China threatens 122 adult websites with closure
The Chinese authorities have ordered 122 websites to remove all traces of pornography or lewd content from their sites or face censorship and prosecution. The content prohibited includes pornographic...
View ArticleKuwait: Ban pornographic sites on BlackBerry
Kuwait has asked BlackBerry’s Canadian maker RIM to block pornographic sites though they will not suspend the messenger services like their Gulf neighbours. RIM have agreed to block 3,000 porn sites...
View ArticleIndonesia: Playboy editor jailed for “indecency”
The former editor-in-chief of Playboy Indonesia has begun a two-year prison sentence for publishing images of women in underwear. Erwin Arnada was found guilty of violating indecency laws during a...
View ArticleChina: 60,000 porn sites closed in crackdown
Sixty thousand websites deemed to host pornographic content have been shut down by the government since December 2009. The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications also said some...
View ArticleIranian web designer sentenced to death
Iranian authorities have sentenced a web designer to death for allegedly creating a pornographic website. Canadian resident Saeed Malekpour, 35, was convicted of “designing and moderating adult content...
View ArticleAustralian internet providers employ censors
Australian service providers, including Telstra and Optus, will voluntarily block websites deemed by the government as showing and disseminating child pornography. Those who attempt to access the...
View ArticlePayPal backtracks on disputed ‘obscene’ e-book policy
Online payment service PayPal have backtracked on a policy against processing sales of e-books containing themes of rape, bestiality or incest. Protests from authors and anti-censorship activist...
View ArticleUnited Kingdom: Government to consult with ISPs on blocking online porn
The coalition government has announced plans to consult with internet service providers on new measures to block online adult material in the UK. Under the plans it would be up to customers to opt in...
View ArticleDownloading evil
Writing for Index on Censorship magazine in 2007, the late Stan Cohen argued that child pornography and jihadi violence were testing the limits of tolerance In August [2007], the 58-year-old actor...
View ArticleWhy is Egypt banning porn?
Egypt is taking steps to enforce a ban on internet porn ordered by a Cairo court late last year. The ban was first ordered three years ago, but went unimplemented. This time it looks like it’s going to...
View ArticleIrish Justice Minister’s erotic novel referred to censor’s board
Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter A novel published by current Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter in 1989, has been referred to the country’s Censorship of Publications Board, according to reports....
View ArticleWeb filtering: Keeping it clean?
David Cameron has announced plans to block access to pornography online, with providers offering the choice to turn on a filter. In a 2009 edition of Index on Censorship magazine Seth Finkelstein...
View ArticleNatwest refuses account for author of book on porn censorship
Journalist Jane Fae Feminist writer Jane Fae says she has been stopped from opening a bank account for her new project – a history of the censorship of pornography. Fae, a contributor to Index on...
View ArticleCriminalising kink: Cameron’s porn crusade
Protesters gathered outside a Stop Porn Culture conference in March 2014 organised by Gail Dines. Protesters included porn stars, filmmakers, artists, sex workers and supporters who believe in freedom...
View ArticleFiltering in the UK: The hinterland of legality, where secrecy trumps court...
(Shutterstock) James Brokenshire was giving an interview to the Financial Times last month about his role in the government’s online counter-extremism programme. Ministers are trying to figure out how...
View ArticleCameron’s obsession with porn
The post Cameron’s obsession with porn appeared first on Index on Censorship.
View ArticleDeliberately lewd: Erica Jong
This article is part of the summer 1995 issue of the global quarterly Index on Censorship magazine. Click here to subscribe to the magazine. In conjunction with the Cambridge Festival of Ideas 2015,...
View ArticleIndex Index – International free speech round up 31/01/13
A woman who said she was raped by state security forces and the journalist who interviewed her were charged by police on 29 January in Somalia. Journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim could face four years...
View ArticleIndex Index – International free speech round up 08/02/13
An anti-corruption activist who leaked a sex tape featuring a Chinese Communist party official and an 18-year-old girl has said he is being slandered and intimidated by authorities. Since Zhu Ruifeng...
View ArticleNo sex please, we’re British: Why is no one talking about the UK’s impending...
There is a tired stereotype that the British don’t “do” sex. It’s too embarrassing, too shocking to be talked about in public spaces. The cliché has long been considered outdated in the wake of the...
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