Censorship

Censorship exists to some extent in all modern countries, including the U.S.A., the U.K., Germany, France, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. However, it is worse in some countries than in others. A government which censors the information available to its people, other than in a state of national emergency (e.g., a sudden attack by a hostile military force) is a government which seeks to keep the people in a state of ignorance, and should not complain if the people have no loyalty to it.

The Bill of Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Censorship in the United States

Censorship at Voice of America
Censorship of UFO reports
Self-Censorship in authoritarian societies
Censorship of criticism of Israel
Censorship of reports of torture
A conspiracy of lies, manipulation and disinformation

Censorship in Australia
Censorship in the United Kingdom
Censorship in Germany
Censorship in France
Censorship in Singapore
Net Censorship
Sex, Laws and Cyberspace
Censorship of Essay Against Genocide

Censorship of Historian David Irving
Operation Mockingbird
Illegal Information?
Project Censored
The Media and TWA Flight 800
The Fight Censorship Mailing List
The Decense Project
Freedom of Information
Pastor Niemöller Quote
Censorship and the "War on Terrorism"
The Communications Decency Act
Preliminary Injunction Against the CDA is Granted
Proposed CDA-style Censorship in Australia
Supreme Court Overturns the CDA
The CIA and the Attempted Suppression of "The Crimes of Mena"

The Bill of Rights

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. — The first article of the Bill of Rights

The full text of the Bill of Rights.

The Freedom to Read

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

The full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is also available (along with the U.N. Convention on Genocide and other human rights documents) at the on-line version of COMMON RIGHTS & EXPECTATIONS.
But in 2005 the UN adopted a resolution including A Universal Ban On Revisionism, in violation of its own Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Censorship in the United States
This is a huge topic. Here we only touch upon it. Americans know little about censorship in America partly because of censorship in America and partly because they mostly don't care to know.
Put briefly, the "official version" of reality in America is a product manufactured by the U.S. government and the U.S. mainstream media, and fed to a (to some extent) unsuspecting public which (mostly) consumes it uncritically (since most people "educated" in the U.S. have never been taught to think critically), thereby making things easier for the ruling elite (easier, that is, for them to pursue their plans for global domination and enslavement of all human beings on the Earth). The successful promulgation of the official version of reality requires the suppression (censorship) of alternative versions.
For an example of a critical assessment of one part of current U.S. official reality, and the defense of an alternative view (never discussed seriously in any government-controlled newspaper or magazine, even those, such as The Nation, which purport to be critical of U.S. government policies), see The World Trade Center Demolition and the So-Called War on Terrorism.
Censorship in America works partly by ignoring whatever is inconsistent with the official story. For example, Michael Meacher, who was environment minister in the U.K. government from May 1997 to June 2003, published in The Guardian (UK) an article entitled "This War on Terrorism is Bogus". You'd think this would be of interest to many Americans, bombarded daily with messages from the Bush Administration about how nobly it is acting to defend Americans from those evil "terrorists" and their "Terror". But almost all Americans never had a chance to read Meacher's article because they never heard about it — it was totally ignored by the mainstream media in the US and in Canada (except for a brief mention in the Toronto Star). Readers of this website can read it here:

Michael Meacher: This War on Terrorism is Bogus

Joe Vialls Banned By Yahoo!

BOOK BANNED IN AMERICA WHILE TROOPS DIE FOR FREEDOM

US media covers up American war crimes in Iraq

FBI shuts down 20 antiwar web sites: an unprecedented act of Internet censorship

Media Cover-up — Leading Journalists Expose Major Cover-ups in Media

Is Wikipedia Stifling 9/11 Truth?

As long as Wikipedia's 9/11 pages are censored by those wishing to suppress the truth about 9/11, and are skewed toward presenting one particular view, Wikipedia is not to be trusted.

