Censor Watch

With the passage of last year's Copyright Directive, the EU demanded that member states pass laws that reduce copyright infringement by internet users while also requiring that they safeguard the fundamental rights of users (such as the right to free expression) and also the limitations to copyright . These safeguards must include protections for the new EU-wide exemption for commentary and criticism. Meanwhile states are also required to uphold the GDPR, which safeguards users against mass, indiscriminate surveillance, while somehow monitoring everything every user posts to decide whether it infringes copyright .

Serving these goals means that when EU member states turn the Directive into their national laws (the "transposition" process), their governments will have to decide to give more weight to some parts of the Directive, and that courts would have to figure out whether the resulting laws passed constitutional muster while satisfying the requirement of EU members to follow its rules.

The initial forays into transposition were catastrophic. First came France's disastrous proposal , which "balanced" copyright enforcement with Europeans' fundamental rights to fairness, free expression, and privacy by simply ignoring those public rights.

Now, the Dutch Parliament has landed in the same untenable legislative cul-de-sac as their French counterparts, proposing a Made-in-Holland version of the Copyright Directive that omits:

• Legally sufficient protections for users unjustly censored due to false accusations of copyright infringement;

• Legally sufficient protection for users whose work makes use of the mandatory, statutory exemptions for parody and criticism;

• A ban on "general monitoring"-- that is, continuous, mass surveillance;

• Legally sufficient protection for "legitimate uses" of copyright works.

These are not optional elements of the Copyright Directive. These protections were enshrined in the Directive as part of the bargain meant to balance the fundamental rights of Europeans against the commercial interests of entertainment corporations. The Dutch Parliament's willingness to pay mere lip-service to these human rights-preserving measures as legislative inconveniences is a grim harbinger of other EU nations' pending lawmaking, and an indictment of the Dutch Parliament's commitment to human rights.

EFF was pleased to lead a coalition of libraries, human rights NGOs, and users' rights organizations in an open letter to the EU Commission asking them to monitor national implementations that respect human rights.

In April, we followed this letter with a note to the EC's Copyright Stakeholder Dialogue Team , setting out the impossibility of squaring the Copyright Directive with the GDPR's rules protecting Europeans from "general monitoring," and calling on them to direct member-states to create test suites that can evaluate whether companies' responses to their laws live up to their human rights obligations.

Today, we renew these and other demands, and we ask that Dutch Parliamentarians do their job in transposing the Copyright Directive , with the understanding that the provisions that protect Europeans' rights are not mere ornaments, and any law that fails to uphold those provisions is on a collision course with years of painful, costly litigation.

TikTok says it will stop accessing clipboard content on iOS devices

A beta feature on iOS 14 showed what the app was up to

See article from theverge.com

 

Update: Others too!

29th June 2020. See article from arstechnica.com

TikTok and 53 other iOS apps still snoop your sensitive clipboard data Passwords, bitcoin addresses, and anything else in clipboards are free for the taking.

See article from arstechnica.com

 

Update: India bans 59 Chinese snooping apps

29th June 2020. See article from financialexpress.com

The Government of India on Monday banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok and UC Browser which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order, news agency ANI reported. Majority of these apps were recently red-flagged by intelligence agencies over concerns that they were collecting user data and possibly also sending them outside of the country's borders.

Among the apps that have been banned are Tik Tok, Sharit, Kwai, UC Browser, Baidu map, Shein, clash of Kings, DU battery saver, Helo, Likee, YouCam makeup, Mi Community, CM Browsers, Virus Cleaner, Apus Browser, among others.

An Egyptian belly-dancer has been given three-year jail term for her social media postings that supposedly 'incited debauchery'

Sama el-Masry was accused of posting suggestive images that violated family values. She says she will appeal against her sentence and that the images had been stolen from her phone.

She was also fined 300,000 Egyptian pounds (£15,000) for supposedly inciting debauchery and immorality. Shew was a victim of a government crackdown on social media postings.

El-Masry was arrested in April during an investigation into videos and photos on social media, including the popular video-sharing platform TikTok, that the public prosecution described as sexually suggestive.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 USA action Sci-Fi fantasy by Irvin Kershner.
Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.

Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca face attack by the Imperial forces and its AT-AT walkers on the ice planet Hoth. While Han and Leia escape in the Millennium Falcon, Luke travels to Dagobah in search of Yoda. Only with the Jedi Master's help will Luke survive when the Dark Side of the Force beckons him into the ultimate duel with Darth Vader.

No censorship issues beyond noting that the film was U rated from 1980 until 2011, but was PG rated in 2020.

The 2011 Blu-ray was rated U for mild violence and threat whereas the 2020 cinema release was rated PG for moderate violence, mild threat.

There have also been a few minor tweaks to plot and special effects over time.

Facebook has said it will start to label potentially harmful posts that it leaves up because of their news value. The move comes as the firm faces growing pressure to censor the content on its platform.

More than 90 advertisers have joined a boycott of the site, including consumer goods giant Unilever on Friday. The Stop Hate for Profit campaign was started by US civil rights groups after the death of George Floyd in May while in police custody. It has focused on Facebook, which also owns Instagram; and WhatsApp. The organisers, which include Color of Change and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, have said Facebook allows racist, violent and verifiably false content to run rampant on its platform.

Unilver said it would halt Twitter, Facebook and Instagram advertising in the US at least through 2020.

