes of game footage which depicted people being killed or hurt, including by being shot. Dialogue included What the fuck did I just do? , What you been up to ...? Shooting, stabbin', strangling Nazis and Well, I'm on the motherfucking moon .

The complainant, who believed the ad to be excessively gory and shocking and was concerned that it could be seen by children, objected that the ad:

1. in the particular scene showing the execution of a man, was offensive and distressing; and

2. was unsuitable to be shown on a home page with no restrictions on who could view it.

Eurogamer said their site was a video games site written for and read by a mature gaming audience. They said their readership was generally in their mid to late 20s and 30s. They said their last readership survey in May 2014 showed that 96.89% of their readership was aged 18 or over. They provided a breakdown of the readership survey respondents by age category.

ASA Assessment: Complaint not upheld

1. Not upheld

The video trailer included graphic scenes of violence, including a man being shot in the head, and the dialogue featured swearing. The ASA therefore considered that the content of the ad had the potential to cause offence or distress. However, the ad had appeared on a website where the readership was predominantly a gaming audience aged 18 or over, who we considered were likely to be familiar with the nature and contents of different types of video games. The ad shown on the home page included the name of the game, a PEGI 18 symbol and pictured two figures holding guns. We therefore considered that it indicated the video trailer was likely to include violent content. The trailer played when the home page ad was hovered over for three seconds, during which a countdown was displayed. The start of the trailer also included a prominent warning of the nature of the video's contents. We considered that website users were provided with adequate information and warning about the nature of the contents of the ad, and users who did not wish to view such material were able to avoid doing so. We therefore considered that the ad was unlikely to cause offence or distress to those people who viewed it.

2. Not upheld

We considered that the nature of the video trailer, which included graphic violence and swearing, meant that it would not be suitable to appear in an untargeted medium. However, the website on which the ad appeared had a predominantly adult audience, and the latest readership survey showed that only 3 % of the website's users were aged under 18. Readers were also provided with adequate information and warning about the nature of the contents of the ad, and the ad stated clearly that the game had a PEGI 18 rating. We therefore concluded that the ad was unlikely to be seen by children and that it had been responsibly targeted.

Sadly, Internet censorship is rife in many countries. Consequently hundreds of millions of people worldwide are denied daily their right to knowledge by governmental controls on sites such as YouTube and Facebook.

It is imperative we recognise and challenge the powers that restrict not only the public's access to the simple joy of funny cat content, but to information as a whole.

Freedom is knowledge. Knowledge is power. Cats know everything.

From the very heart of the Internet we raise our banner with #ThePussycatRiot: a new protest movement to unite the cats of the world and their owners in opposition to cyber censorship. We aim to raise awareness of the oppressive regimes preventing people from freely enjoying the boundless wealth of mankind's innovation and creativity... And cat videos.

A website for a betting service, www.betdaq.com, featured an image of the statue of Christ the Redeemer with the surrounding city of Rio de Janeiro visible behind. The statue had been digitally altered so that the figure's robe was purple, and the word BETDAQ had been superimposed onto it. The image was headed WORLD CUP 2014 - BET WITH BETDAQ .

A complainant objected that the use of an image of Jesus Christ to promote gambling would be offensive to Christians.

ASA Assessment: Complaint upheld

The ASA acknowledged that the statute of Christ the Redeemer was a well-known landmark for the city of Rio de Janeiro and was therefore likely to be understood as a reference to the city and the location of the 2014 World Cup, particularly as the city was visible in the background of the image and the tournament was clearly referenced in the ad. However, we also understood that any image of Jesus was likely to hold religious connotations for believers, and that despite its secular use as a landmark this was still the case for the statue in question. We noted that, although the figure was not seen taking an active part in gambling, it was emblazoned with the logo and colour scheme of a betting company and was featured in a prominent role in an ad for a gambling service. We considered that this created an association between the figure of Christ and gambling and commercial activities. We therefore concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious offence to some visitors to the website.

