Tag Archives: censorship

Jonathan Russell

The Independent View: Positively fighting back online

By Jonathan Russell | Mon 26th May 2014 - 11:07 am

Circuit Bending Orchestra: Lara Grant at Diana Eng's Fairytale FWith the seemingly endless news of global and domestic extremism –  whether about the 250 girls kidnapped in Nigeria, the 500 Britons reportedly waging jihad in Syria, or the worrying allegations made against several Birmingham schools – it is rare that a report devoted to countering extremism should fill us with positivity. However, research released last week by Quilliam about the state of online extremism should encourage us all, not …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Erin Marie Saltman

The Independent View: Censorship is not the way forward in countering online extremism

By Erin Marie Saltman | Sun 16th February 2014 - 9:00 am

Earlier this month, the Government reiterated its intent to censor online extremist content through ISP filtering systems. This has largely been in reaction to fears over radical jihadi videos coming from Syria and has been heightened due to recent estimates of 2,000 European fighters travelling to Syria. There is particular concern over the influence foreign fighters may have on the young and impressionable upon their return to their countries of origin.

Though well-intentioned, government-controlled filtering is problematic for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it raises big questions about what can be deemed ‘extremist’ in theory. Secondly, current filtering technology …

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Jim Killock

Independent View: Website blocking should not be on the cards

By Jim Killock | Mon 28th March 2011 - 3:15 pm

Lib Dems are wisely taking a detailed look at whether website blocking would lead to excessive legal claims and censorship of legitimate material, or if it could be employed to reduce copyright infringement.

Ofcom, too, has been asked to look at whether the policy is “practical”. We at Open Rights Group met them to say: no it isn’t. And the collateral damage to people’s rights is likely to be very high.

As it stands, copyright holders can already go to Court to ask for websites to be blocked, as the result of previous lobbying. But they don’t use this legal

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Film censorship “in chaos”, says Foster

By Stephen Tall | Tue 25th August 2009 - 9:05 am

As the BBC reports:

Retailers who sell violent video games and 18-rated DVDs to children cannot be prosecuted because of a legal blunder 25 years ago. Dozens of prosecutions under a 1984 Act have been dropped because the government of the day failed to notify the European Commission about the law. But previous prosecutions will stand, according to the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS).

Lib Dem shadow culture, media and sport secretary Don Foster was quick to react to the news:

The Conservative’s incompetence when they were in Government has made laws designed to prevent video piracy and protect

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 6 Comments
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