In a speech on Friday, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg defended the firm's record of taking down hate speech. But he said the firm was tightening its policies to address the reality of the challenges our country is facing and how they're showing up across our community. In addition to introducing labels, Facebook will ban ads that describe people from different groups, based on factors such as race or immigration status, as a threat. He said:

A handful of times a year, we leave up content that would otherwise violate our policies if the public interest value outweighs the risk of harm. Often, seeing speech from politicians is in the public interest, and in the same way that news outlets will report what a politician says, we think people should generally be able to see it for themselves on our platforms.

We will soon start labelling some of the content we leave up because it is deemed newsworthy, so people can know when this is the case.

He added that Facebook would remove content - even from politicians - if it determines that it incites violence or suppresses voting.

 

Update: Coke too

27th June 2020. See article from bbc.co.uk

Coca-Cola will suspend advertising on social media globally for at least 30 days, as pressure builds on platforms to crack down on hate speech. chairman and CEO James Quincey said:

There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism on social media.

He demanded greater accountability and transparency from social media firms.

All 23 seasons of the Comedy Central cartoon South Park are available on HBO Max -- except for five episodes that depict the religious character Muhammad.

The missing episodes were not part of the 23-season package provided by Viacom to streamers last year, and Viacom had made the decision to exclude them in agreement with series producer South Park Studios before the show was licensed to HBO Max.

The episodes not available on HBO Max include:

• season 5: Super Best Friends
• season 10 Cartoon Wars Part I and Cartoon Wars Part 2, although those episodes can still be streamed on the South Park website.
• season 14: 200 and 201 . Those shows had previously been removed from a streaming deal with Hulu and also were axed on the official South Park website.

Three Republican senators introduced a bill this week to codify lawful access, a legal framework that would demand that device makers incorporate a backdoor to allow law enforcement to access nw weakly encrypted digital devices with signed court orders. The bill's authors are Senators Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and Marsha Blackburn. Cotton said in a statement:

Tech companies' increasing reliance on encryption has turned their platforms into a new, lawless playground of criminal activity. Criminals from child predators to terrorists are taking full advantage. This bill will ensure law enforcement can access encrypted material with a warrant based on probable cause and help put an end to the Wild West of crime on the Internet.

The bill appears to be a formal codification of what top judicial officials have sought for well over two decades: enhancing the government's ability to bust through now weakened encryption, which can make data on a cellphone or a computer almost unreadable to anyone who does not have the password to decrypt it.

Riana Pfefferkorn, associate director of surveillance and cybersecurity at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society commented:

This is the full-frontal nuclear assault on encryption we've been fearing would come, but which no lawmaker previously had dared to put forth.

Andrew Crocker, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said:

This bill is simply blind to reality.  It is blind to the fact that as millions of us march in the streets and shelter in place, we've never been more dependent on secure communications and devices. It is blind to the expert consensus that there is no way to provide access to securely encrypted data without a backdoor, something that legislating a prize for a magical solution simply cannot change, he said.

In 2015, a a human rights organization that monitors web-censorship and pirate site blockades in Russia was itself ordered to be blocked by a local court for offering advice on how to use tools including Tor and VPNs.

The European Court of Human Rights has now ruled that the order to disable access to that advice was illegal and a violation of the freedom to receive and impart information.

ECHR Russsia-based project RosComSvoboda advocates human rights and freedoms on the Internet. Part of that work involves monitoring and publishing data on website blockades and providing assistance to Internet users and site operators who are wrongfully subjected to restrictions.

In 2015, it found itself in a battle of its own when a local court ordered its advice portal to be blocked by local ISPs. RosComSvoboda's crime was to provide information on tools that can circumvent censorship. While it didn't offer any for direct download, the resource offered advice on VPNs , proxies, TOR, The Pirate Bay's Pirate Browser, I2P and Opera's turbo mode.

According to the ruling by the Anapa Town Court, the resource allowed people to access content banned in Russia so it too became prohibited content. Subsequently, telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor contacted RosComSvoboda with an order to remove its anti-censorship tools information page or face being completely blocked.

The site's operator complied and filed an appeal against the decision, arguing that providing information about such tools isn't illegal under Russian law. The Krasnodar Regional Court rejected the appeal without addressing this defense so in 2016, RosComSvoboda's operator, German national Gregory Engels, took his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

This week the ECHR handed down its decision, siding with Engels' assertion that the order for him to remove the content from his site was in breach of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers, the Article reads.

The ECHR found that the action against Engels breached Article 10. It also declared a breach of Article 13 due to a failure by the Russian court to involve him in the blocking action or consider the merits of his arguments on appeal. The Russian state was ordered to pay 10,000 euros in damages to Engels plus interest.

EastEnders viewers were treated to the classic Den and Angie episode on Tuesday evening, which focused on just the two of them as Den told Angie he wanted a divorce

However the episode rather highlighted that we are now subject to stricter censorship rules than in 1986. The classic episode feature several instances of the word, 'bastard', something that is no longer allowed before the watershed,

Angie, played by Anita Dobson, said to Den, played by Leslie Grantham: 'Cause I hang on like a bloody limpet, you bastard!' Later in the episode, Den referred to himself as a 'selfish bastard' too.

The Daily Star rooted out the ineviable comments from Twitter. One tweeted:

I'd forgotten you were allowed to say bastard in EastEnders when it began. Hasn't TV gone backwards in some ways. Today folk would have a fit and report them to Ofcom.

