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I realize I’ve been considering censorship from the wrong end: I’ve been thinking of censorship as the act of either a government or a large corporation to suppress speech of individuals. Censorship, however, operates on a much smaller level than that as well – it operates at the organizational level, where “the boss” silences expression which is not in line with the norms of the group. This was within an email exchange, wherein they told me they were “shocked” that I’d post recordings of our choir performances when I’d been told that the musician’s union prohibited such recordings (they record the performances themselves – I’ve seen them do so – but apparently it’s against the rules for anyone else to do so). We’ll not go into how 1) there IS no content posted by me at this moment, nor 2) the fact that search engines cache all sorts of things – those are mere details, and aren’t really what’s made me consider this as censorship operating on a micro scale, as opposed to that imposed by governments or media companies.

We tend to think about censorship in very broad strokes, but it’s far more ubiquitous than we realize. It’s an issue of power, and control, and authority. It’s about silencing those who are not just the minority voices, but about silencing those who have less power within whatever perceived power structure that is in place. It’s about maintaining the status quo, really. It’s social control at its most crass and medieval.

There are intersections, in this case, with copyright … which I’m not going to examine right now. I’m still angry about the idea that I’m being subjected to censorship – that my voice can be threatened by someone. I do not give in to this type of thing as there is NO LEGAL BASIS FOR SUPPRESSING MY VOICE (or my recordings). But the social creature says to give in to the voice of authority, and that there is an implicit threat in being told to do something by someone who has set themself up as someone “in charge.” That threat – that exercise of control – is what censorship is about. It’s not just about the silencing of voices – that’s just the end result. It is exercising control over other beings whom one imagines to be somehow inferior, and that is why I resist it so furiously.

Censorship:

1. March 12: World Day Against Cyber-Censorship    12 March 2012, 10:14 am
2. PayPal Announces New Speech-Friendly Policy for Online Book Sales    13 March 2012, 2:59 pm
3. Companies Respond to Pakistan’s National Censorship Proposal    13 March 2012, 3:37 pm
4. E. B. White on the Free Press    15 March 2012, 5:22 am
5. Santorum Pledges Pornography Blackout Using Lawsuits & SOPA-style ISP Filtering    16 March 2012, 6:03 am
6. Carnegie Mellon Performs First Large-Scale Analysis of “Soft” Censorship of Social Media in China    18 March 2012, 2:10 pm
7. Dangerously Vague Cybersecurity Legislation Threatens Civil Liberties    20 March 2012, 2:42 pm
8. Blogger URL Changes – How Will it Affect You?

The final link in here is about something you’d only notice if you were outside the us: that anything ending in “blogspot.com” has now changed to “blogspot.co.uk” (if you’re in the UK) or something similar. Why is this? So that Google can better censor the blog in question. Now, to me, the concept is a no-brainer: make the country who doesn’t like the content do its own work, or make it block the entire domain. For Google, though, this is a question of revenue (so much for not being evil): if they can selectively censor things, then at least some of their hosted content (and ads) will get through to the censoring country. So, welcome to it, folks: your blogspot.com blog now exists in who knows what form, in other countries, because Google has decided to be … evil.

Comics:

1. wanna play afghanistan    17 March 2012, 1:00 am

Copyright / Patent:

1. Court Declares Newspaper Excerpt on Online Forum is a Non-Infringing Fair Use    10 March 2012, 3:39 pm
2. Beset by online surveillance and content filtering, netizens fight on    11 March 2012, 5:00 pm
3. JSON.org License Literally Says it “shall be used for Good, not Evil”    12 March 2012, 6:32 am
4. Publishers Mount Strategies to Target E-Book Pirates    13 March 2012, 3:50 am
5. Yahoo! sues Facebook over patent infringement    13 March 2012, 11:16 am
6. Judge Orders Failed Copyright Troll to Forfeit ‘All’ Copyrights    13 March 2012, 1:56 pm
7. EFF Backs ISPs in Battle to Quash Copyright Troll Subpoenas    13 March 2012, 4:02 pm
8. Company Threatens to Sue Public Intelligence Over Trademark It Doesn’t Even Own    15 March 2012, 3:54 am
9. Copyright wars heat up: US wins extradition of college kid from England    15 March 2012, 5:14 am
10. The 10 patents Yahoo is using to sue Facebook (and what they really mean)    15 March 2012, 5:17 am
11. Megaupload had a ‘large number’ of users from DOJ and U.S. Senate    15 March 2012, 5:46 am
12. Tech Industry Scorns Yahoo Over Facebook Patent Suit    16 March 2012, 9:22 pm
13. Megaupload Seizure Order “Null and Void” Says High Court    19 March 2012, 10:05 am
14. Police made ‘errors’ during raid on Megaupload boss    19 March 2012, 10:26 am
15. Imminent “six strikes” Copyright Alert System needs antitrust scrutiny    19 March 2012, 10:35 am
16. Copyright Treaty Requires Congressional Support, Senator Says    20 March 2012, 2:12 pm
17. The Supreme Court Gets it Right: No Patents on Laws of Nature    21 March 2012, 8:01 am
18. MPAA Wants Megaupload User Data Retained for Lawsuits — Updated    21 March 2012, 10:40 am
19. Graduated Response Deal Steamrollers On Towards July 1 Launch    21 March 2012, 5:58 pm
20. Pirate Bay plans to build aerial server drones with $35 Linux computer    22 March 2012, 12:38 pm
21. Storing 25 petabytes of Megaupload data costs us $9,000 a day    22 March 2012, 12:50 pm

Education:

1. CRA Issues Consensus Paper on Postdoctoral Fellowships    18 March 2012, 2:10 pm
2. The Stanford Education Experiment Could Change Higher Learning Forever    20 March 2012, 6:34 pm
3. Should business students pay more tuition than philosophy majors?

Gender:

1. At Least 1 Woman Should be Interviewed for Every IT Job Opening, Advocacy Group Says    14 March 2012, 12:37 pm
2. Assistant Professor Explores Lack of Women in Computer Sciences    18 March 2012, 2:14 pm
3. Community Colleges Should Urge Women to Pursue Science and Math Careers, Report Says    21 March 2012, 11:21 am
4. OH HAI SEXISM    22 March 2012, 12:38 pm
5. Face-Recognizing Billboard Shows Ad to Women Only

Hacktivism / Leaks:

1. UN Torture Chief: Bradley Manning Treatment Was Cruel, Inhuman    12 March 2012, 12:06 pm
2. Report: Hacktivists Out-Stole Cybercriminals in 2011    21 March 2012, 9:01 pm

Holocaust:

1. The Kiwi Who Was German: Search for Identity Reveals World War II Crime    16 March 2012, 9:23 am
2. Nazi camp guard Demjanjuk dies in Germany    17 March 2012, 9:53 pm
3. Opinion: Why Germany’s National Team Shouldn’t Visit Auschwitz    21 March 2012, 9:04 am

Law:

1. Go to Trial – Crash the Justice System    11 March 2012, 9:23 am
2. Juror Held in Contempt for Internet Research Leading to Mistrial    15 March 2012, 3:51 am
3. Court Analyzes and Enforces Facebook’s Terms of Service    15 March 2012, 6:13 am
4. Flaming Can Be Defaming: Ga. Bloggers Lose Trio of Libel Cases    17 March 2012, 11:46 am
5. Time to Revisit the Ethics of Metadata    21 March 2012, 5:56 am

Medical Technology:

1. What You Lose When You Sign That Donor Card    11 March 2012, 1:22 am
2. Candidates With Low Voices May Attract More Votes    14 March 2012, 9:00 am
3. Privilege Has Its Rewards — How Longevity Will Become The New Class Inequality    15 March 2012, 8:32 am
4. Algorithm Finds Thousands of Unknown Drug Interaction Side Effects    15 March 2012, 11:58 am
5. The Rise of Autism: Social Contagion or Environmental Causation
6. Online drinking: an exploratory study of alcohol use and intoxication during internet activity
7. The Impact of Bad Bosses

Miscellany:

1. Starling Flocks Behave Like Flying Magnets    13 March 2012, 11:56 am
2. Watch a Live Feed of Tonight’s Northern Lights    13 March 2012, 2:14 pm
3. Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail    18 March 2012, 2:23 pm
4. Slavery’s last stronghold    19 March 2012, 5:53 am
5. Haiti: Where did the money go?    19 March 2012, 6:47 am
6. Depression Is Linked to Hyperconnectivity of Brain Regions, a New Study Shows

Museum / Library / Archive:

1. Lost Leonardo Da Vinci mural possibly found    12 March 2012, 5:01 pm
2. End of print for Encyclopaedia Britannica    14 March 2012, 12:23 am
3. The Libyan Job: Insiders Used War to Steal Priceless Artifacts    16 March 2012, 3:30 am
4. Respected Paternal Relative    16 March 2012, 8:32 am
5. Ox Carts and No Coffee: Building a Monastery the Medieval Way    21 March 2012, 3:15 am

Open Source / Open Access / FOI:

1. DOJ Asks Court to Keep Secret Any Partnership Between Google, NSA    13 March 2012, 3:50 am
2. Sunshine Week: EFF’s FOIA Work Shines Light on Government Activities in 2011    14 March 2012, 11:23 am
3. A New Kind of Politics: Pirate Party Woos Voters with Transparency    15 March 2012, 4:13 am
4. Senators Demand DOJ Release Secret Spy Court Rulings    15 March 2012, 3:26 pm
5. Survey of Journalists Finds Public Information Officers Often Prevent the Public From Accessing Information    16 March 2012, 6:00 am
6. Sunshine Week: EFF’s Current Freedom of Information Act Lawsuits    16 March 2012, 11:02 am
7. 8,200+ Strong, Researchers Band Together To Force Science Journals To Open Access    18 March 2012, 8:08 am
8. Researchers Band Together To Force Science Journals To Open Access    18 March 2012, 2:16 pm
9. U.S. Army Plans to Fire Whistleblower For Speaking to the Media    21 March 2012, 5:57 am
10. Op-Ed: How Traditional Publishing Hurts Scientific Progress    21 March 2012, 11:31 am
11. Comparison of open-source licenses    22 March 2012, 12:38 pm

Politics:

1. Obama Administration Launches Ethics.gov Site    15 March 2012, 6:14 am
2. Rights Gone Wrong?    15 March 2012, 9:01 am
3. Redefining Imminent: Are Obama’s Efforts to Justify Drone Warfare Aimed at Iran?    15 March 2012, 9:47 am
4. Argentina to sue Falklands oil companies    15 March 2012, 5:16 pm
5. Transcript of 1968 Council on Foreign Relations Secret Meeting on the Theory of CIA Covert Action    18 March 2012, 2:15 pm
6. (U//FOUO) U.S. Army Document and Media Exploitation Draft Manual    19 March 2012, 4:33 am
7. Financial Lobby in Revolt: How Much Longer Can Transaction Tax Be Delayed?    20 March 2012, 4:52 am
8. After Massacre, Army Tried to Delete Accused Shooter From the Internet    22 March 2012, 10:09 am
9. UN body to probe Israeli settlements    22 March 2012, 12:04 pm
10. EU Recalls Racist Propaganda
11. How States Make Money from TSA Contraband

Privacy:

1. 12-year-old sues school district over Facebook profile search    11 March 2012, 5:59 am
2. Supreme Court Decision on GPS Surveillance Sparking Good Court Rulings    13 March 2012, 2:53 pm
3. Personal map of 2.5m GPS data points, 3.5 years in the making    14 March 2012, 2:19 am
4. ‘Do Not Track’: The Outlook for Online Privacy Litigation    14 March 2012, 2:56 am
5. Unknown Tech Company Defies FBI In Mystery Surveillance Case    14 March 2012, 3:40 am
6. FBI Can’t Crack Android Pattern-Screen Lock    14 March 2012, 2:19 pm
7. Real-Name Registration Threatens the Lively World of China’s Microblogs    15 March 2012, 1:07 pm
8. CIA Chief: We’ll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher    15 March 2012, 2:35 pm
9. Facebook’s (In)conspicuous Absence From the Do Not Track Discussions    15 March 2012, 3:08 pm
10. The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)    15 March 2012, 4:24 pm
11. New York Passes DNA Requirement For Convicted Criminals    16 March 2012, 6:03 am
12. European union – Viviane Reding responds to Reporters Without Borders’ criticism of “right to be forgotten”    16 March 2012, 8:38 am
13. Sunshine Week: Forecast Looks Cloudy for PATRIOT Act Transparency    16 March 2012, 1:42 pm
14. Walmart buys a Facebook-based calendar app to get a look at customers’ dates    16 March 2012, 9:23 pm
15. Think twice before analyzing/releasing your genetic data    19 March 2012, 5:49 am
16. EFF Backs Judge Calling for Warrant in Cell Phone Tracking Case    19 March 2012, 8:37 am
17. San Francisco Ordinance to Safeguard Against SFPD/FBI Surveillance Abuses Faces Risk of Mayoral Veto    19 March 2012, 10:26 pm
18. EFF Again Reminds Court Forced Warrantless DNA Collection Violates Fourth Amendment    20 March 2012, 5:44 pm
19. NSA Chief Denies, Denies, Denies Wired’s Domestic Spying Story    20 March 2012, 8:50 pm
20. NSA Chief Denies Domestic Spying But Whistleblowers Say Otherwise    21 March 2012, 11:37 am
21. NSA Chief Appears to Deny Ability to Warrantlessly Wiretap Despite Evidence    21 March 2012, 2:32 pm
22. Appellate Court to Rehear Expansive Border Search Case    21 March 2012, 3:55 pm
23. SEC Overreaches with Investigation Into Speakers’ Identities    22 March 2012, 12:37 pm

Robotics:

1. Robotic Aircraft Controlled by Human Hand Gestures    16 March 2012, 12:18 pm

Science:

1. Midweek Wonder: What Once We Dreamed    14 March 2012, 2:15 am

Security:

1. It’s Time to Take Cybersecurity Seriously    12 March 2012, 11:50 am
2. Report: 51% of web site traffic is ‘non-human’ and mostly malicious    15 March 2012, 11:53 am
3. Study: Including Ads in Mobile Apps Poses Privacy, Security Risks    21 March 2012, 10:42 am
4. The Department of Justice’s Principles for Conducting Online Undercover Operations    22 March 2012, 12:29 pm
5. Microsoft and Skype set to allow backdoor eavesdropping    22 March 2012, 12:35 pm

Size:

1. Israel Bans ‘Underweight’ Models
2. Gender Ideology in Size Charts

Social Media:

1. Do you use Facebook? Or does Facebook use you?    11 March 2012, 5:32 am
2. Facebook Poaches Privacy Counsel From Yahoo    18 March 2012, 8:00 am
3. Anti-Social Network: the Rise of a Cyber-Bullying Epidemic    20 March 2012, 11:17 am
4. The Role of Social Media in Workplace Disputes    21 March 2012, 5:56 am
5. More On Kony 2012

Technology:

1. The Hidden Risk of a Meltdown in the Cloud    14 March 2012, 12:35 pm
2. Electronic Frontier Foundation Supports Unlicensed Spectrum    20 March 2012, 3:55 pm
3. To Detect Cheating in Chess, a Professor Builds a Better Program    21 March 2012, 11:21 am
4. Q&A: The Origami Geometer    21 March 2012, 11:27 am
5. Ten years without Gadamer

The final link, well, you may not understand. Hans Georg Gadamer was a philosopher of technology, I think, when it comes down to it. The article goes on about hermoneutics … but, to me, Gadamer was about the tools we use to communicate; thus, a philosopher of technology. Also: the article is interesting because it pokes at “analytic philosophy” a bit, which is always a happy thing, as that’s a school of thought which is so self-centered as to be ridiculous (says the man with a degree in it).

Teh Interwebs:

1. Man Claims to Fly With Custom-Built Bird Wings    20 March 2012, 3:58 pm
2. DARPA Challenge Doesn’t Go Viral on Twitter    21 March 2012, 11:26 am
3. Bird-Man’s Resume Doesn’t Check Out: ‘Nobody Knows Him’    21 March 2012, 1:38 pm
4. ‘Bird Man’ Hoaxster Comes Clean on Dutch Television    22 March 2012, 1:06 pm

-D