Censorship at Voice of America

Voice of America, a federally supported international broadcasting organization, decided not to air a story that included parts of a rare interview with the leader of Afghanistan's ruling Taleban, Mullah Mohammed Omar, officials said.
The decision came after Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and senior National Security Council officials told the organization's governors that it would be tantamount to granting a platform to terrorists. The governors then told employees to kill the story.
The Taleban had offered the organization an opportunity to interview Mr. Omar, which was done before the governors' orders.
"I was stunned, absolutely stunned," said an agency journalist who asked not to be named. "It goes against every principle of journalistic ethics."
— "Taleban Interview Suppressed", International Herald Tribune, 2001-09-24, p.6.

Perhaps the governors should request an interview with Richard Armitage about his trafficking in heroin (on behalf of the CIA) with warlord Khun Sa in the Golden Triangle (see Bo Gritz Letter to George Bush). Listeners to VOA would no doubt find this very interesting, if they were permitted to hear it.

Censorship of UFO reports

... is the story of how elements of the U.S. government, using standard methods of censorship and propaganda, as well as covert ties to well-known news organizations, attempted to hide the existence and activities of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) from the American public. ...
The author reviews the history of the UFO controversy for evidence of standard censorship methods and shows that, indeed, most of the same censorship techniques employed during other national crises have been applied to managing information about UFOs. This censorship, whether the result of a centrally orchestrated campaign or a remarkable series of coincidences, has made it possible for false and misleading information about UFOs to be foisted on the American public.
— The Missing Times : News Media Complicity in the UFO Cover-up

A variety of censorship occurs when a "news" source claims to provide information about some subject but actually ignores the important information and presents instead disinformation. A good example of this is the ABC program on UFOs that was aired in March 2005. Read more about this in Dr Steven M. Greer's Peter Jennings Defrauding: Inside the ABC News UFO Documentary Hoax. This is basically the way the US mainstream media works: providing sophisticated (or blatant) disinfo to hide what is really the case.

Self-Censorship in authoritarian societies

One important insight is how hierarchical authoritarian social systems function. Top down directives and commands, especially if they carry the weight of threats of censorship and punishment serve to keep any dissent in check. There is a great deal of self-censorship operating in all institutions in the United States. It is also important to recognize the role of a shared ideology among the decision makers, or perhaps more specifically the role of what social psychologists, in studies of organizational behavior, call "groupthink." Groupthink is decision making characterized by uncritical acceptance of and conformity with the prevailing view. Thus, the will of a few key persons can be spread within and across government agencies.
— September 11th And The Bush Administration

See also the book Into the Buzzsaw: "Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press"

Censorship of criticism of Israel

Those who deny (in the words of Robert Fisk) "that the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip by Israel, its use of extrajudicial executions against Palestinian gunmen, the Israeli gunning down of schoolboy stone-throwers, the wholesale theft of Arab land to build homes for Jews, is in some way wrong" would like all criticism of Israel to be labelled as "antisemitic" thus branding the critic's statements as heinous and unworthy of consideration. This is a tactic designed to derail criticism of the actions of a state whose violations of the human rights of Palestinians have made it contemptible in the eyes of the world. Supporters of Israel, unable to refute such criticism, are now trying to make it illegal.

[A proposed] amendment to Title VI of the Higher Education Act ... [whose purpose is] to require denial of federal funds to any university whose faculty or students, perhaps even guest lecturers, make statements that are in any way critical of Israel ... is an echo of Nazi, Communist and other totalitarian forms of censorship. — Terrell E. Arnold: Against The Law To Criticize Israel?

Some claim that the U.S. government has been subverted to serve the interests of Israel.

On October 16, 2004 President Bush signed into law the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. It establishes a special department within the U.S. State Department to monitor global anti-Semitism, reporting annually to Congress. ...
Here is a list of beliefs or activities the U.S. government now considers anti-Semitic:
1. Any assertion "that the Jewish community controls government, the media, international business and the financial world" is anti-Semitic.
2. "Strong anti-Israel sentiment" is anti-Semitic.
...
14. Alleging that Mossad was behind the 9/11 attack is anti-Semitic.
— Rev. Ted, The Real Motive Behind 'Dept Of Global Anti-Semitism'

See also: The Secret Relationship Between Israel and Oil: What the US Media Hides
But it seems this site has been "disappeared"; read this article here.
Further remarks concerning Israel may be found in the section on Zionism.

