Censorship is a touchy topic that is heavily debated now-a-days. On one side of the debate we can argue that censorship is a need, it is politically correct, protect the innocent to prevent hate crimes and so on. On the other side of the debate we can argue that censorship limits artistic expression, violates civil rights or is a mean to suppress. In this article I will attempt to discuss both sides of the argument. So is censorship a means of protection or a means of suppression. Which side leads to the darkside of the force?
By definitions, censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which is “considered” objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body (Wikipedia). Censorship occurs on a variety of avenues, such as verbal speech, film, music, books and arts. The proposed purpose of censorship and why it is needed, is to prevent harmful material from reaching the innocent by placing limits on the exposure of obscene materials such as pornography and prevents hate crimes where a person or a group of people intentionally degrades another person or persons.
The first thing that pops to mind when discussing censorship is freedom of speech. By definition, freedom of speech is the political right to communicate one’s opinions and ideas (Wikipedia). This means that one can freely express their opinions and ideas without consequences. Freedom of speech can be exercised via verbal speech, film, music, books and arts, therefore, the types of censorship I would like to discuss in this blog are arts, political, religious, education and internet.
Arts
Censorship on arts is when limits are placed on artistic concepts such as images (photography or drawings; either on film or digital). Censorship is placed on images to respect elite leaders, cultures, racial discrimination, and to show secret locations. For example, Google will block out secret locations, such as military bases on its Google Maps. These block outs are suitable boundaries placed on images to filter out content that can be considered as offensive or sensitive. Boundaries do not completely banned content from viewing, it just means that clearance required. Clearance can be government issued or age verification. For example, to view secret areas on Google Maps a person would need some type of special government clearance to view images that are considered classified.
Political
Political censorship is when the government blocks, distorts or falsifies information released to its citizens. Governments around the world will argue that some information must be withheld because it pertains to national security. In times of war or escalating potential threats, governments around the world may have a valid point.
The latest form of political censorship occurs via internet search engines. In June of 2012, The Guardian reports that Google complied with 47% of content removal request and 65% of court ordered content removal requests. Spain’s government have asked Google to remove blogs and news articles that are critical to its public figures. Thai authorities have asked Google to remove 149 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy, which is a violation of Thailand’s lèse-majesté law. The company complied with 70% of these requests (Rushe). Google’s reasoning for complying with content removal requests was due to the content removed violated copyright laws. Google has also been in a long battle with Chinese officials over censorship. Google has quietly upped the ante in a long-running dispute with the Chinese authorities over censorship,by adding a software twist to its search page that warns users when they type a search term the results are likely to be blocked in China (Wines).
Religion
Religious censorship is a form of censorship where freedom of speech or expression is limited due to religious beliefs or religious officials. Speech or expressions that are subject to religious censorship is content considered blasphemous or sacrilegious. In 2009, Peck v. BALDWINSVILLE CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT case in Baldwinsville, NY headed to the United States Court of Appeals. In this case, Baldwinsville school officials had rejected 2 posters drawn by a kindergartener student. Baldwinsville school officials had first rejected the kindergartener’s poster that showed religious images and a written reference to Jesus, and allowed Peck to send a second poster. The second poster showed children picking up trash with a kneeling man in a flowing robe reaching out his hands to the sky (OpenNet Initiative). This case begun in the year of 2000, the courts ruled in favor of school because the school had a right to censor the poster due to church and state concerns. In 2005, the case was reversed, stating that public schools cannot censor a student’s point of view when it is responsive to an assignment or program.
Education
Censorship in education attempts to control what is taught in schools, what books can be used and how students can express themselves. This type of censorship has a major impact on our education systems as it forms the basis of our curriculum. US textbook censorship has a long history but gained particular attention in the 1970s when Educational Research Analysts, a far-right advocacy group (Edgar Allan Poe was too gruesome, Robin Hood was a dangerous advocate of income redistribution), influenced textbook publishing across the nation by influencing what books were chosen by the Texas state board. Of the 20 or so US states that choose books statewide, only California is bigger than Texas. The cost of producing multiple editions means that a book rejected by Texas might not be printed at all (Arnold).