Momentum had been building in New Zealand over recent months for a nationwide law blocking internet porn, but the effort spearheaded by Interior Affairs Minister Tracey Martin appears to have hit a roadblock. Martin said late last year that she planned to bring her porn ban bill before New Zealand's parliament prior to the 2020 elections, which are scheduled for September.

Martin created a draft proposal to require blocking of porn sites by internet service providers for anyone under 18 years of age. But when she circulated the paper among members of the governing coalition including her own centrist New Zealand First Party, as well as the liberal-progressive Labor and Green Parties, she found a lack of interest. She now says she will not attempt to push the porn-blocking plan any further.

Despite her inability to win support for her porn-blocking proposal, Martin still says that she favors an age-verification system for online porn, according to the Herald report.

Perenniel whinger Rajan Zed has called Sheffield's Neepsend Brew Co. to apologize and withdraw its Hanuman beer claiming it to be highly inappropriate.

Hindu campaigner Zed said that inappropriate usage of sacred Hindu deities or concepts or symbols or icons for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees. He said that that Lord Hanuman was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in selling beer for mercantile intent. Moreover, linking Lord Hanuman with an alcoholic beverage was very disrespectful.

Update: Apologies

22nd June 2020. See article from rajanzed.com

Neepsend Brew Co. has apologized after Hindus protested over its Hanuman Beer. Gavin Martin, Director/Head Brewer of Neepsend Brew Co wrote to Rajan Zed:

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we of course apologise for any offence we have caused. Though ignorance isn't an excuse we certainly didn't mean any deliberate insult or disrespect by using the name...we'll be sure to research beer names more thoroughly in the future to avoid something like this happening again.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is a 1979 USA action Sci-Fi TV pilot by Daniel Haller.
Starring Gil Gerard, Erin Gray and Pamela Hensley.

In 1987, Captain William "Buck" Rogers pilots his space shuttle Ranger 3 on a mission but a meteor storm freezes him into an orbit that returns him to Earth - 500 years later. In 2491, his shuttle is found and captured by the Draconian flagship, under the command of Princess Ardala and her second-in-command Kane. Reviving him, they return him to Earth after secretly planting a homing beacon aboard his shuttle to track a path through Earth's defense barrier. Buck is under arrest and learns that Earth has been rebuilt over the centuries in his absence following a nuclear holocaust. Buck Rogers must adjust to the 25th century, and convince the Terrans that the Draconians are secretly planning to conquer Earth.

The theatrical version of the pilot episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was rated A in the UK in 1979, and was actually cut - the bit where Buck kicks the second Tigerman in the nuts. Post-VRA, it was released on VHS uncut, but with an extremely overzealous 15 certificate, even though it often played on TV at mornings and afternoons.

The video was later rated PG uncut for a 2004 DVD set of Season 1. The DVD set was packaged with a 12 rating due to the 2nd episode, Planet of the Slave Girls being 12 rated.

Later DVD and Blu-Ray releases containing both Season 1 & 2 were packaged with a 15 rating for unknown reasons.

The Justice Department unveiled proposals late Wednesday to limit big tech platforms' legal protections from being sued for moderating content - a move which follows Donald Trump's accusations of conservatives being censored by web giants.

The proposals from Attorney General Bill Barr's department would dilute the ability of internet platforms such as Google, Facebook, or Twitter to declare content objectionable and remove or downplay it at will.

The Democratic-controlled House is unlikely to take up a Republican proposal and in the Senate it would need either to be tabled by Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader or forced on to the agenda with 60 votes, neither of which seem likely in an election year.

Update: William Barr Says Social Media 'Starting to Censor' Views Is Problematic

21st June 2020. See article from bloomberg.com

U.S. Attorney General William Barr said social media giants are starting to censor views and antitrust law can be used to address their dominance, doubling down on Justice Department proposals to limit legal protections for online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Barr said on Fox News:

Internet platforms are taking down views based on whether they agree with the viewpoint or not, which makes them a publisher rather than a neutral platform, voiding the liability protection they enjoy under the law

J'accuse is a 2019 France / Italy historical thriller by Roman Polanski.
Starring Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel and Emmanuelle Seigner.

In 1894, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at Devil's island.

Just rior to the coronavirus lockdown Quebec's major distributors announced they would ban cinema showings of Roman Polanski's J'accuse ( An Officer and a Spy ), whether out of fear of reprisals from the #MeToo campaign or in deference to the movement's anti-democratic arguments. News of the ban susbequently got lost as the cinemas weren't open to notice that the film wasn't being screened.

It should be noted that despite the efforts of the Macron government and #MeToo's feminists to intimidate audiences and have J'accuse banned, the film was extremely popular in France--by the end of February 1.5 million people had viewed it in that country.

Polanski's film is a truthful and poignant reconstruction of the Dreyfus Affair that shook French society between 1894 and 1906. The case concerned a French army captain of Jewish origin, Alfred Dreyfus, who was falsely accused of espionage and imprisoned.

An article in the Quebec daily newspaper Le Devoir, published at the end of February under the headline Director Roman Polanski, persona non grata in Quebec, shows the kind of anti-democratic conceptions that have penetrated the world of cinema and the arts. Encouraged by large sections of the ruling elite, including the Democratic Party in the United States and Justin Trudeau's Canadian federal government, the #MeToo campaign has served to undermine fundamental democratic principles, such as the presumption of innocence and due process.