Censorship of reports of torture

Military autopsy reports provide indisputable proof that detainees are being tortured to death while in US military custody. Yet the US corporate media are covering it with the seriousness of a garage sale for the local Baptist Church. ... Anthony Romero, Executive Director of ACLU stated, "There is no question that US interrogations have resulted in deaths." ACLU attorney Amrit Sing adds, "These documents [in the ACLU report] present irrefutable evidence that US operatives tortured detainees to death during interrogations." ... A Nexus-Lexus search November 30, 2005 of the major papers in the US using the word torture turned up over 1,000 stories in the last 30 days. None of these included the ACLU report as supporting documentation on the issue. — Peter Phillips, Hard Evidence of US Torturing Prisoners to Death Ignored by Corporate Media

A conspiracy of lies, manipulation and disinformation

At this time in history, it is incomprehensible how a nation can enjoy the benefit of the most sophisticated communications technology in world history and remain so uninformed ... or dumbed down. The policies being carried out by the US government that are destructive, both domestically and around the world, are being conducted under a veil of secrecy. The only possible way this dumbing down or control of information could occur is that it has been socially constructed. It is a conspiracy of lies, manipulation and disinformation which increasing numbers of Americans are aware of and should be calling it treason. — Leuren Morat, THE KISS OF DEATH — NUCLEAR WEAPONS STEALTH TAKEOVER

Censorship in Australia
Those Australians are such an amusing lot.  Can you believe — they allow their government to decide what they are allowed to read!  As if they were children!  Go here to find the details of eight books which are banned in Australia (and there are lots more than these eight).  If I were Australian I'd be pretty pissed off that someone, whether acting with the "authority" (ha!ha!) of the Australian government or not, would try to tell me what books I could or could not read.
The Australian government also bans films — can you believe it?  How pathetic!

Australian government bans Sydney Film Festival movie

Police block protest screening of banned film

The Australian Office of Film & Literature Classification, which is responsible for deciding which books and films should be banned, presents itself as

Huh? "Informing your Choices"!? A good example of government deception. If the Australian government bans a book or a film then Australians do not have an informed choice as to whether to read that book or see that film, they have no choice, because the government has already chosen to ban it. "Informing your Choices" here really means: "We (your rulers) will choose for you as to whether you should read this book or see this film. Leave it (kiddies) to us. We know what is best for you."
If you wish to read how the Australian government attempts to justify its role as censor then you can read their Publications Guidelines, which states:

The matters to be taken into account in making a decision on the classification of a publication include:
(a) the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults;

Who decides what "a reasonable adult" is? Who decides what these supposed "standards" are? That pathetic excuse for a prime minister, John Howard? Or perhaps some faceless bureaucrat with a psychological problem, afraid of anything which challenges his (or her) concept of "morality"? And these "standards" are then to be imposed upon everyone in Australian society.
Different people, all of them "reasonable adults", may have widely different interests and values. This is a clear case of "the tyranny of the majority" — or actually a tyranny of a minority, since in a pluralistic society no set of "standards" is likely to be those of anything but some minority of the population, which, by means of the Office of Film & Literature Classification, is then able to impose its "standards" on everyone else. So much for freedom in Australia.

Australian Senate Approves Net Censorship Plan
On 1999-05-26 the Australian Senate approved The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill to block information on the Internet. The Australian authorities seem to produce more than their fair share of stupidity. Is it something in the water over there? They do have a salinity problem.
Here is the GILC Member Statement opposing proposal. See also the EF Australia campaign pages.

A couple more instances of censorship in Australia:

More Media/Newspaper censorship of the truth in Victoria ... (a page on the site Banned Websites).

Richard Neville tries his hand as PM's speech writer

Increasingly governments are attempting to prevent public criticism of government policy, even when that criticism is based on scientific evidence. The Australian government is no exception.

