A production of Spamalot planned for 2015 has recently been cancelled by the South Williamsport High School in Pennsylvania. Why? Made public in August as the result of Right-to-Know requests, internal emails sent by the school principal, Jesse Smith, clearly demonstrate that the homosexual themes of the play prompted the cancellation. The principal suggested in the communications that the show [...]
Sherman Alexie is one of the most frequently challenged authors in America. Just this year, NCAC intervened in three separate challenges to Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, most recently in Idaho. In this new video, Alexie discusses book banning, censorship, and the erotic novel to which one would-be book banner compared his young adult novel.
Is symbolic behavior a crime when it may offend religious sensitivities? A 14-year-old boy could be facing up to two years in juvenile detention for posting lewd, crass, yet ultimately innocuous photos on Facebook this past July. The problem: the photos featured him suggestively posing with a sculpture of Jesus. While traipsing the lawn of a local religious organization known [...]
The leaves are starting to change, everyone’s back to the school and work routine, and the weather’s turning chilly—the perfect time for a movie marathon of NCAC’s top 40 censored flicks. Begin reading with our #40 pick, an NC-17 film from 2013 that received a chilly welcome in Idaho.
I joined NCAC on the first day of the ninth Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which took place in Istanbul last week. Central to IGF – an event mired in controversy, given Turkey’s startlingly abusive Internet controls – was the topic of youth digital rights. Turkish academic Kursat Cagiltay commented that 42% of Turkish youth condoned government censorship of the Internet. He [...]
By now, the controversy over University of Illinois Chancellor Phyllis Wise's August 1, 2014 decision to terminate the faculty appointment of Professor Steven Salaita has gone viral. A multitude of opinions have poured forth from blogs, news stories, editorials, and protest letters. The debate brings into focus the continuing problem of efforts by adamantly pro-Israel groups to suppress campus protests [...]
China arrests an inconvenient artist, Pakistan blocks YouTube, Morocco puts a rapper in jail… but Americans are OK as long as we can make public officials recognize the demands of the First Amendment. But is this enough? In the 21st century, with instant communications, with an art world that is defined by events spread all over the globe, and with [...]
What are your constitutional rights when it comes to viewing pornographic, violent or controversial material in your own home? This is a question we frequently address as First Amendment attorneys, and on which there is still some confusion in the minds of consumers. Is there a right to view or possess pornography? What about obscenity? ...
Like family heirlooms passed down through generations, the same books are often retained in school curricular for student after student to read and reflect upon. These classic novels undoubtedly serve to develop the mental and emotional capacities of their readers; they are, after all, “classics.” But even the rebellious Holden Caulfield and the daring Winston Smith can fail to transcend [...]
Some years ago, NCAC created the Knowledge Project: Censorship & Science, as national concern over the “politicization” of science escalated. The work of the Project revealed that the problem was more than just politics: censorship of science that did not support the government’s policies infringed the free speech of scientists, undermined the integrity of science, and jeopardized efforts to develop sound public [...]
Pitting one constitutional right against another is never easy, and it is particularly difficult when one of the rights at issue is the politically and emotionally charged issue of abortion rights. At the end of June, the Supreme Court struck down a Massachusetts law establishing a 35 foot “buffer zone” around abortion clinics, enacted in response to a history of [...]
You still have time to add your voice to the FCC's general comment period on Net Neutrality! Hundreds of thousands of concerned netizens have submitted comments so far, but there's still something missing: You! The Electronic Frontier Foundation has provided an easy, online form at DearFCC.org to add your comment in favor of a neutral Internet. You can also comment [...]
“Yes, that is my flag. I burned it. If they let that happen to Meredith, we don’t need an American flag.” Sidney Street’s reaction to the attempted assassination of civil rights leader James Meredith on a summer afternoon in 1965 led to his arrest, but in his actions and proclamation to police officers, Street put a spotlight on the very ideals of freedom and democracy that the flag purports to represent.
Whether you need a trip down memory lane or you’re ready to discover a new favorite, consider these rebellious reads that have been and continue to be challenged by parents, bureaucrats, and audiences alike.
Commentary The Supreme Court last week took a small step toward limiting the damage done to the First Amendment by its controversial 2006 decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos. The Court in Garcetti denied First Amendment protection to a public employee (there, an assistant prosecutor) who had blown the whistle on police misconduct (in that case, fraudulent search warrants). The prosecutor was punished [...]
Sex. It's impure, shameful, dirty, immoral, and… harmful? Taboos around sex have existed through the ages, so much so that the American legal system classifies obscene sexual material as a rare exception to First Amendment protection. We rely on judges to tell us if our sexual imagination is obscene or acceptable, and 41 years ago this month, the Supreme Court [...]
Cancelled commencement speakers, a rush of attempts to put trigger warnings on class content, student petitions to remove potentially disturbing artwork from campus… What is going on? Academia is no stranger to free speech battles. In the 1950s professors could be ousted for “treasonous or seditious acts or utterances” or for being members of an organization advocating the violent overthrow [...]
No one knows exactly why Andy Warhol's only public work, "13 Most Wanted Men," was censored fifty years ago this month at the 1964 World's Fair in Queens, New York. Initial press reports said it was Warhol himself who didn't like the work. But that was not the case. Yet, no other rationale was offered. The reason remained unspoken - or perhaps, it was simply [...]
