Rebecca showed us some censored messages various blog services use to either block posts at the time of publication or after removing published posts. She is not naming the services that published certain posts other hosts blocked because she fears the government will retaliate against them.

Some bloggers circumvent censorship methods by using words that sound similar to censored words or by using images to represent ideas, like people doing pushups because discussion about an unfortunate suspicious death was banned.

How can the international Internet community reach out to China to help the government increase freedom and connect Internet users with good things the Great Firewall blocks?

Join the live webcast.

Some of you who have been reading the scratchpad for a while might remember that Rebecca used to attend blog group meetings regularly when she was a Berkman Fellow. She and Ethan Zuckerman founded the online project Global Voices to give people in countries not necessarily covered by the mainstream media a speaking place. An authority on many Asian and Internet topics, the former CNN journalist now teaches in China and is working on a book about China and the Internet.

LISNews points to a National Public Radio piece about the week. The American Library Association has lots of Banned Books Week information, too, including lists of challenged books.

Banned Books Week is one of my favorite holiweeks, as some of you who have been following the scratchpad for the five years it’s been around know. I encourage everyone to celebrate the freedom to read by picking out at least one threatened work, especially if it challenges you, and doing what you can to enjoy it.

“It was not until just this morning that the MBTA admitted what the students were doing isn’t a prank. If there’s ever been a shoot-the-messenger case, I guess this is it.” –Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the organization representing the students.

* * *

“We’ve always maintained that there are certain details that we didn’t want to disclose, because we don’t want people defrauding the MBTA,” he said yesterday afternoon. “We’re definitely going to stay true to that. We’ve always wanted to settle this amicably. My God, we never wanted any of this.” –Zack Anderson, one of the students involved in the project

I’ve been paying attention to the situation where the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority sued some MIT students to prevent them from releasing the results of their research into the T’s ticketing system and some of its security flaws. Today’s Boston Globe’s article recapping the T’s lawsuit and the student’s research also carries the news that a judge lifted the gag order another one put in place. The case offers a mix of an institution trying to protect its computer vulnerabilities while repressing the free speech of others based on various laws.

By the way, YouTube removed one particular video in response to Pakistan’s complaint because the video violates YouTube’s terms of service. Pakistan has since restored access to the site.

One of the quotes that stuck with me was something about how as much as the man speaking feared or disliked certain topics, he thought not discussing them in the open was even scarier.

I was unable to find the piece online, which is a shame because not only did I want to share it with you, but I wanted to listen to it again. I believe the reporter said the law did not pass, but people are considering a less dangerous variation of it. The legislation could be a reaction to what happened after some newspapers published controversial cartoons in 2005 that offended many Muslims and led to riots. Under the proposed law, would the newspaper editor or publisher have to defend against an accusation examining intent? If the law passed, what kind of effect might it have on publishing? Would people risk publishing anything that might possibly be offensive?

The McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, supposedly the first museum dedicated to the First Amendment and freedom, opens this week in Chicago. The McCormick Tribune Foundation, which was established when Chicago Tribune editor and publisher Col. Robert McCormick died, supports the museum.

Two Chicago Public Radio shows give us a, uh, listen to the museum:

• The Sunday arts program Hello Beautiful shares interviews with some key people.
  
• Eight Forty-Eight tours the museum.

When I read the claim on their Web site that they’re the first museum dedicated to the First Amendment and freedom, I immediately thought about The Freedom Forum’s Newseum. The Freedom Forum describes themselves as being concerned with "… three priorities: the Newseum, the First Amendment and newsroom diversity." The Newseum claims to celebrate the First Amendment while being a museum of news.

Berkman Fellow Rebecca MacKinnon has a piece in The Nation about actions the US government is taking about Internet censorship in China and the role of certain technology companies in that censorship and the handing over of data to Chinese authorities.

What role should the United States have in encouraging free speech in other countries?

noticed on beSpacific

(Internet censorship in China is one of these topics that doesn’t really fit any of my categories well. I’m still pondering where to stick posts about it.)

Jessamyn reports on an interesting auction to support the First Amendment Project, a group focusing on protecting and promoting First Amendment rights. Bidders compete to have a name of their choice included in a forthcoming book by several well-known authors.

(Wow. I haven’t posted to this category in /months/!)

Several times, I’ve wanted to start a category for items about free speech and the First Amendment. There’s one now. It includes items about Banned Books Week and challenged library materials, too.

Addendum 3/15: There is going to be some overlap with the Reading department. I’ll try to put items emphasizing the freedom to read in this category and comments about books and reading in general in Reading.

When I was at a comic book store this weekend my awesome penpal highly recommends, I noticed a collection jar on the counter for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Defending the Comic Industry’s First Amendment Rights Since 1986. Based in Northampton, Massachusetts, the nonprofit grew out of donations collected in 1986 to defend someone accused of selling obscene comics. The amount of work their doing is increasing because of the swing toward more conservative comics.