Starts at 8:20. NCAC on internet censorship on the "Listening Post" on Al-Jazeera. From Al-Jazeera: The segment focuses on the role and responsibility of the Western companies who provide the technology to police the Internet, as well as how to get around the controls to access material that many governments do not want their citizens to see. NCAC's Svetlana Mintcheva's [...]
Chill. Porn is a genre like any other – science fiction, crime drama, horror. Why should the pleasure derived from viewing it be a guiltier pleasure from the one derived from viewing serial killers slashing throats? To each, after all, her own. (And, yes, women watch porn too). Porn is also – whether you like it or not – protected [...]
What our censorious culture is keeping from us. Deconstruction of an editorial in April's French Vogue. From Jezebel.com: ... It's a cigarette-fueled, pregnancy-padded, bottle-fed primer in that which cannot be done in Vogue's American pendant. ... Smoking is one of Carine Roitfeld's Favorite Things; she once told the Guardian she wouldn't want Anna Wintour's job because in America, you can't [...]
A Naperville, Illinois, school has canceled a speech by Bill Ayers, a professor of education, because of objections to his association with the Weather Underground 30 years ago. Ayers was scheduled to talk about his field, urban education, to a high school social studies class. All the students had parental permission to hear him speak. Word of his appearance leaked [...]
Ohio lawmaker wants to make sexting a misdemeanor Last week, the Columbus Dispatch reported that Ohio State Representative Ron Maag (R-Lebanon) plans to introduce a bill in the Ohio state legislature which would make the creation, exchange, and possession of nude materials between minors a First-Degree Misdemeanor. According to Representative Maag, Local prosecutors have brought to my attention that under [...]
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the matter of Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission, Case no. 08-205. This is an interesting case in that the Court, among other things, needs to determine whether Hillary: The Movie, a 90 minute documentary about Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign with a decidedly conservative bias, is considered an “electioneering communication,” [...]
In recent weeks, a Spider-Man comic book and Nintendo Power magazine have been challenged in school libraries in Cleveland, Ohio, and in Millard, Nebraska, respectively. Parents have asked whether a scantily-clad cartoon woman (in one case) or violence in a video game magazine (in the other case) constitute appropriate reading materials for students in school. Here, NCAC takes a look [...]
A victory for free expression! Last week, three Pennsylvania high school students and their families brought suit against a Wyoming County prosecutor over allegations of First Amendment violations. Yesterday, a U.S. District judge sided with the teens, and issued a temporary restraining order against the prosecutor. The judge held that the prosecutor's proposed action violated free speech and parental rights. [...]
The Naperville, IL, School District has cancelled a visit by Bill Ayers at Naperville North High School after the visit scheduled for April 8th sparked heated controversy in the community. Ayers is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Education. His radical activism and involvement in the 1960s group, the Weathermen, has drawn criticism. The event [...]
Another legal action over the practice of sexting has emerged. Only this time it is the alleged “sexters” who are suing state prosecutors on the grounds that criminalizing sexting infringes on their First Amendment rights. Last month, three high school students in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania faced the threat of being charged with the possession/dissemination of child pornography, when their school [...]
Another legal action over the practice of sexting has emerged. Only this time it is the alleged "sexters" who are suing state prosecutors on the grounds that criminalizing sexting infringes on their First Amendment rights.
We are very happy to report that Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has vetoed bill HB 353. That bill would have punished sellers for "violating" what were previously voluntary age restrictions. In his letter to the Utah Speaker of the House David Clark and Speaker of the Senate, Huntsman writes: While protecting children from inappropriate materials is a laudable goal, the [...]
In an email to faculty today BGSU Interim Provost Mark Gromko stated that “the piece was initially removed so that […] legal review could occur.” Apparently BGSU administrators were wondering whether “the sculpture constituted child pornography or breached restrictions on depictions of child abuse under Ohio law.” As is easy to ascertain, child pornography and depictions of child abuse both [...]