Free Expression Network member EFF have posted "The Top 5 Claims That Defenders of the NSA Have to Stop Making to Remain Credible" and it's a scathing takedown of anyone relying on these old chestnuts to prop up an argument for continued mass surveillance.
TruthDig Radio, which broadcasts on radio stations across the country and is available as a podcast, had a great discussion with Svetlana about our "Top 40 Threats to Free Speech Right Now!" post. It's a wide-ranging dialog, from the government's war on whistleblowers to Facebook's war on nipples. The interview starts at about 17 minutes in.
This year NCAC celebrates 40 years on the frontlines of the censorship wars. As we revisit our 40 year history —and the recent history of censorship in the US —we will be looking at how information access, creative freedom and control over what we see and know have changed - or not. The approach of Memorial Day reminds us how [...]
To celebrate NCAC's 40th Anniversary, we take a look at 40 threats to free speech.
by CarolineS on Flickr We've launched a new website with an updated design on a completely new platform. It has already made a big difference in how we promote free speech! Here are 10 reasons why we think you'll like it, too: 1. Welcome Home, Blogging Censorship! Our free expression commentary and news blog, Blogging Censorship, is now [...]
NCAC cordially invites you to a special screening of a new documentary about the Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei on Monday, May 19th at the IFC Center.
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill to limit NSA’s mass surveillance. The USA Freedom Act has the support of some groups pressing for reform which characterize it as an important first step in curbing the government’s bulk collection of private records, while noting that more still needs to be done. See http://newamerica.net/node/109858. Other organizations express concerns that [...]
Damien Hirst's The Virgin Mother is a large piece about even larger subjects: life, death, birth, and humanity. But is it too large for Old Westbury, L.I.? The Virgin Mother was previously displayed (there are several casts) at Lever House in Manhattan, outside London's Royal Academy, and on Fontvieille Harbour, Monaco. But now that it landed in posh Old Westbury, [...]
As free speech organizations continue to push the government for changes in surveillance policies, there are technical changes we can implement to thwart online mass surveillance that require no government permission at all. Reset The Net is calling on everyone who hosts a website or publishes an app to take action.
NCAC has received Charity Navigator’s highest rating for a non-profit organization! Charity Navigator is recognized as the country’s premier evaluator of charities, taking into account an organization’s financial health, accountability and transparency, and results reporting to provide donors with data that helps them make informed and confident decisions with their contributions. The high rating indicates that "NCAC outperforms most other charities [...]
Cedarville University officials in Ohio confiscated and halted distribution of the independent student newspaper The Ventriloquist after it featured two essays critical of the school’s attitude toward gay students. “The Final Decision” tells the story of Avery Redic, who was removed from student government and other school leadership positions after coming out, and “Fear at Cedarville” seeks to open a [...]
World Book Night is an annual celebration of reading for pleasure, and the fun of passing on a book to someone in your community. Each year, 30-35 books are chosen by an independent panel of librarians and booksellers for distribution on the evening of April 23rd. The authors waive their royalties and the publishers cover the cost of producing a [...]
What a difference 60 years can make. On this day, in 1954, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency was closing out a second day of hearings. These two days would prove a pivotal period in comics history, lead...
Welcome to Using Graphic Novels in Education, an ongoing feature from CBLDF that is designed to allay confusion around the content of graphic novels and to help parents and teachers raise readers. In this column, we examine graphic novels, including th...
We're excited about the just-released Library Juice Press Handbook of Intellectual Freedom because, in addition to being a landmark resource on the state of free inquiry and expression, it features a new essay by NCAC's Svetlana Mintcheva on censorship, past and present, in the arts. Library Juice talks about the need for this handbook on their blog: The existing reference literature on intellectual [...]
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, a member of the NCAC-led Free Expression Network, today revealed the winners of the 23rd annual Jefferson Muzzles, an award bestowed on individuals and institutions responsible for some of the more egregious or ridiculous affronts to First Amendment principles occurring in the previous year. This year's dubious honorees range from high [...]
Mueller, John & Mark G. Stewart, "Secret without Reason and Costly without Accomplishment: Questioning the National Security Agency's Metadata Program," I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society (2014) Download a PDF. Excerpt When Edward Snowden’s revelations emerged in June 2013 about the extent to which the National Security Agency was secretly gathering communications data as part of the country’s [...]
Blog and post to your tumblr, Twitter and Facebook and then join the live, digital teach-in with NCAC, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MIT's Center For Civic Media at 3pm ET to learn more about what you can do to help stop internet censorship in libraries and schools.
Students at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) are planning a protest tomorrow in response to the suspension of Andraya Williams, a transgender student who was suspended and banned from campus for using a women’s bathroom. But because of CPCC...
In what ways are video games like comic books, or early cartoons? What educational purposes do they serve? What do they teach us about ourselves? Can designing and playing video games make us better people? NCAC invited a panel of gaming designers and educators to open up these questions during our Video Games in the Crosshairs film screening this past [...]
The Huffington Post reported last week that Senator Patty Murray of Washington will reintroduce the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act after learning of harassment suffered by one of her interns while attending college. The intern’s ...
In a disturbing development that directly threatens the freedom to imagine, rap lyrics are being brought in as evidence in criminal trials (New York Times story). An amicus brief (below) filed by the New Jersey chapter of NCAC participating organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, argues That a rap artist wrote lyrics seemingly embracing the world of violence is no [...]