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Ladbrokes to take care in future when using religious imagery.

Thailand's military dictators have allowed 12 banned satellite channels to resume broadcasting. The channels have been off the air since the May 22 coup. However the channels have been forced to sign a declaration to not air political news.

Some of the channels are well-known political-oriented satellite stations, such as the yellow-shirt ASTV, Democrat Party-backed Blue Sky and red-shirt Asia Update, said they were satisfied by the terms and conditions laid down by the junta.

Most of them even agreed to change their name in a move to end memories about previous political stances.

The channels allowed to start broadcasting also include MV5, DNN, UDD, P&P, 4 Channel, FMTV, Hot TV, Rescue TV and Student and People Network for Reforming Thailand Channel.

ASTV, which will now be known as News TV, still plans to focus intensely on news, albeit now censored.

The broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecom-munications Commission announced conditions for the 12 satellite TV channels to apply for a new licence to resume broadcasting next week. The channels will need to apply for a new licence as Pay TV and comply with the NCPO's condition that they would broadcast no content that affects national security and the social divide by signing a memorandum of understand with the NBTC.

David Cameron and his bunch of miserablist hangers-on will be well unpleased as their bête noir, Miley Cyrus, was among the winners at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards in California.

Miley Cyrus won the Video of the Year award for Wrecking Ball , which according to PC extremists has 'sexualised' and 'harmed' anyone who watches it. And it's one hell of a lot of 'harm' as the video has now been watched 699,008,259 times on YouTube alone.

PC bullies have picked on fashion designer Trelise Cooper for featuring Native American headdresses in her show for New Zealand Fashion Week.

She was forced to apologise on Facebook:

It was never my intention to disrespect another culture. It is my mistake that through my mistake and ignorance, like me, people now know and are aware of the sacredness of the head dress to Native Americans. To those who I have offended, I sincerely apologise.

The Trelise Cooper Facebook page had earlier captioned a picture of a model wearing a headdress with 70's bohemian vibes which sparked a few miserable messages on Twitter and Facebook:

Filmmaker and actor Taika Waititi whinged:

I think I understand what Trelise means by 70s vibes - a time when it was cool to be culturally insensitive and racism was super awesome. Nice throw back to better times, babe, we native people celebrate with you

Kylie Klein Nixon screeched:

The sacred symbols of other cultures are not fashion accessories for you to play with. This is a disgrace. And you are incredibly ignorant.

The revising committee of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has cleared the Hollywood comedy, Sex Tape , giving it an adults only A certificate.

The committee asked the film's distributors to cut around 10 minutes' footage from the film. Committee chairman Nandini Sardesai said:

Several scenes shown before the title of the film feature frontal nudity and blatant sexual intercourse which was definitely not beautiful; we have asked distributors to cut them out.

The distributors were armed with a proper self-censorship sheet and they even offered to cut more scenes if needed. We have already pointed out the deletions and they have agreed to carry them out.

The film was previosuly set for release in India in the first week of August. But last month, the examining committee of the CBFC denied the film a certificate due to its adult content.

A research article has appeared in the journal Science . It is titled Reverse-engineering censorship in China: Randomized experimentation and participant observation by Gary King, Jennifer Pan and Margaret E. Roberts.

The abstract reveals that the censorship of people's social media posting is more about preventing organised protests than censoring personal opinions:

Chinese censorship of individual social media posts occurs at two levels:

• (i) Many tens of thousands of censors, working inside Chinese social media firms and government at several levels, read individual social media posts, and decide which ones to take down.

• (ii) They also read social media submissions that are prevented from being posted by automated keyword filters, and decide which ones to publish.

To study the first level, we devised an observational study to download published Chinese social media posts before the government could censor them, and to revisit each from a worldwide network of computers to see which was censored. To study the second level, we conducted the first large scale experimental study of censorship by creating accounts on numerous social media sites throughout China, submitting texts with different randomly assigned content to each, and detecting from a worldwide network of computers which ones were censored.