Scientists bitter over interference
Minister denies gagging scientists

Censorship of Historian David Irving

Australian Government Denies Right of Expression
The Australian government has refused three times to grant a visa to historian David Irving. Some people in Australia (could they be Jews?) are afraid that if he visits Australia some Australians may hear him speak. With what consequences? Some might begin to think. Oh, horror!
In accordance with the principles of libertarianism enunciated by John Stuart Mill every person has a right to express themselves in public to any others who care to listen to them, provided only that that expression is not an incitement to violence. David Irving's claims that the number of Jews killed by the Nazis has been grossly exaggerated (see also Norman Finkelstein on The Holocaust Industry) is a historical claim, and clearly is not an incitement to violence. Therefore he has a right to speak. By denying him a visa the Australian government is denying him this right, in effect censoring his words before he even has a chance to utter them.
For further details about this matter see: Documents on Free Speech in Australia, and the country's Ban on David Irving
In late 2003 David Irving was finally granted permission to visit Australia to give public talks in defense of his views. (See http://www.focal.org/speaks/index.html for upcoming appearances.)
In November 2005 David Irving was arrested in Austria. See David Irving held in Austria for details.

Censorship in the United Kingdom

Not many know that in the UK they have the Official Secrets Act. By that Act, the London government has the power, throughout the UK, to order that certain subjects are absolutely forbidden to be discussed. Currently, the forbidden subject is any discussion of possible foul play in the death of Princess Diana and her intended husband Dodi Fayed.
Further than that, any discussion is forbidden about how the Official Secrets Act exactly works. When there is a subject that an editor, publisher, or station manager believes would be covered by the Official Secrets Act, they must immediately inform the London government. And if the London government issues what they call a "D Notice," then these media outlets throughout the UK are not only forbidden to go forward with any story that they're working on; but also, the D Notice serves as a potential seizure: it authorizes the UK, through their various operatives, to immediately seize and close down any printing plant that is in the process of printing such a story, any radio station, or any radio or TV transmitter. They are immediately seized by the London government, closed down, and the publisher, the editor, and the key personnel (including the writer of the story) are immediately put under arrest.
And the worst part of it is, the rest of the media is not even allowed to mention that these people have been arrested and their publishing and transmitting facilities seized. In other words, it is forbidden to discuss the D Notice and also forbidden to discuss the technical operation of the Official Secrets Act. So, there is censorship regarding the instruments of censorship.
— Sherman Skolnick: U.K., French, Journalists Confide: "PRINCESS DIANA WAS ASSASSINATED."

For more on this subject see: The D Notice
For more on what the British Establishment does not want you to think about see these other Diana web sites.
Other relevant documents:

"D" Notice Committee, which links to The D Notice System.

US Journalists operating under a "D-Notice?"

The D-notice apparently is used also in Australia.
Censorship is not only practised by governments and other organizations. Individuals in a position to affect what the public hears also sometimes attempt to suppress free speech. A recent example is the attempt to prevent David Icke from publicly expressing his views in Canada and in the U.K. regarding a conspiracy of reptilian aliens attempting to control the world. Weird, bizarre, yes. True? You decide. But you can do so (in an informed and intelligent manner) only if you are first permitted to hear what he has to say.

September 28, 2000
NEW VENUE FOR CANCELLED BIRMINGHAM EVENT
A new venue has been secured for the all-day talk by David Icke in Birmingham, England. It will now take place on Sunday, October 22nd [2000].
This follows the banning of David Icke by the local council from speaking at the original venue at Stourbridge Town Hall, where, ironically, he has spoken before with no problem. The difference this time, of course, is that a diatribe of abuse sent by Richard Warman of the Canadian "Greens" can make a council pull an event and deny the freedom of the people they are paid to represent from making their own choice.
— from David Icke's website

And, of course, the BBC practices censorship by suppressing or distorting news which is not to the liking of the UK and US governments. A good example is the way the BBC pussyfooted around the American use of white phosphorus (a chemical weapon when used against people) in the attack on Fallujah. For further information see:

William Bowles: The BBC's Big White (Phosphorus) Lie

And the way the BBC reports the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a textbook example of disinformation.

William Bowles: How the BBC hollows out the 'news'

The BBC's position is clear; all mention of Israel's illegal occupation, the overwhelming military power of Israel and the destruction it has wrought on the occupied territories is entirely absent.

It does the same for the Iraq War.