Jack Thompson, who penned HB 353 (the bill pending in Utah that we asked you to help stop) has written a letter to President Obama calling for a national plan similar to the one proposed in Utah. In response to a recent tragedy in Germany where a young man shot 15 people at his former school, German and American media [...]
Statement from the National Coalition Against Censorship Regarding the Recent Removal of an Artwork from an Exhibition at BGSU Firelands’ Little Gallery The recent removal of artwork by James Parlin from an exhibition of sculpture in the Little Gallery at Bowling Green State University Firelands is an unacceptable violation of the academic freedom to openly discuss ideas and social problems [...]
HB 353 has been passed in the Utah state senate, and now sits on Governor Jon Huntsman’s desk. This bill would hold retailers responsible for selling minors material labeled for mature audiences. Sellers of books, movies, video games, and music could be penalized up to $2000 for “violating” age guidelines created voluntarily for informational purposes only. This bill takes a [...]
Reported yesterday in the Salt Lake Tribune, Breaking Dawn, the final book in the Twilight Series has arrived at Brockbank Junior High. So why can't students check it out? Following a parent's complaint, has not been put on the library shelves. As far as we understand, the book was selected for educational reasons and should be kept in the library. [...]
In an article published today in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Peter Schmidt responds to the call to stop ideological exclusion, the denial of visa to foreign scholars, writers, etc. based on their political positions. In this article, "Obama Must Tread Fine Line on Scholars Barred From the U.S. for Their Views," Schmidt warns that stopping this exclusion entirely may [...]
A sex column in the University of Montana Kaimin, its student-run newspaper, is the brunt of attacks by a couple professors on campus, one of whom has demanded its cessation. Bess Davis’ “Bess Sex Column” has been targeted as “state-funded porn”, though its author would label it “vanilla” compared to the sex columns of other university newspapers. According to the [...]
We’ve noticed that the State of Oregon has been a hotbed for censorship incidents lately. Here’s what’s been happening around the state: A Portland fifth grader has decided not to perform his act about President Barack Obama in his elementary school’s talent show after the principal forbade him from wearing a mask that depicts Obama during the performance. The principal [...]
Following good news of Steve Martin’s bailout, there’s more bad news on the high school drama front. USA Today reports on the firing of a teacher who led a class project on The Laramie Project – a play and film based on responses from Laramie residents after the murder of Matthew Shepherd. The teacher – Debra Taylor – led a [...]
NCAC has been following the case of Picasso at the Lapin Agile in La Grande Oregon for the past month or so. After receiving a call from a concerned parent, we wrote a letter to the Superintendent explaining how and why his decision to cancel the Steve Martin play was, well, wrong. Unfortunately, a little saber rattling from New York [...]
It’s refreshing to see President Obama moving forward on his promise to separate science from politics. By freeing scientists to do more research using stem cells, and by commissioning NIH to develop guidelines, the President has put scientific decisions where they belong – with scientists. Now maybe he’ll do the same with abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which have been condemned as inaccurate [...]
Image of Henry Kissinger’s backside by David Levine that was pulled from the NYT Op-Ed Page AlterNet reports on a new book by Jerelle Kraus, the former art director of The New York Times Od-Ed and editorial pages, that details the censorship of editorial illustrations in The New York Times. The book All The Art That’s Fit to [...]
In episode 124 of his sex-advice podcast, Dan Savage weighs in on "sexting." An excerpt: ... I just want to say a quick word about "sexting" which is the craze sweeping the nation. Young people are occasionally being arrested and being bounced out of school ... because once you take a picture of your own junk when you're a minor [...]
On February 20, Washington D.C. resident Yaraslau Kryvoi received notice from Internet service provider and webhost, Utah-based Bluehost, that it was suspending Kryvoi’s account and giving him 10 days to remove content that Bluehost found objectionable from his website. The objectionable content in question? Kryvoi, an immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Belarus, maintained and operated a website for [...]
"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" -- William Shakespeare The day JuicyCampus shuttered, the website (juicycampus.com) began redirecting to College ACB (Anonymous Confession Board). With the same promise of anonymity, College ACB now provides us with the same gems JuicyCampus used to. Select any of the colleges in the drop bar, and [...]
