Nov 28
Singapore, one of the freest places on earth by some accounts, is struggling to throw off press repressions. The Singapore government recently imposed new laws purportedly aimed at stamping out fake news. “A blogger said on Thursday he would not comply with a Singapore government order to correct a Facebook post in the first test …
Nov 17
Everyone knows that major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Youtube have recently been on censorship binges–blocking, deplatforming, removing and censoring antigovernment criticism or content. Most free press advocates have been lulled into inaction regarding this because the online media platforms are private firms rather than government agencies. But now it has …
Oct 20
Australian papers are uniting to produce stories this week with most of their content redacted. The plan is in response to recent raids and assaults on the press by the Australian government. The government has imposed increasing “national security” restrictions on the press in recent years. Last year a court order prevented media from reporting …
Sep 09
The Agence France-Presse (AFP), the world’s oldest news agency (which is affiliated with the French government) is teaming up with the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) (a branch of the British government) and other news organizations in a global initiative to combat nongovernment and anti-government news (which they call “misinformation.”) See here. These government news bureaus …
Aug 17
Every government that ever existed sought to equate criticism of government with ‘terrorism,’ ‘treason’ or threats. Prior to the American Revolution, Brits could be criminally prosecuted for merely imagining the death of the king. (Numerous figures in English history were executed for merely imagining the death of the king in poetry or prose.) In the …
Aug 06
Indonesia: Undercover religious/government cops are roving the landscape searching for minor violations of Sharia-like moral codes. Hundreds of Indonesians have been arrested, imprisoned and publicly flogged and whipped for appearing affectionate to the opposite sex. Both men and women have been whipped for smooching or holding hands. In case anyone wonders what happens to those …
Jul 14
From The Independent: Venezuelan special forces have carried out thousands of extrajudicial killings in the past 18 months and then manipulated crime scenes to make it look as if the victims had been resisting arrest, the United Nations said on Thursday in a report detailing wide-ranging government abuses targeting political opponents. Special Action Forces described …
Apr 13
The LA Times is out with another doomsday story about apocalyptic-manmade-global-warming-by-CO2. The LA Times cites an EPA study predicting ruined bridges, dirty air, crop failure, economic collapse due to lack of labor productivity and property destruction. Total costs–unless governments quickly advance toward socialism and controlling the energy industry–will be in the hundreds of billions of …
Mar 29
Governments everywhere control the ballot box and seek to control what is said about elections and politics. In the U.S., government officials get to hold free public press conferences daily during election season while subjecting challengers to police scrutiny under the guise of campaign finance regulations. Recently, in Thailand, nine people were arrested for sharing …
Mar 19
IT’S BEEN DONE SO MANY TIMES BEFORE. Days after the largest censorship event in human history (the global ban on possession of non-government-approved video from the supposed mosque shooting in New Zealand) the government of Russia has enacted a law designed to fine and imprison people who publish news which disrespects the government, or is …
