Censorship

(Newser) - With spam running rampant across the net, in-boxes have become heavily armed fortresses against the unsolicited hordes. Unfortunately, we’ve overdone it, writes James McGrath Morris in the Washington Post . Morris recently discovered that spam filters would gobble up the latest issue of his newsletter, the Biographer’s Craft, because of references to "young adult" books, "hot" authors, and “nasty” lawsuits. More »

(Newser) - China's government-owned music monopoly has told record stores not to waste their time trying to order the first new Guns N' Roses album in 17 years, the Wall Street Journal reports. Officials say the title alone— Chinese Democracy —would probably be enough to doom it, but a reference to the banned Falun Gong movement finishes the job. More »

(Newser) - The Obama campaign has kicked reporters from the New York Post, Washington Times, and Dallas Morning News off its campaign plane, and as the Drudge Report was quick to note, all three papers endorsed McCain. An Obama spokesman confirmed the report, but said it was not politically motivated, noting that Fox News has retained its spot. More »

(Newser) - Parwez Kambakhsh won’t be executed for distributing literature on women’s rights, but the student and part-time journalist will spend the next 20 years in prison, an Afghan appeals court ruled yesterday. “This is arguably worse for him,” one human-rights advocate told the Los Angeles Times of the 24-year-old’s death sentence for blasphemy being reduced, noting the influence of radical Islam on the country’s “kangaroo-court justice.” More »

(Newser) - China has resumed a strict crackdown on Internet users less than two months after the Olympic Games, ending the more relaxed regulations that accompanied the international spotlight, reports the Times of London. All visitors to Internet cafes in Beijing will be required to have their photograph taken, reports the Times of London. All photos and identity cards will be scanned into a database maintained by China's Cultural Law Enforcement Task Force. More »

(Newser) - It’s no secret that China is moving into position as a global superpower, writes James Fallows in the Atlantic , and this only further highlights its leaders’ baffling inability to understand how the country is viewed from the outside—and how to change those opinions for the better. Officials just don’t understand “the crass value of cultivating the press,” he writes. More »

(Newser) - Sarah Palin’s inquiries into book-banning were hypothetical and entirely appropriate, a McCain campaign spokesman said today, trying to clamp down on the growing online controversy. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin on three occasions asked the head of the library if she’d have a problem with banning books. The librarian said she would, and Palin soon fired her, saying she didn’t feel she had her “full support.” More »

(Newser) - This year's Olympic opening ceremonies, perhaps the most watched television event in history, were a huge programming coup for CCTV, one of the main propaganda conduits for the Chinese government. CCTV has a larger audience than every major TV station in the US and Europe combined, writes the New York Times . And global companies seeking Chinese customers are beginning to take notice. More »

(Newser) - The Rev. Patrick Mahoney posed for pictures during his interrogation in Beijing—half of it, anyway. Over 7 hours, police ran a classic good cop/bad cop routine on Mahoney, who had unfurled a “Jesus Christ is King” banner in Tiananmen Square, he tells the Washington Post. "They wanted to document our treatment," says Mahoney. More »

(Newser) - As the Beijing Games draw near, journalists are worrying about the Chinese government's handling of a swarm of international reporters in an otherwise heavily censored society. Der Spiegel compiles commentaries from varying German sources, all of which agree that the decision to award China the 2008 Olympics was misguided at best. More »

(Newser) - Facing pressure from the Olympics, Beijing lowered its so-called Great Firewall today to allow access to some news and human rights websites, Time reports. But other sites—like those supporting Tibetan independence or the outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong—remain off-limits in China. And "everyone knows that the minute the circus is over, the walls will be put straight up again," one Chinese scholar said. More »

(Newser) - Ten days ahead of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony, Amnesty International charged that China hasn’t welched on promises of freedom for activists and journalists it made when it was awarded the Games. “The Chinese authorities are tarnishing the legacy of the Games,” said a rep who called for the release of “imprisoned peaceful activists” and a path to ending the death penalty, Bloomberg reports. More »

(Newser) - A Paris publisher has launched a high-profile crusade to legalize an increasingly popular crime: the insulting of public officials, the London Times reports. After being fined €150 for calling a cop a connard —or stupid bastard—Jean-Jacques Reboux got even angrier, and accused civil servants of abusing the law to make money. "It's like something from the ancien régime," Reboux said. More »

(Newser) - NBC paid a record $900 million to cover the Beijing Olympics, but it and other networks are already nervous about how much Chinese officials will actually allow them to cover, reports the New York Times . If political protests erupt, networks will also face the dilemma of covering them and angering the Chinese—or ignoring them and facing charges of censorship from the West. Reporters are already facing intimidation and harassment. More »

(Newser) - Entertainers deemed a threat to China’s sovereignty will not be allowed to perform in the country, the New York Times reports. The Ministry of Culture warned it will conduct background checks and ban those who “advocate obscenity or feudalism and superstition” or "take part in activities that harm our nation’s sovereignty." The ban is the newest in a string of policies aimed at curbing political dissent prior to the Beijing Olympics in August. More »

(Newser) - "Teenagers have constitutional rights." That shouldn’t be controversial, but several schools are in court arguing that the First Amendment doesn't apply to students, writes Frank LoMonte in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer . Morse v. Frederick set a precedent last year, when Supreme Court judges ruled that students could be punished for a “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” banner—even though it was off school grounds. More »