According to The Associated Press: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously . . . that a small religious group cannot force a city in Utah to place a granite marker in a local park that already is home to a Ten Commandments display. The case, reported in NCAC’s last issue of Censorship News, involves a Salt Lake City based religious sect [...]
It’s raining here in New York, and it also seems to be raining book censorship news! From near and far, here’s the round up of book challenges we’re watching. A woman in West Bend, WI, has submitted a complaint to the West Bend Library because she objects to books in the youth section of the library that address [...]
Good news: Picasso at the Lapin Agile is a go in Eastern Oregon. As a student weighed in the comments section: Hey just wanted to thank you for taking the time to mention our struggle here in Good Ol’ Eastern Oregon. As an update, a student group at Eastern Oregon University has pledged to fund a production of our play [...]
Again? Another plaintiff ignores Section 230 of the CDA and sues a website over user generated content SUNY Albany freshman Denise Finkel is suing four former high school classmates, their parents, and Facebook, Inc. over the allegedly defamatory content contained in a private Facebook group the classmates had set up. (Finkel v. Facebook, Inc., 102578-09 (N.Y. Supreme Ct. complaint filed [...]
It’s about time that Karl Rove and Harriet Miers testify before the House Judiciary Committee about the dismissal of nine US Attorneys in 2006. There have been widespread allegations that they were fired solely for political reasons, which were supported by an internal Justice Department investigation. Still, Rove and Miers have refused to testify or turn over relevant documents to [...]
We’ve been covering challenges to several books about sex in the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. In February, the library board voted to restrict The Joy of Sex, The Joy of Gay Sex, The Lesbian Kama Sutra, and Sex for Busy People, removing them from general circulation in the health section of the library. Svetlana wrote then, While restricting [...]
The Supreme Court handed down an opinion today that doesn’t seem to be about suppression of scientific information, but it is. Diana Levine lost her arm when a drug manufactured by Wyeth, was administered to her improperly. Wyeth knew of the risk of this method of administration, but did not disclose it in its warning label. Because the label had [...]
Promoting drug use in a high school newspaper is undeniably inappropriate, but is there ever room for critical discussion about drugs? How about reporting on substantial medical research, which claims some psychedelic drugs might offer positive effects? Lakeridge High School senior Tyler Smith’s January op-ed, “Psychedelics: Agents of spiritual growth?” which reported on the effects of psychedelic drugs and brought [...]
A recent paper in the journal, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, examines censorship in medical research. Giovanni A. Fava describes the damages to intellectual freedom that result when academic medical researchers are influenced by corporate and special interests. He notes that censorship can take several forms in this arena, from suppression of accurate data that conflicts with industry interests, to retaliation against [...]
The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that Independent Newspapers, which runs the forum Newszap.com, could not be forced to reveal the identities of online posters who had written critical comments about a Dunkin’ Donuts. The owner of the restaurant, Zebulon J. Brodie, claimed that the commenters had defamed him and called on Independent Newspapers to reveal their identities. [...]
But not in La Grande Oregon, where on Wednesday night, school board members voted to uphold Superintendent Larry Glaze’s decision to censor a student production of Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”, ignoring spirited and articulate appeals from the High School principal and drama teacher. It was yet another disturbing case of school officials catering to the more censorious [...]
Good news for kids’ right to read! On Wednesday, the Muscogee County (GA) School District’s media committee voted unanimously to keep the novel, My Brother Sam is Dead, in elementary school libraries. Counting up 19 terms she found inappropriate, one parent had challenged the book for its profanity. In its decision to keep the book on the shelves, media committee [...]
Earlier this month, we covered the banning of The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad in Wyandotte, MI. The Wyandotte School Board banned the book, removing it from the High School library and classrooms while it is reviewed by a reconsideration committee. The committee meets tonight to discuss the book. The Kids’ Right to Read Project is sending this letter [...]