To find out the details of how the system works, we supplemented the typical current approach (conducting uncertain and potentially unsafe confidential interviews with insiders) with a participant observation study, in which we set up our own social media site in China. While also attempting not to alter the system we were studying, we purchased a URL, rented server space, contracted with Chinese firms to acquire the same software as used by existing social media sites, and---with direct access to their software, documentation, and even customer service help desk support---reverse engineered how it all works.

Results

Criticisms of the state, its leaders, and their policies are routinely published, whereas posts with collective action potential are much more likely to be censored---regardless of whether they are for or against the state (two concepts not previously distinguished in the literature). Chinese people can write the most vitriolic blog posts about even the top Chinese leaders without fear of censorship, but if they write in support of or opposition to an ongoing protest---or even about a rally in favor of a popular policy or leader---they will be censored.

We clarify the internal mechanisms of the Chinese censorship apparatus and show how changes in censorship behavior reveal government intent by presaging their action on the ground. That is, it appears that criticism on the web, which was thought to be censored, is used by Chinese leaders to determine which officials are not doing their job of mollifying the people and need to be replaced.

The New Zealand morality campaign group Family First is outraged about a Hip-Hop song by a group named @peace which contains lyrics about killing the Prime Minister and having sex with his daughter.

National Director Bob McCoskrie says you can't go any lower than this type of personal and offensive attack on a politician and their family. He calls for the election campaign to be lifted to a higher level than burning of effigies, torching candidate billboards, chanting F John Key .

Family First will lay a formal complaint with the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

The Expendables 3 is a 2014 USA action adventure thriller by Patrick Hughes.
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Jet Li.

The latest episode in the previously R rated series was controversially toned down for a child friendly MPAA PG-13 rating.

Stallone suggested during pre-release hype that there will be a 'harder' version released on home video. However there is no sign of this for the first batch of home video releases. Or at lease no sign of an extended version on promotional material provided to Amazon UK.

India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has banned another film dealing with the turbulence of 1984. Dilli 1984 , based on the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, has not been certified on the grounds that the board could not even suggest cuts as the entire film was disturbing.

The film was screened before the board on August 14 and was denied a certificate four days later.

The film's director Ashok Gupta, said:

We had kept the film very close to the reality and showed the truth which apparently was uncomfortable.

Line Thailand, which operates the country's most-popular mobile-messaging app, has pulled three sets of emoticon images of Buddha in supposedly inappropriate poses following online complaints.

Thousands of Thai Buddhists claimed the images were disrespectful because they portrayed the religious figure in funny, cartoon-like positions.

Led by a group called the World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth, about 40 Buddhist organisations worldwide launched an international protest campaign on change.org to have the recently introduced Buddha , The Mask Revolution and Saint Young Men sets removed. The Stop Buddha Line Sticker petition had attracted about 5,700 signatures..

Line then removed the contentious images from its Thailand sticker shop . However the emoticons remain available for purchase and download elsewhere in the world.

Line Thailand said in a statement:

They are no longer available for sales in Thailand market, since they may cause discomfort in cultural aspect. Line has no intention to disparage Buddhism but we feel deeply sorry for any inconveniences that may have been caused

The authorities in China have shut down the 11th Beijing Independent Film Festival on its opening day.

Organisers said they had been pressure by officials wanting to ban the festival, which had been due to run for a month.

The organisers said they had received a series of warnings from officials to cancel the festival - one report said they complied after being briefly detained.

Security was tight at the venue in the Beijing suburb of Songzhuang, with about two dozen police or security officers blocking the area and preventing around 30 film directors and members of the public from entering, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reports.

The Chinese government keeps repressive control of movies and is suspicious of independent films that could contain criticism of the Communist party and its policies..

A man has been jailed for 33 months after recording Fast And Furious 6 from the back of a cinema in Walsall.

A judge in Wolverhampton ruled that Philip Danks uploaded the movie, which was downloaded 700,000 times.

