With politicians — most notably our current President — using social media to communicate directly to the world, the question is now being asked whether a lawmaker is violating the First Amendment when they actively block people from following them online. One federal court has chimed in, finding that a politician in Virginia crossed the line when she temporarily banned a constituent from commenting on her Facebook page. [More]
censorship
Former FCC Commissioner Uses Terror Attacks To Make Worst-Ever Argument Against Net Neutrality
By 5.31.17
There are many misleading, questionable, and frankly just plain bad arguments against net neutrality out there these days, but a former FCC commissioner may have outdone them all for pure inanity, somehow blaming the push for an open internet for global terrorism. [More]
Twitter’s Mobile Update Will Keep You Safe From All The Naked People
By 7.18.13
Perhaps the reflex that causes you to clap your hands over your eyes when you see a naked body part is not so quick, but hush now, don’t worry – Twitter’s mobile version will keep your eyes pure. A new update for iOS and Android has a block in place that filters out questionable content inside of tweets, politely informing you before you view it that you might not want to see what’s coming next. [More]
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Your Review Isn’t Really About The Product? Don’t Whine When It’s Rejected
By 6.11.13
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 Reveals What Kinds Of Stuff Governments Asked It To Remove Last Year
By 6.18.12
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's Decision To Block Content In Specific Countries Sparks Protests From Users
By 1.27.12
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 Bans Cheerleaders From Wearing Breast Cancer Awareness Shirts
By 10.14.11
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 Apologizes For Accidentally Blocking Protest Emails
By 9.21.11
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]
Words You're Not Allowed To Type While Playing Mortal Kombat
By 5.2.11
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 Deletes "Gay Cure" App From App Store
By 3.24.11
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]
Censorship Shrink Ray Takes Racial Epithet Out Of Huck Finn
By 1.5.11
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]
BP Oil Spill More Like 12,000-19,000 Barrels Per Day
By 5.28.10
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 Woman In Charge Of Making Sure You Are Not Offended By Movie Posters
By 4.23.10
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]
Go Daddy Leaves China Over Censorship, Privacy Concerns
By 3.26.10
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 Angles To Make Its Apps Less Sexy
By 2.22.10
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]
Nexus One @%&#! Censors Voice-To-Text Messages
By 1.26.10
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 Lifts 4Chan Block, Was To Stop DDos Attacks
By 7.27.09
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:
