CBS has nothing but the highest regard for the editors and writers at CNET, and has managed that business with respect as part of its CBS Interactive division since it was acquired in 2008. This has been an isolated and unique incident in which a product that has been challenged as illegal, was removed from consideration for an award. The product in question is not only the subject of a lawsuit between Dish and CBS, but between Dish and nearly every other major media company as well. CBS has been consistent on this situation from the beginning, and, in terms of covering actual news, CNET maintains 100% editorial independence, and always will. We look forward to the site building on its reputation of good journalism in the years to come.A statement from CBS Interactive • Given to Ad Age following the news that reporter Greg Sandoval resigned from CNET after the publication was forced to retract an award nomination for Dish Network’s “Hopper,” which allows end users to skip commercials easily. (CBS and Dish are embroiled in a lawsuit over the device.) Anybody else more than a little concerned by the fact that CBS doesn’t seem to understand why this cast a negative light on the journalistic integrity of CNET? source
How did it happen that our performance, which was a small and clumsy stunt, brought so much trouble? How can this happen in a healthy society? And now it takes thousands of people around the world to prove the obvious, to prove that the three of us are innocent.Maria Alekhina, member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot • Expressing disbelief that Pussy Riot’s decision to stage an anti-Putin protest on the alter of Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral has created such an uproar. While Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a lenient sentencing by the court, some believe that his statements reveal a hidden presumption of guilt which they worry will be shared by jurors. In addition to Alekhina, co-defendants Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich stood by their decision to protest, and said they were more free behind bars than prosecutors who can “only say what political censorship allows.” A verdict is expected to be delivered on August 17. source (via • follow)
(via China’s Complicated Web Censorship Regime Explained in 20 Minutes)
Great clip, worth watching.
The Internet Defense League, a group of “people and sites who use their massive combined reach to defend the open internet and make it better”, has introduced a rallying cry of sorts should anything similar to SOPA, PIPA or CISPA rear its head once more. Borrowing an idea from the Caped Crusader, the IDL will publicly debut on July 19, 2012 — the same night as The Dark Knight Rises — and plans to use a portion of its seed money to let the Cat Signal shine in major cities around the country. source
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This poor woman may just as well have been starting at a wall after China lost foreign internet access for roughly an hour on Thursday. A variety of reasons have been suggested — censorship, a potential tightening of the “Great Firewall,” an underwater cable damaged due to Wednesday’s Indonesia earthquake — but to put it simply, accessing the information superhighway wasn’t much fun for many in China. (photo by Dan Chung/The Guardian)
Now, obviously there are some cultural differences between India and the U.S., but journalism is generally a very pro-free-speech industry. So it disturbs us greatly to hear that the guy who’s been using the court system to force Google and Facebook to censor content in India is the editor of Akbari, an Urdu publication. His reasoning? “The content I have submitted to the court deeply offends several religions including Hinduism, Islam and Christianity,” he told The Wall Street Journal last month. “It involves pages and groups where users have mocked Hindu gods and goddesses, Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ. Such content can create communal riots across the country. These are just a few examples…My intention is to ensure that the sentiments of any religion or community are not hurt.” Rai said he once had a Facebook account, but got rid of it after getting too much spam.
Hop over here to hear the latest on this story, which involves Twitter allowing for censorship of tweets by country, but being open and transparent about it.
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» A great breakdown: Mashable’s dissection of the entire SOPA bill, in case you haven’t read it, does wonders in terms of clearing up what on its face is a confusing piece of legislation. It’s a solid breakdown that cuts through the legalese.
“Morning Joe” censors Ann Coulter: She apparently called John McCain a “douchebag,” but she had an entire comment censored in this clip. Perhaps “Morning Joe” was being overly sensitive after the whole hub-bub earlier this year after Mark Halperin called Obama a “dick,” unbleeped? (thanks Matt)
Due to the source of the content, we wanted to do some fact-checking on the banned videos we noted in our post earlier today. Nothing against Infowars.com, the authors of the original article, but we felt it was worth a double-check. So, here we go. Above is a clip of a bizarre protest that took place in March, which involved members of a nationalist anti-authority British organization called the British Constitution Group. The protests, which were covered by both BBC and The Daily Mail (which has significantly more detail and photos), showed a group of people claiming that a bankruptcy proceeding around one of the group’s members was illegal. They attempted to make a citizen’s arrest of the judge; the Magna Carta was cited as the reason they were allowed to make the citizens’ arrest. (We told you it was weird.) Above is video of what happened. If you’re in the UK, you will not be able to watch this video; If you’re in the U.S. and want to see what a blocked video looks like, click through to this proxy. Granted, the video is months old, and its blocking is also months old, but there we go. After some fact checking, we can prove that this video was in fact blocked. source
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