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) claimed this meant millions of pounds lost for the film's distributor, Universal Pictures.

In the latest blow for free speech, the government of the southern Indian state of Karnataka has passed legislation that makes it illegal to upload, share, or like content with a view to hurt religious sentiments knowingly or unknowingly .

Back in June, Karnataka police warned citizens about the type of things that were covered by the Information Technology Act:

Citizens are warned not to upload, modify, resend (forward) and like (share) malicious or misleading images, videos and messages through any medium with a view to hurt religious sentiments knowingly or unknowingly. Citizens are encouraged to inform the Police Control Room at...

New legislation, the lengthily named Karnataka Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug-offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Slum-Grabbers and Video or Audio Pirates (Amendment) Bill, 2014, means that citizens can now actually be arrested if they have even committed an offence under the Information Technology Act.

A Swedish TV network has apologised to Costa Rica for using the country's national anthem to promote a comedy show.

TV4 is using the anthem in a trailer for Parlamentet (The Parliament), a popular gameshow featuring some of Sweden's leading comedians.

After receiving complaints from Costa Ricans living in Sweden, Costa Rica lodged a diplomatic protest, claiming the use of its national anthem was a grave disrespect to our national symbol.

A spokesman for TV4, Anders Edholm, told the Associated Press that producers have apologised to Costa Rica's ambassador to Sweden and Norway, and assured him the network would not air the trailer after the first episode of the series was broadcast on Sunday. If any Costa Ricans were offended we of course apologise, he said.

The new law modifies section 2 of the Video Records Act to become something like:

Section 2: Exempted Works

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, a video work is for the purposes of this Act an exempted work if, taken as a whole--

(a) it is designed to inform, educate or instruct;

(b) it is concerned with sport, religion or music; or

(c) it is a video game.

(2) A video work other than a video game is not an exempted work for those purposes if it does one or more of the following:

(a) it depicts or promotes violence or threats of violence;

(b) it depicts the immediate aftermath of violence on human or animal characters;

(c) it depicts an imitable dangerous activity without also depicting that the activity may endanger the welfare or health of a human or animal character;

(d) it promotes an imitable dangerous activity;

(e) it depicts or promotes activities involving illegal drugs or the misuse of drugs;

(f) it promotes the use of alcohol or tobacco;

(g) it depicts or promotes suicide or attempted suicide, or depicts the immediate aftermath of such an event;

(h) it depicts or promotes any act of scarification or mutilation of a person, or of selfharm, or depicts the immediate aftermath of such an act;

(i) it depicts techniques likely to be useful in the commission of offences or, through its depiction of criminal activity, promotes the commission of offences;

(j) it includes words or images intended or likely to convey a sexual message (ignoring words or images depicting any mild sexual behaviour);

(k) it depicts human sexual activity (ignoring any depictions of mild sexual activity);

(l) it depicts or promotes acts of force or restraint associated with human sexual activity;

(m) it depicts human genital organs or human urinary or excretory functions (unless the depiction is for a medical, scientific or educational purpose);

(n) it includes swearing (ignoring any mild bad language); or

(o) it includes words or images that are intended or likely (to any extent) to cause offence, whether on the grounds of race, gender, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation, or otherwise.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2):

A video work promotes something if the work is likely (to any extent) to stimulate or encourage that thing.

Human or animal character means a character that is or whose appearance is similar to that of:

(a) a human being, or
(b) an animal that exists or has existed in real life, but does not include a simple stick character or any equally basic representation of a human being or animal;

Imitable dangerous activity means an activity which:

(a) if imitated by a person, may endanger the welfare or health of any person or animal, and
(b) may be easily imitated by a person; and violence does not include any violence that is:

(a) mild, or
(b) not directed towards human or animal characters, unless it is sexual violence. .

Note: the original definition of an exempted work is retained for video games.

