Prosecution of Erotic Fiction Web Host Tests Obscenity Laws
In a case seen as a test of whether text-only fiction can be considered legally obscene, the host of erotic fiction archive Mr Double faces seven obscenity charges.
Zoom, Facebook and YouTube Threaten Academic Freedom
NCAC is deeply concerned by Zoom, Facebook and YouTube's recent censorship of an academic forum due to the affiliation of one of the speakers with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
NCAC Opposes EARN IT Act
The EARN IT Act threatens free expression, jeopardizes the security of our communications and risks undermining child abuse prosecutions.
NCAC Urges Congress Not to Authorize FISA Anti-Privacy Provisions
NCAC has joined a coalition of two dozen organizations calling on Congressional leaders not to reauthorize several expired provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities by adding them as amendments to a must-pass appropriations bill or other emergency legislation. In a letter sent to Congress on September 14, NCAC and the other organizations argue that these controversial measures [...]
NCAC Calls on Zoom to Defend Educators from Chinese Censorship
On June 15, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and PEN America joined in protesting Zoom’s decision to close the account of Humanitarian China, a U.S.-based nonprofit that promotes the development of human rights in China. Zoom acted at the request of Chinese officials who wanted to suppress a virtual meeting commemorating the [...]
Social Media Under Pressure Part I: Trump Lashes out at Twitter
Rhetorically framed as defense of free speech, the President’s Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship, is exactly the opposite: an attempt to intimidate social media platforms into yielding to the president’s views of what speech should be allowed online. While we agree that social media platforms “function in many ways as a 21st-century equivalent of the public square” and share [...]
Social Media Under Pressure Part II: Protests, Polarization, and Social Media Regulation
As misinformation proliferates, protests escalate, and the 2020 U.S. presidential election looms, how much should social media companies regulate the content on their platforms? Rules and regulations are changing as social media giants are figuring out how to wield their unprecedented power over information. As an organization committed to free expression, we welcome efforts to provide more information, alternative sources [...]
NCAC Urges Speaker Pelosi to Support Critical Change to Patriot Act
NCAC has joined a coalition of more than 50 civil liberties, civil rights and government transparency organizations in urging Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress to include civil liberties reforms in the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020, a bill that would extend surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act which expired in March. The coalition’s [...]
Free Expression and the Coronavirus Pandemic
Developments in the United States could threaten our civil liberties as responses to the coronavirus pandemic test governments and social structures worldwide.
Facebook Urged to Maintain End-to-End Encryption in Face of Government Pressure
NCAC urges Facebook to resist government pressure to end its use of end-to-end security encryption.
Back to School: 9 Resources for Students
This school year we want you to be prepared to defend your right to speak, think and create.
Facebook Agrees to Reconsider Artistic Nudity Policies
Facebook’s policy team has committed to convening a group of stakeholders to consider a new approach to nudity guidelines.
Nude #WeTheNipple Art Action at Facebook Headquarters Calls Out Censorship
NCAC and artist Spencer Tunick created a nude art action in front of Facebook and Instagram's New York City headquarters as part of their #WeTheNipple campaign against art censorship on social media.
SESTA Bill Will Not Prevent Sex Trafficking But Will Silence Online Speech
While the bill's sponsors contend that it aims to stop sex trafficking, the bill does not help sex trafficking victims confront their abusers but does significantly curtail online speech.
NCAC Joins Free Press and 30 Other Organizations in Calling for FCC to Cancel Net Neutrality Vote
On Thursday, NCAC joined with more than 30 press freedom, civil liberties and open government groups, led by Free Press, in submitting a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai. The letter urges Pai to cancel a vote scheduled for December 14, 2017 that will likely reverse net neutrality protections instated in 2015. Read the full letter below; [...]
NCAC Expresses Concern Over Federal Sex Trafficking Bill
The bill risks eviscerating online free speech protections for websites that host large amounts of user-generated content.
On July 12th, Join The ‘Battle For The Net’: An Internet-Wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality
On July 12th, NCAC is taking part in the Battle for the Net, which is shaping up to the largest mobilization of internet users ever.
NCAC Supports Letter Protesting Effort to Request US Visitors’ Social Media Info.
NCAC is one of 28 signatories on a letter sent by the Center for Democracy & Technology to the DHS urging the rejection of a proposal to ask foreign travelers about their social media presence.
NPR Moves to Eliminate Comments From Website
NPR has announced it will remove the comments section from its website. But what are the implications for freedom of speech?
Does Twitter Have A Selective Censorship Problem?