William Bowles: Media Misinformation Roundup: How the BBC and the Guardian transform torture into bad PR and "history" for the occupiers

The BBC does not primarily "report the news"; rather it attempts to control the minds of its listeners by spinning its reports and whitewashing the crimes of the US and the UK.

Censorship in Germany

German Prosecutors, In Clamp Down On Free Speech, Indict CompuServe Chief

Germany, 'World Champion' at Spying On Its Own Citizens, to Monitor Internet Usage

German Government Attempts Blockage of Netherlands Web Sites

The Dutch website http://www.xs4all.nl/, the subject of the third article, is again accessible by web surfers in Germany.

Publicly challenging Jewish "Holocaust" claims will lead to a prison sentence in most Western countries. And truth is no defense. The mere revealing of the lies and their machinations is deemed antiSemitic, you see. In fact, attempting to defend oneself against these charges in court, once one is charged in some countries, such as Germany, will result in fresh charges being filed. Yes, you read that last sentence correctly. Repeating the offensive statements in court is a separate offense! — Edgar J. Steele, The Truth Shall Make You Mad

Steele is not making this up. The lawyer of a person on trial in Germany for the "crime" of denying that six million Jews were killed during WW II cannot defend his client without himself being subject to prosecution under the same law. This is the case with the retrial of Frederick Toben. The judge in this case (Judge Adam) refuses to accept the defendant's choice of lawyer (Horst Mahler) but has ordered another lawyer (Michael Rosenthal) to act as defense lawyer. Mr Rosenthal has said that if forced to do so he would simply sit in the courtroom and say nothing, since to say anything in defense of his client would make him liable for prosecution.

German Authorities 'Index' Two IHR Leaflets
Civil Rights in Germany
Secularist Stupidity & Religious Wars
Ernst Zündel and the Zündel Heresy Trial

Censorship in France
In France one cannot express an opinion unless this opinion is permitted under French law, as illustrated by the case of Jean-Marie Le Pen's Notorious "Detail" Remark.

Censorship in Singapore
Singapore is a world leader (after China) in attempts to restrict freedom of expression of thought on the Internet.

Letter to ASEAN nations condemning Net decision

Singapore law restricts Internet

Net Censorship
In "Act Locally to Fight Net Censorship" Rich Burroughs interviews Jon Lebkowsky; an article from Cause for Alarm, May 1996.

If "act locally" becomes the net.activist's meme of choice in late 1996, it will be largely due to the efforts of Jon Lebkowsky, among others. ... Why is Lebkowsky all riled up? "The Exon bill, from which the CDA evolved, hit me pretty hard," he said. "I realized that ... repressive political groups were organizing effectively while progressives and civil libertarians were in disarray."

Jon Lebkowsky writes extensively on cyberculture and Internet censorship issues.

Virtual Bonfire: A Guide for Organizing Online

See also the links to his Cyberdawg Barking series at his web site and his review (mirrored here) of a film about Waco.
Another vocal defender of freedom of speech on the Internet is Declan McCullagh. Many of his articles are archived at the EFF "Declan McCullagh Publications" Archive. Notable among these is the article he wrote with Brock Meeks:

Keys to the Kingdom

This article, which won the top award for "Best Online Feature" from the Computer Press Association, exposes the hidden agendas of so-called blocking software programs. The CPA judges said that this article reveals:
that parental control software — which ostensibly filters out pornographic Internet sites — actually restricts access to all types of material both innocuous and important. Thus, software users unwittingly restrict their rights of free speech and access to information.

Censorware: A Post-CDA Solution?
Barry Steinhardt: Open letter to the Internet community concerning the recent White House "Summit" on Internet content rating and filtering.
ACLU white paper: Fahrenheit 451.2: Is Cyberspace Burning?
How Rating and Blocking Proposals May Torch Free Speech on the Internet
Blacklisted by Cyber Patrol
A report from The Censorware Project.
Jonathan Wallace: The X-Stop Files
"Self-proclaimed library-friendly product blocks Quakers, free speech and gay sites."
Jonathan Wallace: Congress' Censorware Boondoggle
Nancy Willard: Filtering Software: The Religious Connection

The delegation of responsibility for making decisions about the appropriateness of information for students to filtering companies when there is evidence of affiliations with conservative religious organizations that may be affecting blocking decisions and when there is no mechanism in place to ensure the constitutional rights of students to access information are protected raises significant concerns that must be addressed.

