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Censorship

censorship

China Had Better Turn Off Its Firewall During the Olympics, Or Else

With the Olympics coming up, the pressure is mounting on China to turn off its countrywide firewall so journalists can cover the games uninhibited. While it's a part of the "host city contract" that Beijing agreed to when accepting its role as host of the games, whether or not China will actually follow through has come into doubt with recent censorship surrounding China's human rights abuses in Tibet. Oh, and, uh, Mr. T doesn't approve of censorship or human rights abuses. Fool. Am I doing this right? [Reuters]

censorship

Japan's Highest Digital Porn Censor Arrested For Not Censoring Enough Hoohas

If you've ever seen any Japanese porn at all, you know that the good stuff is usually censored. The man in charge of censoring these hairy body parts, Katsumi Ono, plus four other adult business colleagues, were just arrested for allowing 13,000 copies of movies into the marketplace that weren't completely mosaicked. The "two DVDs in question did not sufficiently hide the on-screen action," which means these are the best two movies to come out of Japan in our lifetime. [Variety via Fleshbot (NSFW!)]

security

Ang Lee's "Lust" Spreads Sexually Transmitted PC Virus

People who didn't want to settle for the sanitized version of Ang Lee's Lust, Caution turned to the dirtier illegal download, and ended up in need of a shot of virtual penicillin. Chinese censors chopped about 30 minutes of the old hot-n-heavy out of the movie, increasing demand for a pirated copy showing the American cut. But hackers have replaced many copies of the film with bundles of malicious software causing everything from BSOD to password theft. It's known as Trojan.Win32.Mnless.zgw, though InfoWorld and others prefer "the Lust virus." At last count, about 15 of Lust downloads were poised to zap systems. Question: what's the downside for censors or the piracy-fearing MPAA? Answer: there is none. [InfoWorld]

agendas

AT&T May Have Censored Bands' Political Speech in the Past

While AT&T claimed to be just as outraged as we were over their censoring of Pearl Jam's anti-Bush lyrics during their Lollapallooza stream, they might not be being all that honest. They claim that it was a one-time mistake made by an outsourced company. Really? According to Wired's Listening Post, concerts streamed on the Blue Room by The Flaming Lips and the John Butler Trio have also been censored for political reasons. If true, this action coupled with past allegations aimed at AT&T suggests an unnerving pro-Bush political agenda from one of America's biggest telecoms. More »

evil, pure evil

AT&T Censors Pearl Jam's Anti-Bush Lyrics During Live Webcast

AT&T did a live stream of Lollapalooza in their Blue Room broadband portal, and apparently, during Pearl Jam's set (Pearl Jam? Lollapalooza? What is this, 1992?), they censored some anti-Bush lyrics from their songs. Boy, that sure is great to see, isn't it? Thanks for deciding what we should and shouldn't see, AT&T. You're really trying to live up to that "worst company around" title, aren't you? Pearl Jam issued a really articulate statement on the subject via their website that we happen to agree with wholeheartedly. [Update: AT&T responds, stating that an outsourced company was the culprit. Statement included after Pearl Jam's.] More »

war on terra

U.S. Government Might Want to Censor Google Earth

We've already seen some countries get uncomfortable with Google Earth's satellite images. You know, countries like Pakistan and North Korea. Well, it seems like a government closer to home might want Google to tone it down a bit: the U.S. government. More »

sony

Sony Won't Allow Profanity, Sex at Your Own Home's Home

While our brothers-in-arms at Kotaku seem to only care about gardens, neighbourhoods and doing "cute little waves" with their Sixaxis in Sony's upcoming PlayStation Home, here in Gizmodo we only care about one: sex the naughty bits. Apparently, Sony has decided to actively monitor public spaces for profanity and "inappropriate behaviour". And while they won't be policing private areas, they are going to enforce those "inappropriate behaviour" rules there too, following any complaints they may receive from users. More »

cellphones

Verizon To Censor YouTube For Cellphones

Watching YouTube videos on your Verizon Wireless cellphone will cost $15 per month, according to the New York Times. The deal is expected to be officially announced later today and launch next month but it's important to note that you won't be paying $15 per month for the YouTube you know and love. Nope, the video service will be a part of V Cast, Verizon's multimedia hub, and won't be a replication of the content you get on the actual YouTube Web site. More »

home entertainment

Federal Judge: Sanitizing Movies is Illegal

We Gizmodians like our gadgets shiny and our movies uncut, but lots of folks want to censor movies, cutting them up the way they see fit. But a federal judge in Colorado sided with the Directors Guild of America, saying no, third parties can't edit and then re-release movies with the naughty words removed. He chewed up and spit out prude-infested companies such as CleanFlicks, CleanFilms and Family Flix USA, telling them they can't sell or rent these "cleaned-up" movies any more. More »