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We often receive complaints from readers who have totally legitimate gripes about shipping or customer service issues at retailers, both online and in real life. Unfortunately, they chose to share these complaints with the world by writing about them in the retailer’s product reviews. The problem with this plan is that companies control which reviews are and aren’t posted. If they don’t post yours, it’s not because they hate free speech: it’s because you didn’t follow the directions. [More]
Google might have complied with some governments’ requests to remove content, but the subject matter of those censored pieces has been revealed in the company’s latest transparency report. Also included in the report were demands from countries to turn over information about Google users. [More]
Twitter announced yesterday that they’ll be enforcing a new policy that will allow for reactive blocking of content on a country-by-country basis, and already today some users are vowing to stop using the social media site on Saturday in protest. [More]
High school cheerleaders in Gilbert, Ariz. aren’t allowed to wear shirts meant to boost breast cancer awareness that read “Feel for Lumps, Save Your Bumps.” Administrators call the slogan objectionable and have banned the girls from wearing the shirts at football games. [More]
Yahoo email users complained that the system blocked messages about a Wall Street protest, accusing the company of censorship. Via Twitter, Yahoo says that there was no intentional censorship and the blockage was due to an unintentional spam filter setting that has now been fixed. [More]
Gamers who play Mortal Kombat can communicate online via text chat, but the game prevents you from using certain words and phrases. While it’s common for developers to restrict certain vulgarities, what’s unusual about this case is hackers have apparently exposed what exactly these words are. [More]
Apple pulled a homophobic app from the App Store, but only after tens of thousands of people signed a petition asking it to do so. The app in question was meant to “cure” people of homosexuality. A religious group is responsible for the app, which reportedly used biblical teachings to attempt its goal. [More]
A publisher is releasing a new version of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, excising the “n” word from the text. The move comes as a reaction to censorship-minded public schools, which have methodically banished the book from English curriculum. [More]
First BP told us 1,000, then 5,000, and now a joint federal and independent research task force estimates that 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil were spewing into the Gulf since the crisis began, NYT reports. If the numbers are right, then we’re talking about as much as 30 million gallons. That would be more than 3x the amount from the Valdez disaster. [More]
The NYT takes us behind the scenes of the endless nitpicking that goes on before a movie poster can be shown to the easily-offended public. Meet Marilyn Gordon. She is in charge of a team whose goal is to make sure you, the public, are not offended. [More]
GoDaddy.com, of the annoying Danica Patrick commercials, has announced that it will no longer sell .cn domain names. Why? It is not willing to comply with new rules from the Chinese government which requires domain holders to provide photo ID, says Wired. [More]
Apple is bent on preventing its App Store from becoming a cesspool of pornography, according to a TechCrunch post, which says Apple’s rules are a bit constrictive, banning tight clothing and bathing suits as well as nudity. [More]
Early adopters of Google’s Nexus One phone can’t catch a break. First, some overpaid. Then customers reported iffy 3G. And at least one had problems getting a dead phone replaced. It’s enough to make you scream obscenities at your phone. Don’t bother. Google has included an odd feature as part of the phone’s voice-to-text function: When it transcribes speech, it automatically censors any curse words you utter. F*&k!
AT&T released a statement about their temporary blocking this weekend of troll haven 4chan for its customers. The company said the temporary block was to stop DDos attacks on one customer emanating from IP addresses associated with the site. After the threat was over, the block was lifted. Here’s the official release:
UPDATE: AT&T has a statement. They said the temporary block was to stop DDos attacks from IP addresses associated with img.4chan.org. After the threat was over, they lifted the block.
Bad news for those of you planning a trip to “Love Land“, China’s first sex theme park: it’s been demolished before it could even open. Now the only giant balls the locals will see are government-administered wrecking balls.
NIN front man Trent Reznor is angry at Apple for rejecting the new Nine Inch Nails iPhone app update because it contains “objectionable content.” The objectionable content referenced is the song ‘The Downward Spiral,’ which you can buy on iTunes. Reznor posted the rejection letter on NIN’s forums, and then launched into a rant about censorship — comparing Apple to Walmart. (NSFW language inside)