As in France, the viewing public in Quebec is largely in favour of the film being shown. The thirty or so comments under the article in Le Devoir all opposed the reactionary argument that one could not separate the work from the author and demanded that Quebec distributors reconsider their decision. Many compared the censorship exercised by the #MeToo campaign and Quebec distributors to the censorship exercised by the Catholic Church during the era of Quebec history from the mid-1930s to the late 1950s known as the Great Darkness, when the Catholic clergy exercised stifling control over culture, education and social mores and the ultraconservative government of Maurice Duplessis promoted reaction and used state violence to suppress an increasingly militant working class.

French internet censorship law suuposedly targeted at hate speech on online platforms has been widely deemed as unconstitutional by France's Constitutional Council, the top authority in charge of ruling whether a new law complies with the constitution. It won't come into effect as expected in the coming weeks.

The original law said that online platforms should remove within 24 hours illicit content that has been flagged. Otherwise, companies will have to pay hefty fines every time they infringe the law. For social media companies, it could have potentially cost them many millions of dollars per year.

And of course illicit content means anything that would be considered threating or insulting, such as death threats, discrimination, Holocaust denial etc.

But the Constitutional Council says that such a technical list makes it difficult to rule what is illicit content and what is not. Due to the short window of time, online platforms can't check with a court whether a tweet, a post, a photo or a blog post is deemed as illicit or not. When you combine that with potential fines, the Constitutional Council fears that online platforms will censor content a bit too quickly.

The government said it would respond to the criticisism and change the law accordingly.

Netflix has removed an episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia over jokes featuring blackface. The ninth episode of the sixth season, titled Dee Reynolds: Shaping America's Youth, is no longer available on the streaming service.

The episode, which sees characters Mac and Dee both wear blackface, was taken down on June 11.

BLM protests have prompted Edinburgh Council to reconsider censoring an Alice Wonderland school mural that features a golliwog.

The council says it will review a 2013 decision to leave depiction at Wardie primary school intact The mural painted in 1936 depicts Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, which makes no mention of a golliwog . The council refused to remove the image at Wardie primary school in the north of the city in 2013 after a parent complained to the police that it was racist and offensive. lt said the depiction was a historical artefact within a mural of significant artistic importance.

The city's education convener, Ian Perry, and the vice-convener, Alison Dickie, said the council accepted its original position that keeping it would prompt critical discussion of racism and past attitudes should be revisited.

Rowena Arshad, the co-director of the centre for education for racial equality in Scotland at Edinburgh University, claimed the Wardie mural was an anachronism and should be removed.

If we want to talk about the golliwog in history, it belongs in the Museum of Childhood [in central Edinburgh], anti-racist teaching packs and television programmes, not a primary school, she said.

The city is considering censoring sites that honour people linked to slavery, particularly Henry Dundas, Lord Melville, who delayed the abolition of the UK's slave trade. A plaque setting out his role is to be placed under his monument in central Edinburgh.

Google is threatening to censor the right leaning website, The Federalist from its ad platform for publishing user comments about the ongoing protests related to Black Lives Matter.

As NBC News reports, Google claimed that both The Federalist and right-wing website ZeroHedge violated its policy against monetizing content that promotes hatred, intolerance, violence or discrimination based on race. A Google spokesperson  said:

When a page or site violates our policies, we take action. In this case, we've removed both sites' ability to monetize with Google.

Later Google ammended the statement saying:

To be clear, The Federalist is not currently demonetized. We do have strict publisher policies that govern the content ads can run on, which includes comments on the site. This is a longstanding policy.

Google also said that the issues with both sites arose from content in their comments sections violating its policies against dangerous and derogatory content.

It sounds like The Federalist was issued a warning that it will face demonetization if it doesn't remove the content while ZeroHedge was warned previously, did not fix the policy violations and was demonetized.

Offsite Comment: Google's attack on media freedom

18th June 2020. See article from spiked-online.com

ZeroHedge and the Federalist have been punished by Google for failing to delete offensive comments.

A feminist extremist has had a go at Amazon Prime for its catalogue of British sex comedy films, whingeing that they trivialise sexual harassment by presenting it as a hilarious joke.

The online platform features a number of 1970s softcore porn slapstick flicks, complete with suitably saucy descriptions, available to buy or rent.

Kate Smurthwaite spouted to FEMAIL:

I'm not offended by nudity or sexual scenes or references ...[BUT]... The issue is that these films routinely present sexual harassment as a "hilarious" joke. The same is true of some modern shows such as Keith Lemon's output. Recommending them on mainstream platforms reinforces the message that this behaviour is normal and even funny. For many women the experience of being harassed and then told to "take it as a joke" is all too familiar. Media streaming services should take the time to think about what they are putting on their platforms and recommending to their customers.

According to the Amazon description, the Confessions... series follows the 'saucy antics of the hapless Timothy Lea.

The Daily Mail then kindly details many of the most well known of the sex comedies and reminds us of how many well known mainstream stars featured in the films.

Offsite Comment: The Manufactured Outrage Over Seventies Sex Comedies on Amazon

17th June 2020. See article from reprobatepress.com by David Flint

 

The Banker

• A bankár

The Banker is a 1989 USA thriller by William Webb.
Starring Robert Forster, Shanna Reed and Duncan Regehr.