Kaum De Heere is a 2014 India drama by Ravinder Ravi
Starring R aj Kakra , Gurpreet Ghuggi , and Rahul Devi

India has banned the release of a film based on the assassination of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, after complaints it glorified her killers. The film, Kaum De Heere , (Real Heroes), had been scheduled for release on Friday.

It tells the story of Ms Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards who shot her dead apparently to avenge her decision to send troops in a deadly raid on the Golden Temple. Sikhs say thousands were murdered when the army entered Sikhism's holiest shrine in Amritsar to flush out militants. Mrs Gandhi's assassination triggered an outburst of communal violence targeted at Sikhs and more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in attacks across India.

Officials of the home and information and broadcasting ministries and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) saw the film again and deemed it not fit for release. Chief film censor Leela Samson said after a review of the movie:

We saw the film and decided that it must not be released.

The home ministry earlier voiced serious concern at the content of the Punjabi film, and asked the I&B ministry to take a relook at its clearance. It said the Punjabi-language film Kaum De Heere may affect communal harmony in Punjab and other northern states.

There were reports that CBFC CEO Rakesh Kumar, who was arrested by the CBI recently for corruption, had previously cleared the film after allegedly taking Rs 100,000.

The Congress Party - which Indira Gandhi led - had previously threatened to carry out protests if the film was released and the party's youth wing also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for the film to be banned, saying it presented her assassins as heroes.

In the UK, the film was passed 15 uncut for strong bloody violence.

Update: Censored whilst claiming to be uncensored

25th August 2014. See article from totalfilmy.com

After Kaum De Heere was banned the producer of controversial film has threatened to take legal action against the censor board. The producers say, the prohibition is not justified given that it is based on true incidents, as per the findings of the Justice Thakkar Commission that had probed the assassination. Moreover, contrary to media reports the film does not portray the killers as heroes but presents the actual chain of events and give biographical accounts of Satwant, Beant and Kehar Singh.

Satish Katiyal stated:

We are consulting our lawyer. First, we will file a case against the censor board. We will go to court and then we will go to public. There is nothing controversial in the film. The Centre has banned the film due to political pressure. It is a rumour that we bribed to get our film cleared from censor board.

Singapore's media censor, the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), has said it will not be proceeding with a new censorship scheme for arts entertainment organisers, following a public consultation exercise in May and numerous industry consultations.

The Arts Term Licensing Scheme was one of the changes proposed by MDA to the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act to force arts entertainment event organisers to classify their own performances.

Under the scheme, licensees would have to either adopt a General rating or else a Restricted 18 rating. But during the public consultation, 45 arts groups backed a position by artists' network Arts Engage, which objected to the scheme. Among their concerns was that such a scheme would encourage self-censorship as assessors fear hefty fines and penalties if a work was wrongly classified.

The MDA said it remains mindful that arts groups were the intended key beneficiaries of the scheme and it would not be meaningful to roll out the scheme if the majority of the arts groups were opposed to it.

But while MDA will not proceed with the Term Licensing Scheme, it will proceed with other proposed amendments to the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act. They include streamlining the enforcement process by vesting MDA with investigation powers for arts and entertainment breaches. Currently, MDA has to report such violations to the police for investigation.

THE BBC has apologised for broadcasting a trivial Irish joke on its flagship Scottish news programme.

The joke was broadcast on BBC1's Reporting Scotland news show during a pre-recorded segment about the funniest joke at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It involved a reporter asking members of the public about what they find funny. Among the contributions broadcast:

Two Irish guys look in the mirror. One goes: 'I know that guy.' The other one goes: 'I know you do, it's me you stupid guy.'

One family told The Irish Post they were gobsmacked to hear the quip:

I thought it was absolutely disgusting to see that your own national broadcaster would allow this to happen. To see comments like that about your own ethnic group on the news is so disheartening.

Responding to the complaint, the BBC apologised for broadcasting the joke. A spokesman said:

During a series of vox-pops a member of the public told a joke which may have offended some viewers.