Internet
Internet censorship involves controlling content that is published to the Internet. Internet censorship is controlled by the types of censorship mentioned in this blog so far, in addition to government and private organizations. OpenNet Initiative is a group consisting of Citizen Lab at Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and SecDev Group. OpenNet Initiative investigates and exposes Internet filtering practices. Internet filters are hardware or software that blocks internet content based on keywords or by the name of the website. In addition to controlling content, Internet censorship has always taken a stance on Intellectual property. PIPA (Protect IP Act) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) are bills that protect Intellectual property on multimedia content such as music and movies. SOPA and PIPA are proposed bills that will give law enforcement the ability to fight against online copyright violations by blocking web sites and search engine searches that violate intellectual property. So you ask yourself, what does this (SOPA and PIPA) have to do with censorship? Well, what happens if someone uses a song or an image to express their views on a web site? Should a site as such be banned from search engines? SOPA and PIPA bills would allow law enforcement to block this site and no one would ever know this site exist, well at least from search engine standpoint.
Is it effective???
So how effective is censorship? The answer depends on the type of censorship. Censorship has been highly effective in censorship of the arts. Let’s take a look at films. In film, censorship is applied via the ratings system. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is the organization that is responsible for applying rating to movies. Ratings are judged based on content, theme, subject, language, violence and nudity, where a rating value is assigned. Rating values are G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 (see Illustration I for rating values). In addition to ratings, the MPAA can also decide whether a scene can be shown. In other words, if the MPAA doesn’t approve of a scene, the movie director is force to cut scene. But what if a scene was created to express a specific view by the artist or director? Does the MPAA still have the right give a yah or nah even if the scene can be considered offensive?
The proposed purpose of censorship is for protection; however some view it as suppression and can lead to the creation of conspiracy theories. Censorship is not only applied to speech, but also to arts, politics, religion, education, and the Internet. The effectiveness of censorship depends on the type of censorship. Censorship is very effective when applied to art, politics, education and TV, however it is not as effective when applied to the Internet. People often ignore the terms of service on social networking sites and post whatever they want. The controversy surrounding censorship and social networking is that some users feel that it violates freedom of speech. Users feel that they should be able to post and say whatever they want. In China, the Hong Kong University developed software called WeiboScope, which monitors posts posted Sina Corp’s Weibo, which is like Twitter
How censorship is viewed really depends on the type of censorship and the perspective of the person. Some people will say that it is needed for protection. Others will say that it violates freedom of speech and personal freedoms. Others say that it is purposely used to suppression.
Which side are you on?
References
Arnold, Bruce (2008). Caslon Analytics guide to Censorship and Free Speech. Retrieved 11/10/2012 from http://www.caslon.com.au/censorshipguide22.htm
Baase, Sara (2008). A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Etichal Issues for Computing and the Internet, Third Edition. Censorship in America. http://censorshipinamerica.com/
Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://www.eff.org/
GlobalVoices. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/10/15/china-cross-province-news-censorship/
Harrison, Sara (2002). Censorship and Controversy in Contemporary Art. http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/art/overview.php
Leo, Tom (2009). Religious censorship case against Baldwinsville schools heads back to appeal. http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/peck_vs_baldwinsville_school_d.html
Motion Picture Association of America. Retrieved 11/17/2012 from http://www.mpaa.org/ratings/what-each-rating-means.
Mozur, Paul. (2012). Watching How China Censors. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304708604577502872481016502.html.
Net Nanny. http://www.netnanny.com/.
OpenNet Initiative. Retrieved 11/10/2012 from http://opennet.net
Rushe, Dominic (2012). Google reports ‘alarming’ rise in censorship by governments. Retrieved 11/10/2012 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jun/18/google-reports-alarming-rise-censorship
Wikipedia. Censorship. Retrieved 11/3/2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship
Wikipedia. Freedom of Speech. Retrieved 11/3/2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech
Wines, Michael (2012). Google to Alert Users to Chinese Censorship. Retrieved 11/10/2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/world/asia/google-to-alert-users-to-chinese-censorship.html
Tim Richardson 