Extensively cut by the BBFC for 18 rated VHS in 1990 but these cuts were waived for 2004 DVD. Uncut and MPAA R rated in the US.

Summary Notes

High-priced prostitutes are being systematically murdered, their corpses mutilated, and a bizarre South American symbol painted in blood is found at the scene. The cop investigating is out to solve the crime before his ex wife, a reporter, becomes the next victim.

Versions

uncut run: 95:35s pal: 91:46s		UK: Passed 18 uncut with previous BBFC cuts waived: 2004 Bellevue/Scanbox Entertainment R0 DVD at UK Amazon US: Uncut and MPAA R rated for: 2019 Dark Forces Blu-ray details to follow 2007 Trinity Home Ent R1 DVD at US Amazon
cut cut: 2:38s run: 92:51s pal: 89:08s sub: 91:35s		UK: Passed 18 after 2:38s of compulsory BBFC cuts: 1990 RCA/Columbia Pictures VHS Thanks to Scott who obtained the extensive BBFC cuts list and adds comments: Apparently one of a young Quentin Tarantino's favourite films while he worked at a video store, this thriller featuring a killer whose weapon of choice is a crossbow was submitted while Ferman was still on a post-Rambo campaign against glamourisation of weapons in films. It goes without saying that it didn't fare well upon its arrival at the BBFC. At 3 mins Reduce eroticisation of sex/murder linkage by removing copulation section on long sex scene with focus on torsos thrusting. At 4 mins After abridged sex scene on bed, reduce glamorised use of crossbow to kill woman by removing sight of it lifted fully into frame by man and of its laser-beam tracing up woman's arm as well as of man aiming bow at her, resuming on shot of beam point on her shoulder and rising as she reacts; then reduce firing of bow to brief flash shot by removing both start and and end of shot together with next shot of crossbow put down and knife raised, resuming on boy on bike. At 29½ mins As killer threatens woman on roof, reduce glamorisating shots of crossbow shape to minimum (retaining shots of it raised like rifle), first by removing sight of it lifted into frame near statue and carried across room, resuming with it below frame in order to see him reach bottom of stairs, then removing sight of him climbing stairs with bow in shot, resuming on woman on roof. At 30½ mins After killer throws envelope at woman and she starts to bend out of shot, remove sight of him lowering and aiming bow and then firing to kill her, resuming as he lowers bow and mutters foreign incantation (with the effect that he seems merely to begin the hunt and will kill he later off screen before body is taken from water). At 42 mins Reduce eroticisation of next female victim by removing sight through window of bra being taken off, resuming as camera moves past wall to see couple fall on bed; then reduce sex scene by removing next tight 2-shot of sex entirely together with shot of detective which precedes it, resuming on next sight of him at desk. At 63 mins Reduce glamorised sight of crossbow shape during manhunt to visuals essential to plot, starting after shot of moon by (a) removing sight of youth rising from bush with bow, resuming as he moves behind bush to mask it again; then (b) after close-up of killer's painted face, remove sight of youth emerging from shrubbery with bow, resuming after next close-up of killer to see youth in close shot running; (c) remove shot of sparse shrubs with crossbow lowered into fame from right as killer carries it, resuming as he masks it, and then (d) cutting away again as he unmasks bow, resuming on youth entering close shot from left; (e) remove shot of killer in woods flaunting bow, resuming as shape is masked in shadow by his move to bushes, but (f) cutting away again as crossbow is lifted into shot, resuming on close shot of youth moving right; (g) after youth fires at misty figure, remove shot of him running forward flaunting bow, resuming on cut to looser shot with bow, indistinct; (h) after he gets into car and looks around, remove sight of crossbow entering shot from right as killer jumps down into frame, resuming on static killer about to speak; (i) after youth says, "Gimme another chance," remove medium close shot of killer raising bow and dialogue which follows, resuming just before he says, "Oh, all right"; and (j) remove shot of killer silently taking aim, resuming on youth about to scream. At 77½ mins When killer ambushes young policeman in woman's house, reduce clear sight of crossbow by removing beginning of shot as it is lifted up, resuming on it held vertically to mask shape, and end of shot as it is twisted to camera and aimed; also, after he fires, remove shot of bow being lowered as he smiles. At 85½ mins In climactic chase, reduce to a few frames shot of killer swinging round with bow on stairs, and after brief sight of him aiming, remove tight shot of bolt being fired, resuming to see bolt hit wall but cutting away before shadow of crossbow appears above it to resume on rooftop. At 86 mins In final confrontation on roof, after woman call "Dan!" remove mid-shot of killer aiming bow, resuming on policeman shouting, "Osborne!", and later after policeman says, "Ask me if I care," remove shot of woman together with mid-shot of killer aiming, resuming on woman about to say, "Well, do you care?"

Ofcom has decided not to impose any further sanction on ESTV Ltd after an interview with David Icke on its local television channel London Live included potentially harmful content about the coronavirus pandemic. It has already been required to broadcast a summary of Ofcom's findings

Our investigation found David Icke expressed views which had the potential to cause significant harm to viewers in London during the pandemic. We were particularly concerned by his comments casting doubt on the motives behind official health advice to protect the public from the virus.

These claims went largely unchallenged during the 80-minute interview and were made without the support of any scientific or other evidence. While we acknowledge that David Icke has a right to hold and express these views, they risked causing significant harm to viewers who may have been particularly vulnerable at the time of broadcast.

Ofcom stresses that there is no prohibition on broadcasting views which diverge from or challenge official authorities on public health information. However, in broadcasting David Icke's unsubstantiated views without sufficient challenge or context, ESTV failed in its responsibility to ensure that viewers were adequately protected. As a result, we directed London Live to broadcast a summary of our findings on 22 April 2020 at 22:00.

Ofcom subsequently considered whether imposing any further sanction in addition to the direction would be appropriate in this case. Ofcom concluded that the direction it had already imposed on ESTV to broadcast a statement of its findings was sufficient in remedying potentially significant harm to viewers and that any further sanction would not be appropriate in this case. Ofcom's decision not to impose any further sanction on ESTV was published on 8 June 2020.

The Demolitionist is a 1995 USA / Canada action Sci-Fi horror by Robert Kurtzman.
Starring Nicole Eggert, Bruce Abbott and Susan Tyrrell.

Heavily cut by the BBFC for 18 rated VHS in 1996. Uncut and MPAA R rated in the US.

Summary Notes

A murdered police officer is brought back to life by a cold-hearted scientist to serve as "The Demolitionist", the ultimate crime-fighting weapon in a city overrun by criminals and internal corruption.

Versions

uncut run: 92:58s pal: 89:15s		US: Uncut and MPAA R rated for: 1998 Simitar Ent. R0 DVD at US Amazon Germany: Classic Cult Collection FSK 18 rated: Classic Cult Collection R2 DVD at UK Amazon Classic Cult Collection (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon
cut cut: 3:58s run: 88:53s pal: 85:20s sub: 89:29s		UK: Passed 18 after 3:58s of compulsory BBFC cuts: 1996 High Fliers VHS Thanks to Scott. This low-budget 90s actioner that had the unfortunate luck of being submitted shortly after Dunblaine, resulting in very heavy cuts, including to virtually every instance of gun violence. The distributor ended up having to cut more than required though, largely for continuity reasons. Total running time cut: 3 minutes 58 seconds. The BBFC cuts list, with notes by Scott, reads Substantial cuts in torture and violence are required for 18. (Demonstration tape enclosed indicating that nearly all edits involve adjustment of audio tracks). At 6 mins Remove repeat shots of electrocution of governor and padre, including urination shots. At 6½mins Reduce shooting of man in blazer and white shirt by removing 2nd and 3rd medium close shots into body, and immediately afterwards remove close shot of urination and further blasting of man in white shirt. At 8 mins Remove shot of man swinging butterfly knife. At 15½ mins Remove second shot and resulting blood cloud into gunman in white boiler-suit. At 19 mins Reduce threat to woman's eye by removing close shot of cigarette approaching it and subsequent shot on monitor. Also remove later close side shot of bloody torn ear, substituting earlier shots of van. At 20 mins Remove cigarette threat to man and sight of his face contorted in pain. At 22 mins Remove heavy blow to face of semi-conscious man in chair, returning to synch after it. At 23½ mins Reduce Russian roulette sequence. At 25 mins Reduce sight of comatose woman hanging from fence. *(Passed in the trailer!) At 35½ mins Remove pan over display of combat weapons. *(Also passed in the trailer. This scene was removed in its entirety from the film, for continuity reasons.) At 48 mins Reduce beating up of gagged and bound man. At 48½ mins In subsequent shoot-out, remove close shots of bullet impacts on man's body. At 55 mins Remove gang assault on woman in street. *(Brief clip of this was passed in the trailer. Again, the entire scene was removed from the film, although I'm not sure why. The lead character interrupts the assault in an alleyway, then walks onto the street and shoots up the front of a shop - the second half of the scene, following the assault, clearly posed no problems, so I don't know why the distro removed the whole thing.) At 61 mins Reduce shoot-out at bank by removing shootings and blood clouds. At 68 mins Reduce prolonged firing into figure by white car. At 73 mins Reduce violence in shoot-out in flat by removing close impacts. At 74 mins Remove neck break from rear of man on motorcycle. At 77 mins Remove point blank shooting of police chief. At 80 mins Reduce overall violence in sequence by removing repeated firing, blood clouds and close firing into man.

An episode of sitcom Fawlty Towers has been taken off UKTV's streaming service because it contains racial jokes. The BBC-owned platform said it had made The Germans unavailable while it carries out a review.

In the 1975 episode, Basil Fawlty declares don't mention the war around German guests, while the Major uses the dated term 'wogs' about the West Indies cricket team.

Actor and creator John Cleese attacked the 'cowardly' BBC describing the move as stupid. Speaking to The Age newspaper, he said the episode was clearly a critique of racist attitudes:

One of the things I've learned in the last 180 years is that people have very different senses of humour. Some of them understand that if you put nonsense words into the mouth of someone you want to make fun of, you're not broadcasting their views, you're making fun of them.

A UKTV spokesman said:

UKTV has temporarily removed an episode of Fawlty Towers The Germans from Gold's Box Set. The episode contains racial slurs so we are taking the episode down while we review it. We regularly review older content to ensure it meets audience expectations and are particularly aware of the impact of outdated language. Some shows carry warnings and others are edited. We want to take time to consider our options for this episode.