The Dominican Republic government commission that oversees public performances is banning a Sept. 13 concert by Miley Cyrus on morality grounds.

The commission said in a statement that it took the action because Cyrus often:

Undertakes acts that go against morals and customs, which are punishable by Dominican law.

Meanwhile Moralist campaigners in New Zealand claim that Miley Cyrus' show is porn and the promotion of substance abuse dressed up as pop music. The singer is set to play an Auckland show in October.

Family First's Bob McCroskrie hyped the show saying that reviews of the Bangerz tour indicated that it featured foul language, highly sexualised imagery, and normalised drug use. He suggested:

Parents should save their money, protect their children and expose them to the far more positive messages of celebrating their achievements, their personality and their uniqueness.

But Cyrus has hit out at the whingers, saying her show is empowering and brings happiness to her fans.

A sculpture in an east London gallery has offended the easily offended. The Long Suffering Stormtrooper by artist Ryan Callanan displayed in the window of a Gidea Park gallery depicts a Star Wars stormtrooper being crucified.

Christian Sarah Jenkin reported the Picture Frame Gallery to Trading Standards saying:

It's extremely blasphemous and offensive. Some people may find it funny but, as a Christian, I don't.

It's time Christians stand up and say 'no we are not putting up with this'. I'm not going to throw a brick through the window but I will speak up.

Callanan explained that the work represents the sacrifice of the movie stormtroopers as cannon fodder for someone else's cause. The avid Star Wars fan said that he isn't offended by Mrs Jenkin's criticism:

If it was George Lucas having a go at me I would be more upset.

Jenkin is awaiting a reply from Trading Standards.

The video showing the murder of the kidnapped reporter James Foley by Islamic State terrorists has taken on an iconic importance. It is almost as if the video is somehow the cause of a war that has already been raging for sometime.

It is the focus of attention of the entire world. And yet actually watching is now considered to have almost magic powers to convert normal folk into either muslim hating extremists or else else into murderous jihadists. Presumably ordinary people are best letting police, governments, and reporters watch it for them.

So it is somewhat inevitable that there has been a massive call for censorship of the video.

The Metropolitan Police Service provided to news reporters the following statement:

The MPS Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) is investigating the contents of the video that was posted online in relation to the alleged murder of James Foley.

We would like to remind the public that viewing, downloading or disseminating extremist material within the UK may constitute an offence under terrorism legislation.

But it appears that the police have been making it up about the video being illegal to view. David Allen Green has been pursing the police for information about which law makes the viewing illegal. He received not even a pointer to a law that was even vaguely relevent. He concludes:

This was worrying. People need reliable and accurate public information, and they have the right to expect it from the well-funded PR departments of UK police forces. If a police force tells people something is against the law then it should be able to instantly say on demand what that law is. The law should not be made up by press officers as they go along, especially in respect of matters such as terrorism where confidence in law enforcement agencies is crucial.

And in the Daily Mail...

See article from dailymail.co.uk

This gruesome video is the latest, and perhaps the most shocking, example of what has become known as jihadist porn .

Countless millions of people will have watched the brutal killing of Mr Foley, and other barbaric acts carried out by the Islamic State. I certainly don't regard them all as voyeurs, any more than I see myself as one. But what have we gained? Haven't we, in fact, been damaged in some way?

Bloomberg picks up on discrepancies with showing images of Michael Brown killing...

See article from bloomberg.com

While Twitter is taking pains to remove images of the death of James Foley, the journalist who was beheaded by Islamic militants, some photos of the body of Michael Brown , the teenager who was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri , remains on users' streams. To many on Twitter, images of violence against Foley can be seen as spreading a terrorist's message, while publicizing Brown's death shines a light on a perceived injustice.

The Guardian picks up on Twitter getting into a tangle of selective censorship

See article from theguardian.com

Twitter has got itself into a tangle. The social network's decision to remove all links to the horrific footage showing the apparent beheading of the photojournalist James Foley is one that most of its users, reasonably, support.

