Showing posts with label Censorship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Censorship. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

China Pulls "Avatar" from Cinemas Claiming the Plot Mirrors Land Evictions

China axes 2D Avatar from Cinemas
via BBC News

China has pulled the 2D version of Avatar from cinemas amid claims the plot mirrors forced land evictions in the country.

Authorities insist the decision was a commercial one, saying the 3D version made up two-thirds of ticket revenues.

Critics claim the film's plot parallels the removal of millions of residents to make way for property developers.

The government has also denied reports that a decision was made to reduce competition for home-grown films.  They include a state-backed biopic of philosopher Confucius, starring Chow Yun-fat, which is due out next week.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Monday, June 29, 2009

Doubledown Tandino's Diggs of the Week - Australia Gaming and Net Censorship? - June 2009

Australia to Begin Filtering Online Games incl Second Life

escapistmagazine.com — Australia plans to filter internet sites offering games and online gaming content that exceed the MA15+ age rating, including downloadable and Flash games as well as sites that sell retail games online.


Australia to Ban Second Life? | Dusan Writer’s Metaverse

dusanwriter.com — According to the Inquisitr, new laws in Australia will mean that Second Life is banned on that continent. Thoughts, comments, discussions with Dusan and members of the virtual worlds.


Australia Govt to block websites offering banned games.

gamespot.com —
Australian gamers are probably well aware of their country's strict games classification system, with the lack of an R18+ rating meaning any title not fitting under the MA15+ rating is automatically banned from sale down under. This means it is illegal to sell a game which has been refused classification in Australia.


Australia to Block Online Access to Games with 15+ Content

gamepolitics.com —
Australia's federal government said yesterday that it plans to block access to websites which host and sell games with content edgier than what is allowable under an MA-15+ rating. The unprecedented censorship policy will apply to Australians of all ages.


Australian network filtering promises to block Online Games

massively.com —
Australian Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, has promised to extend Australia's proposed network-level content filtering regime to block games, online games, downloadable games, and websites that sell or allow download of games that are deemed not to be suitable for a 15-year-old audience.


Australia: Bans, Filters and Government 2.0 Taskforce

laurelpapworth.com —
with regards to online games, some are boxed (closed systems such as Grand Theft Auto), some are box and server (multiplayer such as World of Warcraft) and some are downloadable clients or simply web based clients to a hosted server (Second Life, Habbo).


Who is Responsible for Assuring Freedoms in Virtual Worlds

metanomics.net —
Recent developments in a discussion regarding human rights on the web are forcing the consideration of a complex set of issues related to virtual worlds.


Net filtering and virtual worlds: reactions

metaversejournal.com — After last night’s story on the Australian Government’s internet content filtering legislation and its potential impact on virtual worlds, the response has been astounding. Today has seen the largest ever traffic on The Metaverse Journal. Like any issue, there are a few camps of thought:


** NO CLEAN FEED | Stop Internet Censorship in Australia

nocleanfeed.com — The Australian Federal Government is pushing forward with a plan to force Internet Service Providers [ISPs] to censor the Internet for all Australians. This plan will waste tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and slow down Internet access.


Rumors of Australian Second Life Censorship Seem Rumurish

nwn.blogs.com — Over the last 24 hours I've been peppered with links as here and here which seem to suggest the Australian government is imminently planning to block access to Second Life from that country. It has to do with a recent Aussie Communication Ministry proposal to filter the online distribution of computer games not rated acceptable for teen play.


Second Life Banned in Australia? Not So Fast...

gamepolitics.com — As GamePolitics reported last week, the Australian government is moving to block online access to games containing content which would exceed the country's MA-15+ rating. The proposed filtering scheme would affect online retailers selling such games as well as games played online such as MMOs.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Doubledown Tandino's Diggs of the Week - Iran Election & Social Media - June 2009-3

This past week's news was filled with Iran election & revolution coverage (or lack there of). We also witnessed a revolution in social media.

I pulled several interesting article links from the past week. These articles are about the massive role social media played rather than news about Iran:

#IranElection Crisis: A Social Media Timeline - One of the striking aspects of the #IranElection crisis has been the heavy use of social media. Iranians have relied on it to spread information on protests and to communicate their situation to millions of concerned people worldwide.

How (Twitter and) I* Crashed Iran's Propaganda Web Sites - A top new-media activist looks back on his role in the Twitterati's rise to power this week — and why it didn't stop Ahmadinejad's. *"I" is Josh Koster , Raph Koster's brother.

What the World Didn't See in Tehran - Iranian state television yesterday broadcast the soap operas and covered the news about Rafael Nadal's withdrawal from Wimbledon and Pakistani operations against the Taliban as if they were the most important stories of the day...

Tools to Undo Censorship in Iran and China. USE THEM - Web censorship has once again become a huge issue, due to two unrelated events: China’s Internet blockade due to the anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, and more recently, the controversial Iran elections which have resulted in new oppressive measures, implemented by the current country leaders, to shut down free speech in the country.

Iran, Twitter, and The American Information Elite - Over the weekend, Iran hurtled into political upheaval, and America's 24-hour cable news networks hardly noticed. Mark Ambinder explains the role Twitter played in Iran.