The Germans is still available to view on Britbox, which is part-owned by the BBC, with a message saying it contains some offensive racial language of the time and upsetting scenes. It is also on Netflix, carrying a warning about language, [and] discrimination.

Else where there have been a few similar complaints about jokes on ITV's Ant & Dec's Saturday Takeaway and the BBC's Gavin and Stacey.

Update: Reinstated. Maybe it was the BBC censorship that caused the most offence.

13th June 2020. See article from bbc.co.uk

A classic episode of the comedy Fawlty Towers will be reinstated to streaming service UKTV but with a warning about offensive content and language. A UKTV statement said:

 We already offer guidance to viewers across some of our classic comedy titles, but we recognise that more contextual information can be required on our archive comedy, so we will be adding extra guidance and warnings to the front of programmes to highlight potentially offensive content and language.

We will reinstate Fawlty Towers once that extra guidance has been added, which we expect will be in the coming days.

We will continue to look at what content is on offer as we always have done.

Offsite Comment: Now even Fawlty Towers is being erased

13th June 2020. See article from spiked-online.com   by Brendan O'Neill

The crazed witch-hunt against offensive culture is completely out of control.

ICO statement in response to the Government laying the Age Appropriate Design Code, also known as the Children's Code, before Parliament.

We welcome the news that Government has laid the Age Appropriate Design Code before Parliament. It's a huge step towards protecting children online especially given the increased reliance on online services at home during COVID-19.

The code sets out 15 standards that relevant online services should meet to protect children's privacy and is the result of wide-ranging consultation and engagement with stakeholders including the tech industry, campaigners, trade bodies and organisations.

We are now pulling together our existing work on the benefits and the costs of the code to assess its impact. This will inform the discussions we have with businesses to help us develop a package of support to help them implement the code during the transition year."

Video communications platform Zoom has said it is working on technology that will allow the Chinese government to shut out individual users from meetings if they are talking about something that the Communist party does not like.

The news comes after the US firm was criticised for shutting down a number of meetings organised by dissidents last week to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Zoom said in a statement that its mistake was shutting down the meetings entirely, rather than being able to identify which users in attendance were based in mainland China.

It added that it is developing technology over the next several days that will enable us to remove or block at the participant level based on geography -- meaning Zoom will soon be able to remove users at the request of local authorities. The Zoom statement said:

We were notified by the Chinese government about four large, public June 4th commemoration meetings on Zoom that were being publicised on social media... The Chinese government informed us that this activity is illegal in China and demanded that Zoom terminate the meetings and host accounts.

The Mighty Boosh and The League of Gentlemen have been removed from Netflix because of sensitivities over their use of blackface, with critics calling the move an arbitrary divisive gesture that does little to combat racism.

The Mighty Boosh's Spirit of Jazz and The League of Gentlemen's Papa Lazarou characters were both played by white actors wearing blackface, and the Guardian understands they were seen as problematic by Netflix.

The comedian Jack Carroll tweeted:

It's an arbitrary gesture that means they don't have to put any real work into combatting actual instances of racial discrimination and comedy history is getting smashed in the process. Glad I kept hold of my DVD's.

Deadline has reported that Netflix has also removed four shows from its services in Australia and New Zealand, which starred Australian comedian Chris Lilley, who regularly performed in brownface .

Twitter is testing a new feature that'll effectively tell users Hey, maybe you should read that article before you retweet it.

When users on Android go to re-tweet an article they have not clicked into (and presuambly, read), they will be met with a pop-up from Twitter asking if they really want to do that.

According to a Twitter spokesperson, the move is intended to help promote informed discussion and start healthier conversations between users.

Twitter told PCMag that users can choose to ignore the prompt, and retweet (or retweet with comment) the article, regardless if they've opened the link or not. So for some users, the feature may end up being an annoyance, rather than a thoughtful reminder.

Lead Commissioner Sara Khan has appointed former Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations of the Metropolitan Police Service, Mark Rowley, to lead the review.

The Commission's flagship report 'Challenging Hateful Extremism' identified and evidenced a new category of extremist activity in our country, described as behaviours:

• that can incite and amplify hate, or engage in persistent hatred, or equivocate about and make the moral case for violence

• that draw on hateful, hostile or supremacist beliefs directed at an out-group who are perceived as a threat to the wellbeing, survival or success of an in-group

• that cause, or are likely to cause, harm to individuals, communities or wider society

The Commission gathered extensive evidence from across England and Wales, commissioned 19 academic papers and launched the first ever public consultation on extremism. Sara Khan visited 20 towns and cities and spoke to experts, activists and critics alike. Victims repeatedly told the CCE that they felt let down by the authorities and are concerned that existing powers are not being used effectively or consistently. For this reason, the report included a commitment by the Commission to undertake a review of law relevant to hateful extremism.

Mark Rowley will conduct the operational review and engage with law enforcement experts to:

• Identify whether there are gaps in existing legislation or inconsistencies in enforcing the law in relation to hateful extremism and

• Make practical recommendations that are compatible with existing legal and human rights obligations.

The Commission will engage with stakeholder groups, operational and law enforcement bodies in the coming months, and put proposals forward to the Home Secretary later this year.

Gone with the Wind is a 1939 USA war historical romance by Victor Fleming and George Cukor (uncredited)
Starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and Thomas Mitchell.