The social network went still further, suspending or banning users who shared the footage or certain stills, following public tweets from the company's CEO, Dick Costolo , that it would take action against such users.

It is hard to think of anyone having a good reason to view or share such barbaric footage, but Twitter's proactive approach reverses a long record of non-intervention.

Banning us from watching this video of a criminal act is a step too far

See article from indexoncensorship.org

There is a difference between individuals exercising their right not to view or share a video, and companies such as Twitter -- or indeed the police force -- denying people the right to view it

Fark is a website described as an older, weirder precursor to Reddit. It has now decided to censor bad taste jokes with a misogyny them. The website has made the following announcement:

Adding misogyny to Fark moderator guidelines.

We've actually been tightening up moderation style along these lines for awhile now, but as of today, the FArQ will be updated with new rules reminding you all that we don't want to be the He Man Woman Hater's Club. This represents enough of a departure from pretty much how every other large internet community operates that I figure an announcement is necessary.

There are lots of examples of highly misogynistic language in pop culture, and Fark has used those plenty over the years. From SNL's Jane, you ignorant slut to Blazing Saddles' multiple casual references to rape, there are a lot of instances where views are made extreme to parody them. On Fark, we have a tendency to use pop culture references as a type of referential shorthand with one another.

On SNL and in a comedy movie, though, the context is clear. On the Internet, it's impossible to know the difference between a person with hateful views and a person lampooning hateful views to make a point. The mods try to be reasonable, and context often matters. We will try and determine what you meant, but that's not always a pass. If your post can be taken one of two ways, and one of those ways can be interpreted as misogynistic, the mods may delete it -- even if that wasn't your intent.

Things that aren't acceptable:

• Rape jokes
• Calling women as a group whores or sluts or similar demeaning terminology
• Jokes suggesting that a woman who suffered a crime was somehow asking for it

Obviously, these are just a few examples and shouldn't be taken as the full gospel.

We're trying to make the Fark community a better place, and hopefully this will be a few steps in the right direction.

Monty Python Live is a 2014 UK comedy by Eric Idle.
Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Carol Cleveland.

The BBFC rating is not yet published for video but it was passed 15 uncut for very strong language, strong sex references for cinema showing:

• 2014 Eagle Rock RB Blu-ray at UK Amazon released on 10th November 2014
• 2014 Eagle Rock R2 DVD at UK Amazon released on 10th November 2014

A TV channel is to be investigated by Ofcom for broadcasting swearing in a Monty Python show before the watershed. Gold Channel aired one of the the O2 Arena shows live, but apparently failed to bleep out all the swearing.

Gold Channel made a real pigs' ear of ugly and invasive (but necessary by TV censorship rules) cuts to strong language and sex references, but obviously missed a bit.

Ofcom have also received complaints about excessive censorship from viewers who would have preferred to see it without the cuts. But of course the Ofcom TV complaints system is totally one-sided and these complaints will be instantly dismissed. There are simply no Ofcom rules against cultural vandalism.

An Ofcom spokesman said:

After receiving complaints about the broadcast of the most offensive language before the watershed, Ofcom is investigating a live performance of Monty Python on Gold. All our licensees are required to comply with our broadcasting rules, which make clear that the most offensive language cannot be shown on television before the watershed.

Google is planning to offer accounts to children under 13 years old for the first time.

Accounts on Google services such as Gmail and YouTube are currently not officially offered to children, though there is little to stop them from logging on anonymously or posing as adults to sign up for accounts.

Now Google is trying to establish a new system that lets parents set up accounts for their kids, control how they use Google services and what information is collected about their offspring. Google is also developing a child version of its online video site YouTube that would let parents control content.

Google and most other Internet companies tread carefully because of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. The law imposes strict limits on how information about children under 13 is collected; it requires parents' consent and tightly controls how that data can be used for advertising.