Censorship of Essay Against Genocide
One of the means whereby censorship occurs is the refusal by publishers to publish information and commentary which are embarrassing to the powers that be.  An example of this is the censorship of the essay against genocide written by John Bart Gerald.
I began submitting the essay in 1992. Through thirty-five years of submitting my writings for publication, and often of controversial material, I was never treated as badly. Submissions were returned unacknowledged, or with undated form letters, or "lost" requiring re-submission, or my submission was ignored until I telephoned and pressed for some response. Sequential submissions require a rapid reading for timely issues. Submissions to Harper's, for example, where my writings had previously appeared, took nearly eight months before the piece was rejected. Beyond my own chances to put food on the table, the shut out suggested a wider policy that would attempt to ignore the Convention on Genocide and its applicability to American actions.  — J. B. Gerald: Suppression of the Convention on Genocide: Personal Encounters

Illegal Information?

Stop Senate Bill 1428

Lycaeum's home page has been blackened in protest of legislation currently working its way through the US Senate. The Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act of 1999, led by Senators Hatch and Feinstein, would effectively end free speech on the Internet under the guise of protecting people from methamphetamine. Publishing drug information on the Internet would become a felony, punishable by up to ten years in federal prison. Simply linking to a web site containing drug information will also become a crime ... This is a misguided attempt to suppress the truth in a war where disinformation, censorship, and outright lies are too often the prohibitionists' main tools. If this bill becomes law, sites such as the Lycaeum and Erowid could disappear from the web entirely, and the door to further censorship on the Internet will be wide open. — http://web.archive.org/web/20001019094124/http://crystalmeth.amphetamine.com/

Operation Mockingbird

Mary Louise: Operation Mockingbird: CIA Media Manipulation

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the media is not only influenced by the CIA ..... the media is the CIA. Many Americans think of their supposedly free press as a watchdog on government, mainly because the press itself shamelessly promotes that myth. One of the first tenets for the control of a population is to control all sources of information the population receives and mostly because of the pervasive CIA and Operation Mockingbird, the mainstream American Press is a controlled multi-national corporate/government megaphone. They are up to their eyeballs in dirty deeds and there will never be an end to the corruption that prevails unless the CIA is abolished.

MOCKINGBIRD — The Subversion Of The Free Press By The CIA
"You could get a journalist cheaper than a good call girl, for a couple hundred dollars a month." — CIA operative discussing with Philip Graham, editor Washington Post, on the availability and prices of journalists willing to peddle CIA propaganda and cover stories.

Carl Bernstein: CIA AND THE MEDIA

Alex Constantine: Who Controls the Media? — The Subversion of The Free Press By The CIA  (Also here.)

Project Censored
Censorship has been present in the U.S.A. for quite a while, but of course the mainstream media do not report it (since they collaborate in it). Project Censored (at Sonoma State University) has for several years given publicity to news stories of great interest to the American public which, for some strange reason, don't seem to get much attention in the mainstream press. See, for example:
The top 25 censored news stories in 1998:

Top Censored Story: "SECRET INTERNATIONAL TRADE AGREEMENT UNDERMINES THE SOVEREIGNTY OF NATIONS"
Story #2: "CHEMICAL CORPORATIONS PROFIT OFF BREAST CANCER "
Story #3: "MONSANTO'S GENETICALLY MODIFIED SEEDS THREATEN WORLD PRODUCTION"
Story #4: "RECYCLED RADIOACTIVE METALS MAY BE IN YOUR HOME"
Story #5: "U. S. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION LINKED TO THE DEATHS OF A HALF A MILLION CHILDREN"
Story #6: "UNITED STATES NUCLEAR PROGRAM SUBVERTS U.N.'S COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY"
Story #7: "GENE TRANSFERS LINKED TO DANGEROUS NEW DISEASES"
Story #8: "NO MERCY FOR WOMEN AS CATHOLIC HOSPITAL MERGERS"
Story #9: "U. S. TAX DOLLARS SUPPORT DEATH SQUADS IN CHIAPAS"
Story #10: "ENVIRONMENTAL STUDENT ACTIVISTS GUNNED DOWN ON CHEVRON OIL FACILITY IN NIGERIA"

and The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003:

#1: The Neoconservative Plan for Global Dominance
#2: Homeland Security Threatens Civil Liberty
#3: US Illegally Removes Pages from Iraq U.N. Report
#4: Rumsfeld's Plan to Provoke Terrorists
#5: The Effort to Make Unions Disappear
#6: Closing Access to Information Technology
#7: Treaty Busting by the United States
#8: US/British Forces Continue Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons Despite Massive Evidence of Negative Health Effects
#9: In Afghanistan: Poverty, Women's Rights, and Civil Disruption Worse than Ever
#10: Africa Faces Threat of New Colonialism
#11: U.S. Implicated in Taliban Massacre
#12: Bush Administration Behind Failed Military Coup in Venezuela
#13: Corporate Personhood Challenged
#14: Unwanted Refugees a Global Problem
#15: U.S. Military's War on the Earth
#16: Plan Puebla-Panama and the FTAA
#17: Clear Channel Monopoly Draws Criticism
#18: Charter Forest Proposal Threatens Access to Public Lands
#19: U.S. Dollar vs. the Euro: Another Reason for the Invasion of Iraq
#20: Pentagon Increases Private Military Contracts
#21: Third World Austerity Policies: Coming Soon to a City Near You
#22: Welfare Reform Up For Reauthorization, but Still No Safety Net
#23: Argentina Crisis Sparks Cooperative Growth
#24: Aid to Israel Fuels Repressive Occupation in Palestine
#25: Convicted Corporations Receive Perks Instead of Punishment

For information about books which were banned (perhaps some still are) but which are now available online see:

BANNED BOOKS ON-LINE

Sex, Laws and Cyberspace
This is a low volume mailing list concerning free speech issues in cyberspace. It is produced by Jonathan Wallace and Mark Mangan, the authors of Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace (Holt, 1996) and the CDA pages.
To subscribe send email to Jonathan Wallace, [email-masked].

Cybersitter Blocks The Ethical Spectacle
Be Careful Where You Link
"Metaphor" Brief to the Supreme Court
A briefing paper pertaining to the purchase of blocking software by public libraries
Reno v. ACLU hearing
Why Americans Don't Care About Freedom of Speech
We Won the CDA Case!

See also Jonathan Wallace's analysis of the CDA decision:

EXTINGUISHING THE CDA FIRE:
The Supreme Court's Masterful Reno v. ACLU Opinion

The CIA and the Attempted
Suppression of "The Crimes of Mena"

The CIA has an active censorship program. See:

Carl Bernstein: The CIA and the Media

An attempt was made to suppress the publication in the Washington Post of an article by Sally Denton and Roger Morris called "The Crimes of Mena". This article concerned a CIA agent by the name of Barry Seal who was murdered in 1986 by agents of the Medellin drug cartel. Seal smuggled tons of cocaine into Mena, Arkansas, and had close links to the CIA. Someone did not want this story published.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Arkansas Drug Exposé Misses the Post

Sally Denton and Roger Morris: About "The Crimes of Mena"

The attempt at suppression of this article did not succeed — indeed it simply drew more attention to it. It was published in Penthouse magazine, and it is now available here on Serendipity:

Sally Denton and Roger Morris: The Crimes of Mena

The Fight Censorship Mailing List
This is a mailing list maintained by Declan McCullagh. The following appeared in June 1997 in a discussion of a sensationalist anti-net article in the New York Times:

Very few 'pro internet' stories deal with the REAL benefits of the Internet
— the breakup of the media monopoly, the 'everyone is a reader, everyone
is a writer' concept, the building of communities of interest rather than
coincidence. We all know about children meeting Evil Predators on the net
— why not stories about children meeting mentors, teachers, or counselors?
Rather than "My wife left me for her cyberlover!", why not "I met my wife
thanks to our shared interest in barbed-wire collecting"?