Scarlett is a woman who can deal with a nation at war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army carrying off everything from her beloved Tara, the carpetbaggers who arrive after the war. Scarlett is beautiful. She has vitality. But Ashley, the man she has wanted for so long, is going to marry his placid cousin, Melanie. Mammy warns Scarlett to behave herself at the party at Twelve Oaks. There is a new man there that day, the day the Civil War begins. Rhett Butler. Scarlett does not know he is in the room when she pleads with Ashley to choose her instead of Melanie.

The US film channel HBO Max has banned Gone with the Wind citing unacceptable historical attitudes to racial sensitivities. HBO Max said the 1939 film was a product of its time and depicted ethnic and racial prejudices that were wrong then and are wrong today. In a statement, HBO Max said it would be irresponsible to keep the film on its platform without an explanation and a denouncement of its racist depictions. It said the film itself would return as it was originally created, saying to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.

Reddit Ireland has taken the decision to shut down in the early hours of the morning, to limit content posted from the US during daytime hours there.

Moderators said having to check every comment on the group had pushed them to breaking point. The page is now seeking to expand its team of moderators and add filters that can spot posts that require censorship.

In a post on the page, which has 280,000 members, it said:

We're taking the very difficult decision today to shut down Reddit Ireland temporarily between midnight and 08:00 each day in order to stem the flow of racist/extremist content which is being posted at these times.

Reddit said it would install software to racist comments including common phrases used against traveller communities and any other minority groups.

Netflix , BBC iPlayer and BritBox have removed comedy series Little Britain from their platforms amid PC concerns about its use of blackface.

Netflix pulled the BBC series on Friday. Netflix has also dropped the comedians' airport mockumentary Come Fly With Me . BBC iPlayer and BritBox have also ditched Little Britain from their platforms this week.

A BBC spokesman told Variety:

There's a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer which we regularly review. Times have changed since 'Little Britain' first aired, so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.

BritBox also confirmed that Little Britain was no longer on the service, adding that Come Fly With Me had not been available for six months.

Little Britain first aired in 2003, while Come Fly With Me debuted in 2010. Both series saw the comedians play characters from different ethnic backgrounds with the use of make-up. In Come Fly With Me, Lucas and Walliams wore make up for characters including airport worker Taaj, passenger liaison officer Moses Beacon, and airline boss Omar Baba while Walliams also starred as health-spa guest Desiree Devere in Little Britain.

Taiwanese horror game Devotion is available for purchase again -- but only in its home country. A Resetera gaming forum poster has discovered that physical copies of the game are up for sale on its developer's online shop and can be purchased in Taiwan. Devotion was only available for a week early last year before its developer, Red Candle, pulled it from Steam . The game suffered from a review bombing campaign after players had discovered the presence of the Winnie the Pooh meme referencing Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Red Candle quickly released a patch and apologized a handful of times for the incident, but that wasn't enough. Chinese authorities stripped Indievent, the China-based company that published Devotion in the country, of its business license a few months after the game was pulled. Red Candle then issued a statement, saying that the game won't be back anytime soon.

Those in Taiwan can now preorder either of two physical versions of the game with different soundtracks. It's available for pre-order until June 15th, but delivery is limited to Taiwanese addresses.

Do Not Feed The Monkeys , a self-proclaimed digital voyeur simulator according to the game's Steam page, was mistakenly given an E rating on its Nintendo Switch eShop page. The game features a cartoonish art style, but falso sexually explicit and mature content, making the mixup pretty drastic.

The game has since been removed from Switch's eShop, but the developer did provide a comment in regard to the situation, stating:

Unfortunately, we had to change the ratings. We are waiting for the rating update to be tested, and we'll be able to release the game after that, over on Twitter. The game was originally meant to release on June 1, and no new release date has been given.

The game is currently available on Steam and involves players watching strangers through cameras, and determining whether or not to interact with them.

A radio presenter who questioned the issue of white privilege in relation to the Black Lives Matter protests has been suspended.

Manx Radio took Stu Peters off air after Wednesday's programme in which a black caller challenged him for writing all lives matter in an online forum.

I've had no more privilege in my life than you have. I'm a white man, you're a black man, he told Jordan Maguire.

Manx Radio said it had referred the issue to the Isle of Man's Communications Commission.

Manx Radio's managing director Chris Sully said:

Stu Peters will not be presenting the Late Show whilst an investigation takes place. We await [the Commission's] guidance on any potential breach of the Broadcast Code.

Offsite Comment: The march of progressive censorship

7th June 2020. See article from spectator.co.uk by Tom Slater

In May, Korea's Culture Ministry announced a plan to require all foreign games sold in the country through Steam to secure a rating from the Korean ratings board.

Now, a new report by Inven Global indicates foreign publishers may be facing new requirements to sell their games in Korea through Steam. A provision in the Game Industry Promotion Act requires all games sold in Korea to secure a classification from the national Game Rating Board, but Valve has until now has been exempt from Korea's ratings requirements due to not having an office in the country.

The problem for Valve, in addition to obtaining local rating for major games is that the company will need to secure Culture Ministry-approved ratings for vast numers of minor games that normally get distributed without official ratings.

Previously Korea accepted rating from various other international games rating agencies. However, developers and publishers outside Korea can now apply to Korea's games censor, and it seems as though this will be a requirement going forward.

Failure to attain a classification from the Korean ratings body could lead to charges or fines for distributing illegal game materials under Korea's Game Industry Law, Inven reports.