Under the Kremlin's Internet surveillance program known as SORM-2 , Russian Internet service providers are obligated to purchase and install special equipment that allows the Federal Security Service (FSB) to track specific words (like bomb or government ) in online writing and conversation. If officials request additional information about a particular user, the ISP must comply.

Until recently, SORM-2 applied only to ISPs. Last week, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree that will expand SORM-2's reach to online social networks and all websites that allow people to message one another. Sites like Facebook and Google are now obligated to install surveillance gadgetry, sometimes referred to as backdoors, that will allow the FSB to monitor Internet users independently. It's impossible to say exactly how this will work, as Medvedev's order prohibits websites from disclosing the technical details of the government's surveillance operations.

Decree N743 is intended to amend the controversial Law on Bloggers, which created a government registry for bloggers who have more than 3,000 daily readers. Registered bloggers are subject to media-focused regulations that can make them more vulnerable to fines and lawsuits than their less popular counterparts. Registered bloggers also are banned from using obscene language and required to fact-check any information they publish. Critics say the law places serious curbs on Internet freedom.

Medvedev's decision to extend Internet surveillance mechanisms to social networks surprised Russia's Internet companies. A PR officer from Yandex, the country's largest search engine, said the company received no advanced notice of the change.

Once again, it's unclear what we're supposed to do, what the actual requirements are, and how much all this will cost, said Anton Malginov, legal head of the Mail.ru, which owns Odnoklassniki.ru, one of Russia's most popular social networks. Businesses are still awaiting clarification from Russia's Communications Ministry.

If the government chooses to enforce every letter of Medvedev's decree, Russia's social networks will join ISPs in buying and installing equipment that allows the FSB to spy on users. Thus SORM-2 would have its 2.0.

At first glance, SORM 2.0 seems redundant, as social network traffic already passes through the wiretaps now installed at the ISP level. In order to obtain detailed information about individual users, however, the FSB must file formal requests, which can be a burdensome process. Installing surveillance instruments at the source of the data, however, will grant authorities the power to conduct targeted realtime surveillance. The procedure will be faster and simpler than dealing with ISPs.

Before August 1, websites were under no obligation to record and store users' data. The Law on Bloggers changed that. Since August 1, even before Medvedev interpreted the blogger law to be an extension of SORM-2, social networks have been required to keep certain information on file for six months. The costs of this storage will undoubtedly fall on businesses and, in turn, consumers. Websites that cannot attract additional advertising revenue might erect paywalls or even be forced to close down. These massive data stores can also be vulnerable to malicious hacking by third party actors.

And the degree to which extending SORM-2 controls to social networks will help authorities catch criminals remains largely unknown.

How should bloggers respond to these developments? Most Russian Internet users don't have to worry about anything. As Anton Nossik, one of the founding fathers of the RuNet, put it almost a year ago, the government's actions against bloggers are politically driven. For the most part, Russia's new laws don't threaten Internet users who steer clear of politics. Those who do speak out about sociopolitical issues, however, might attract the FSB's sudden attention, though there are only enough federal police to keep a close eye on the country's leading dissidents.

Of course, that may be little solace in a world where Big Brother never sleeps.

A theatre workshop aimed at fostering a greater understanding of discrimination has been pulled from a Swedish city festival programme after PC extremists accused it of offensive, racist blackfacing . In fact With Other Eyes , by the Danish theatre group Global Voices , uses make-up artists to change participants' race and gender, allowing them to see the world from a new perspective .

Martin Neilson, the Danish actor who launched the project, said it had been intended as a celebration of diversity , and blamed the organisers of the Malmo festival for the huge mistake of illustrating it with a picture of a blond Swedish boy wearing black face paint.

The project was cancelled after Jallow Mamadou, Chairman of the National Association for Afro-Swedes, handed a 240-signature petition condemning the workship to the festival organisers.

Neilson said:

It's always dangerous if a very, very small group of people suddenly has so much power in society that they are able to decide

Pella Strom, the organiser of the festival, later scheduled a debate where Neilson made his case, after which she decided to reschedule the project for next year's festival.