Let's look at that drug story. Why not write it like this?
====================================================
"After decades of getting only one side of the story from teachers,
government, and a lapdog media, teenagers are now able to easily access
both pro- and anti- drug information on the Internet, and chat with each
other about their drug experiences in secure anonymity, permitting them to
make up their own minds on this complex issue.

Because Internet access is so inexpensive, people do not need the support
of advertisers or subscribers to post any information they wish — so views
outside the mainstream, which would never be aired in traditional forums,
can reach anyone with a modem, anywhere in the world. Further, the
interactive nature of the net makes it easy for people on all sides of a
debate to fire off points and counterpoints, so that the audience (who can
become participants at will) can make up their own minds, ask questions,
and raise issues that neither side might choose to raise on their own.

"It's wonderful for kids", says Mr. Fictional, teacher at Utopia Public
School. "We don't want them to 'Say No to Drugs' out of fear or ignorance,
but out of a reasoned understanding of the harm drugs can do to them — and
that means they need to get the facts, not a lot of scare tactics. The
government would never let us teach the 'straight dope', if you will, but
we can turn kids on to the net and let them learn for themselves."
====================================================

There. There's all the "facts" — but a very different spin, no?

To join the Fight Censorship mailing list send "subscribe fight-censorship-announce" to [email-masked]. More information is at http://www.eff.org/~declan/fc/.

The Decense Project
Attempts at censorship prompt resistance to this infringement of a basic human right. The net runs on software as well as hardware, and there are some talented programmers around.

Welcome to The Decense Project

Freedom of Information
This is a large topic. Searching the web with Altavista or some other search tool will turn up lots of material on this subject. Here we mention only:

1996 CIA FOIA Case Log Highlights

Japan-US-FOI

Pastor Niemöller Quote
The following is reproduced here because of its relevance to this critical moment in history. This is adapted from a statement by a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps (Pastor Martin Niemöller).

First they came for the hackers.
But I never did anything illegal with my computer, so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for the pornographers.
But I thought there was too much smut on the Internet anyway, so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for the anonymous remailers.
But a lot of nasty stuff gets sent from anon.penet.fi, so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for the encryption users.
But I could never figure out how to work PGP anyway, so I didn't speak up.

Then they came for me.
And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

— Alara Rogers, Aleph Press

In September 1996 anon.penet.fi ceased operations (as a result of attempts by the Scientology organization to force the operator to reveal the identity of people who had posted anonymously certain documents concerning that organization).

Censorship and the "War on Terrorism"
In response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon President George W. Bush announced a "war on terrorism" and told the American people that they have to sacrifice their civil liberties in support of his "war", which most people seem willing, sheep-like, to do. A tidal wave of jingoism has engulfed the U.S., and any criticism of the President or the U.S. is deemed "unpatriotic" and is often punished by loss of employment.
But a war requires an identifiable enemy.  A war is a war between two or more opposing sides.  A "war" in which one side is invisible, such as this "war on terrorism", is a fantasy — a pretext to restrict civil liberties, to impose censorship and to engage in other activities not acceptable in a democratic society in peacetime.

David Cole: A Matter of Rights

James Bacque: History and Forgetting

John Pilger: War for Truth

Dwight F. Reynolds: Which War Are You Watching? — The View from Spain

America no longer has a "free press" in the true meaning of the term, for in America one is not free to express criticism of the war or of the Bush regime.

Mary Louise: Operation Mockingbird: CIA Media Manipulation

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the media is not only influenced by the CIA ..... the media is the CIA. Many Americans think of their supposedly free press as a watchdog on government, mainly because the press itself shamelessly promotes that myth. One of the first tenets for the control of a population is to control all sources of information the population receives and mostly because of the pervasive CIA and Operation Mockingbird, the mainstream American Press is a controlled multi-national corporate/government megaphone. They are up to their eyeballs in dirty deeds and there will never be an end to the corruption that prevails unless the CIA is abolished.

Index on Censorship

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