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May 16th, 2012
THE GUARDIAN Analyzes Tintin in the Congo Case
by Betsy Gomez
In February, Belgian courts ruled that Tintin in the Congo should not be removed from bookstore shelves over charges that it violated Belgian laws regarding racism and inciting racial hatred. The court ruled that the book, which was serialized from 1930 to 1931 and collected in 1946 with significant revisions, was a product of its time and did not intend to incite racial hatred. This week, The Guardian reposted an analysis that Jogchum Vrielink wrote about the case and its impact on the sale of the book.
Vrielink’s analysis summarizes the details of the case:
Bienvenu Mbuto Mondondo, a Congolese national studying in Brussels, filed suit to obtain an injunction against the continued publication, distribution and sale of Hergé’s comic book Tintin in the Congo (Tintin au Congo), as well as seeking to have the book withdrawn from bookshops and libraries in Belgium. Mondondo did so on the basis of alleged violations of the Belgian anti-racism legislation. In subsidiary order he demanded that a disclaimer be printed on the comic’s cover, warning of its offensive nature, along with the inclusion of an introduction of a similar nature. Mondondo was supported in his claims by the minority ...
May 16th, 2012
The So-Not-Dirty Cowboy Author Speaks
We were able to chat yesterday with Amy Timberlake, the author of The Dirty Cowboy, (illustrated by Adam Rex). The book that has been at the center of a censorship debate outside of Hershey, P.A.. Two parents of a child at an elementary school objected to the nudity of the cowboy, calling it pornographic. Most likely hoping not to rock the boat, the Annville-Cleona School Board subsequently voted to remove the book after a review.
Timberlake spoke out against the censorship on her blog and our Kids’ Right to Read Project has joined their voice as well, writing a letter to the Annville-Cleona school board which urges the return of the book.
NCAC: The idea for this book came from a story your grandfather used to tell you as a child, is that right? Tell me about your inspiration to write this book…
Amy Timberlake: Yes, The Dirty Cowboy is a story my grandfather used to tell us when my brother and I visited my grandparents in the summer. But here’s the crazy part: the story goes back even further than that. My grandfather heard the story from my great-grandfather who was a newspaperman for the Silver ...
May 16th, 2012
This Week in Internet Censorship: India, Iran, Brazil, Russia, and More
Iran Continues March Towards “Halal Internet”
This past weekend, Iran’s minister of telecommunications announced that domestic institutions including banks, telecom companies, insurance firms, and universities are now prohibited from dealing with emails that do not come from an “.ir” domain name. This means that customers who use foreign email clients such as Gmail, Yahoo!, and Hotmail will have to switch to domestic Iranian accounts, which are subject to Iranian legal jurisdiction.
While the announcement suggests that the use of foreign email clients leaves Iranian data vulnerable security breaches, the forced move to domestic email services makes it easier for the government to monitor its own citizens. The Telecommunications Ministry that “that the crackdown is an attempt to ensure confidential information is safe” from foreign email providers who allegedly collect user data, making them insecure for Iranian institutional use.
The foreign email ban is the latest development in what is widely thought to be a transition towards a “Halal” Iranian Internet. The Iranian Telecommunications Ministry has denied “shutting off the Internet” for its residents, but what differentiates this email limitation from previous ones such as the restriction on secure (HTTPS) traffic is its overt nature.
Ustream Adds Russian-Language Option In Response ...
May 15th, 2012
by Betsy Gomez
This weekend sees CBLDF events around the country and around the world: CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein is headed to Japan to talk about the challenges creative expression faces in Japan and abroad.
Japanese manga and anime have strong appeal worldwide, and as their popularity has increased, they have faced challenges in Japan and overseas, including in the United States. Japanese censors have actively called for and passed laws that regulate the sale of manga and the depiction of sexuality in manga. In the United States, a Korean manwha — the equivalent of manga — is near the top of the list of the most-challenged books in 2011, and the ownership of manga led to the prosecution of Christopher Handley and Ryan Matheson.
The conference addresses the challenges faced by manga and anime and the detrimental effect of regulation on creative expression in Japan. During the symposium, Brownstein will join local and international experts to talk about the censorship of content in manga and anime in both Japan and overseas.
The discussion takes place Friday, May 18, 2012, at 6:30 p.m., at the Hibiya Library Cultural Center Convention Hall (Hibiya Park, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo). The event ...
May 15th, 2012
NCAC Interview: Linda Tyndall Fights for “Fifty Shades”
When Linda Tyndall heard that copies of the best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey had been removed from the Brevard County Public Libraries, she was concerned and decided to take action. Her petition on Change.org has over 1,600 signatures. Tomorrow, Tyndall and other petitioners will make their voice heard at a meeting of the County Library Board.
May 14th, 2012
TPP: Internet Freedom Activists Protest Secret Trade Agreement Being Negotiated This Week
The U.S. content industry will try anything to preserve its profit margin and power over the creative content market at the expense of the Internet. They will use any tactic that circumvents democratic processes to make new rules for the Internet that favor their interests and not the interests of Internet users or the technical community that actually builds the Internet as we know it. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is yet another example of these tactics.
The TPP is a secretive plurilateral1 agreement that includes provisions dealing with intellectual property, including online copyright enforcement, anti-circumvention measures, and Internet intermediary liability. Due to the secrecy of the negotiations, we do not know what is in the current version of the TPP’s IP chapter; the general public has only seen a leaked February 2011 version of the U.S. IP chapter proposal [pdf]. Based on the one-sided nature of the groups directly involved, and the content of what has already leaked, we should all be concerned about the prospect of the TPP including provisions that will harm online expression, privacy and innovation on the Internet.
TPP rally outside the Dallas Intercontinental Hotel where negotiaitons are taking place
May 14th, 2012
DHS Considers Collecting DNA From Kids; DEA and US Marshals Already Do
Documents just released by US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) in response to one of EFF’s Freedom of Information Act requests show that DHS is considering collecting DNA from kids ages 14 and up—and is exploring expanding its regulations to allow collection from kids younger than that.
The proposal appears to be working its way through DHS in the wake of regulations from the Department of Justice that require all federal agencies—including DHS and its components such as ICE—to collect DNA from individuals arrested for federal crimes as well as “from non-United States persons who are detained under the authority of the United States,” whether or not they have been involved in criminal activity. While the law specifically exempts a few classes of “aliens,” the documents we received show DHS may start DNA collection from anyone it fingerprints. Currently, that’s any child over 14 who’s detained, but we also found records that show ICE could lower that age even more.
DHS estimates that as many as 1 million people who are subject to administrative detention or arrest annually could now be subject to DNA collection. But it’s important to note that many of these people are not ...
May 14th, 2012
‘Crimson’ Reports on Due Process Concerns as Harvard Revises Sexual Assault Policy
Last Friday, The Harvard Crimson updated readers on Harvard University's ongoing study of its sexual assault policies, noting that the university's policy options have been affected by the controversial April 4, 2011, "Dear Colleague" letter from the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Zeroing in on the ongoing debate about OCR's decision to mandate the use of the "preponderance of the evidence" standard of proof in campus sexual misconduct proceedings, Crimson staff writer Rebecca D. Robbins writes:
As Harvard's peer institutions move to update their sexual misconduct policies by lowering the standard of evidence required for a guilty conviction, two lawyers interviewed for this article say that these universities' changes may encourage Harvard to follow suit.
The University is currently in the midst of a two-year process of reviewing its sexual assault policies to ensure that it is compliant with federal anti-discrimination law.
In April 2011, the Office for Civil Rights released a "Dear Colleague" letter outlining stricter guidelines for colleges and universities for dealing with sexual assault complaints in the wake of a stream of Title IX complaints filed against institutions of higher education, including Harvard Law School.
Last month, both the University of Pennsylvania and ...
May 14th, 2012
Clampdown on Activist’s Wedding
Police detain and beat guests of Chinese activist Qin Yongmin's marriage celebration.
May 14th, 2012
UMass Lowell: Be Careful How You Address Controversial Speech
Yet another joke issue of a college student publication has encountered controversy on campus for being intentionally offensive in order to comment on a variety of issues. The good news is that the dean of students at University of Massachusetts Lowell, Larry Siegel, has taken punishment of the independent student newspaper, the Connector, off of the table. The Lowell Sun reports:
Siegel said the university "holds in high regard the freedom of speech" and so "in no way are we going to censor the student paper," which is run independently.
"But you can't let your own amusement under the guise of a once-a-year-joke go to this level of disrespect," Siegel said, adding that based on what happened this year, there would be discussions with the newspaper's editors and dismayed student leaders on how to prevent something like this from happening again.
"They can't let their egos run rampant," he said. "There's a responsibility here. And this is immature, careless and callous.
"Words are very powerful," he added. "And these kind of public words are ones you are going to be accountable to."
What did the paper print? Here's how the Lowell Sun described it:
Rife with profanity, it ...