Buzzfeed today reported Twitter's ex-CEO oversaw moderation of President Obama's and Caitlyn Jenner's Q & As, prompting questions of selective political bias of the site.
On Violence and Nudity, Facebook’s Opaque Community Standards
After the death of Philando Castile, Facebook delineated it's policy on posts containing violence. It should do the same for all content deemed controversial.
Victory: Court Rules in Favor of Net Neutrality
A court has ruled against Internet providers looking to change the legal classification of internet service, which would have allowed bigger domain names to purchase faster connection speeds.
After Orlando, Are Social Media Sites Encroaching On Users’ Free Speech?
In the wake of the Orlando shooting, Reddit came under fire for censoring its user's content. How fair is this accusation?
US Copyright Office Leads Inquiry to Tighten Online Content Takedown Procedure; UPDATE: Comment from The Authors Guild
A proposed change to the "notice and takedown" internet copyright procedure potentially threatens freedom of expression online.
Is Facebook’s Echo Chamber Censorship?
Reports out this week claiming that the social media giant selectively removes conservative news items from #trending topics has drawn accusations of censorship, most distressingly from a member of Congress charged with oversight of issues relating to technology, communications and the Internet.
NCAC to Dept. of Ed: Proposals to Regulate Private Online Speech Would Run Afoul of the First Amendment
Calls to ban social media platforms to combat campus discrimination threaten students' free speech rights.
Is Reddit Moving Away from Free Speech Roots?
Was Reddit's decision to ban 5 discussion groups a business decision, or a move away from its free speech principles?
Inglewood Mayor Using Copyright for Censorship
A California mayor is responding to a vocal critic by attempting to use a questionable copyright claim as a censorship tool.
Warning to Students: Watch What You Tweet
Students at a Pennsylvania high school are told by local police that what they tweet could be a crime.
There Are Things Facebook Doesn’t Want You To See
Two more examples of the social media giant's rather peculiar standards about female nudity.
“Removed From the Internet”: Dianne Feinstein’s Bizarre Call for Censorship
No, senator, you cannot remove a book from the internet.
China’s Struggle with Online Censorship – New Lengths to Control the Internet
One of the most prevalent types of censorship today is solely web-based. The Chinese government's online blockade called the "Great Firewall" is one of the most famous examples. Usually acting out of what it considers defensive purposes, the "Great Firewall" operators have recently taken on a more offensive role that affects both China and the rest of the world: Cyber attacks [...]
Holding Publishers Liable: What’s Wrong with the SAVE Act
Congressional efforts to punish online sex trafficking are overbroad, counterproductive and will chill free speech.
It’s Starting to Get Chilly
And I’m not talking about the frosty weather hitting New York City this week. A new report by NCAC coalition member PEN American Center, “Global Chilling: The Impact of Mass Surveillance on International Writers” finds that government surveillance in democratic countries is chilling free speech, driving novelists, editors, poets, and journalists to self-censor their work. The numbers are particularly frightening: 75% [...]
NCAC Co-signs Letter to US Senate Expressing Concerns Over SAVE Act
(Update: NCAC signed on to another letter in January 2015 organized by the Center for Democracy & Technology.) NCAC and other organizations concerned with human rights sent the below letter to the Unites States Senate to convey strong opposition to S.2536, the "Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation" (SAVE) Act. While we believe that Congress should provide additional funding for victims [...]
EFF Probes Troubling Social Media Monitoring Policies in AL and TN
Late in September, in observance of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s 13 Necessary and Proportionate Principles on Surveillance, NCAC noted thematic links between the NSA’s far-reaching surveillance tactics and those of public schools in the country. There, we observed that the underlying impulses behind surveillance on the national level and on the local level were uniform. This need to monitor and [...]
Spiked: Should Even Hate Speech Be Free Speech?
To outsiders, 21st century Britain must look like a pretty liberal country. We don’t imprison people for their political opinions. We no longer seek to ban so-called “obscene” novels, as the authorities tried to do with D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” when the unexpurgated version was first published in 1960. We got rid of our blasphemy laws in 2008. The British Board of Film Classification now okays the cinematic release [...]
A Machine of Paranoia: How Concerns for Student Safety May Chill Speech
NCAC has proudly signed onto the list of 13 Necessary and Proportionate principles, part of a global effort led by our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, on mass surveillance. This week marks the one-year anniversary of the drafting of the principles. The list of principles proposes a set of guidelines that governments around the world should adhere to if [...]
Pennsylvania Teen Criminally Charged for Naughty Facebook Pictures with Jesus Sculpture
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 [...]
Acts of Fear: Compromising the Digital Rights of Youth
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 [...]