A quotation from Voltaire

As you have it in your power, sir, to do some service to letters, I implore you not to clip the wings of our writers so closely, nor to turn into barn-door fowls those who, allowed a start, might become eagles; reasonable liberty permits the mind to soar — slavery makes it creep.
 
[Puisque vous êtes, monsieur, à portée de rendre service aux belles-lettres, ne rognez pas de si près les ailes à nos écrivains, et ne faites pas des volailles de basse-cour de ceux qui, en prenant l’essor, pourraient devenir des aigles: une liberté honnête élève l’esprit, et l’esclavage le fait ramper.]

Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Letter (1733-06-20) to a First Commissioner [Lettre á un premier commis] [tr. Tallentyre (1919)]

More about this quote: wist.info/voltaire/85298/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #voltaire #censorship #control #enslavement #freepress #freedomofthepress #liberty #regulation #restrictions #writers

US Senators Pushing Failed Age Verification Law, the SCREEN Act

The US is looking to be the next country to jump off the age verification cliff through failed age verification laws.

https://www.freezenet.ca/us-senators-pushing-failed-age-verification-law-the-screen-act/

#Censorship #News #AgeVerification #SCREENAct #SocialMedia #US #VPN

#SnowflakeVolunteer, an #Android app to help people bypass #censorship

https://blog.torproject.org/snowflake-volunteer-standalone-app-to-help-people-bypass-censorship/

#Snowflake #Tor #privacy #anonymity

Australia’s Age Verification Law Still a Failure, Study Finds

An Australian government study has found that little has changed in the governments failed age verification laws.

https://www.freezenet.ca/australias-age-verification-law-still-a-failure-study-finds/

#Censorship #News #AgeVerification #Australia #fail #research #SocialMedia #study

Ironic

A website details the blocked websites in #Ukraine.... is itself blocked by #Cloudflare.

An archived copy of the page shows that the government of Ukraine has blocked 48,698 websites, and that number could be greater now.

Should a government be afraid of its people thinking for themselves?

Blocked: https://uablocklist.com/

Archived: https://archive.is/g0J9Y

#censorship #InternetFreedom #freedom

Reflecting Medusa's Surveilling Gaze, w Jasmine Guffond, Andric Spaeth

Wed-05-Aug 17.00-18.30 CEST

Coming to you live from a world marching towards boiling point. Caught on camera, caused and broadcast by interwoven technologies of power. Large Language Model (“AI”) movement pattern analysis surveillance cameras have begun to be installed in Berlin, only to be met by a thousand person protest. In parallel, “Chat Control” an EU bill to introduce arbritrary mass surveillance of our devices has recently passed the first round of becoming law. Digging us out of the hypnotic doomscroll that such knowledge can understandably induce we’re joined by Jasmine Guffond, an artist and composer working at the interface of social, political and technical infrastructures, and by Andric Spaeth, an artist and activist pushing the boundaries of aesthetics and technology to challenge social and political conventions such as the police state and technofascism.

Tune in Live: http://ice.rosebud-media.de:8000/88vier

Hit up the Archive: https://www.patreon.com/c/RadioAgainstRepression - https://radioagainstrepression.org

Or Find us in Your Podcast App

#radio #surveillance #techofascism #art #censorship #repression #berlin #llm #ai #disabilities #protest #liveradio #germany #technology #activism #chatcontrol #europe #unitedstates #gaza #police #surveillancestate #monthlyradio #research

Alt...

two persons are seen through a pixillated cctv digital video camera perspective on a public tram. the llm has detected violent behavior and the words “Alert: Aggressive Behaviour Detected” and below, “Violence Score 63%"

Discarded trash from #SpaceX will slam into the #moon, possibly on Wednesday.

I found this story on a banned website. #Ukraine has blocked many, but it can be viewed in the USA.

https://life.ru/p/1906519

More about the #censorship:

http://john1126.com/779

#freedom #InternetFreedom

Americans!

Updates on "Internet Safety" bills:

-Hawley and Durbin are trying to sneak the unconstitutional STOP CSAM Act into the FY27 NDAA. Hawley allegedly managed to get it included it in the manager's amendment. This means it has a higher chance than previous attempts at being successful.
-Still, there's procedural roadblocks that the bill has to clear to survive until the final passage. The manager's amendment is reserved for uncontroversial amendments.
-The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a markup for KOSA and the SCREEN Act for Wednesday, August 5th. There are other bills, but they're far less problematic than KOSA and the SCREEN Act.
-Senate KOSA's fate in the House is still quite uncertain. The same goes for the KIDS Act's fate in the Senate.
-The SCREEN Act's approval among Democrats is unknown at the moment.

Call your Senators and Representatives ASAP!

#Privacy #Censorship #DigitalRights #FreeSpeech #AgeVerification #ClientSideScanning #Section230 #KOSA #KidsOnlineSafetyAct #US #UnitedStates

#Censorship

Ukraine's government actively blocks this website: https://www.ozon.ru

#Ozon is an online marketplace in Russia, similar to #Amazon, also selling American brands, including Lays, Gillette, and Microsoft's Xbox.

After banning the site, Ukraine's military also attacked Ozon's logistics hubs with airstrikes and drones.

Is this a war among corporations? What is the real government? Who has the most power: elected officials, or the corporations we give our money?

#Ukraine

YouTube's Information Control for #Ukraine

"YouTube does not disclose the details of its algorithm"

But #YouTube does admit to blocking content to Ukrainians. Can a man not be trusted to form his own opinions?

Harvard studied the impact of YouTube's #censorship: "Comment activity on banned channels dropped sharply to near zero immediately after the ban, indicating that the ban was, in fact, successful in preventing exposure to these channels."

source: https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/information-control-on-youtube-during-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/

#freedom

Update. "Fired Over Speech, Professors Take Their Employers to Court—and Win."
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/academic-freedom/2026/07/30/fired-over-speech-professors-take-their-employers-court

"The recent spate of censorship and academic freedom violations is the worst since the McCarthy era, according to one lawyer. But as faculty rack up legal victories, universities may start to think twice before punishing extramural speech."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #Censorship #FirstAmendment #Trump #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

Of course, #Ukraine blocks the #WildBerries websites. (They destroyed numerous warehouses belonging to that company.)

WildBerries appears to specialize in consumer goods, like #Amazon here in the United States.

https://www.wildberries.by/

https://www.wildberries.ru/

I see they sell earrings resembling the cross of #Jesus Christ. That is more evidence that there are Christians in #Russia, as there are worldwide, so we should all treat each others as brothers, and make peace.

#censorship

#Ukraine civilians are blocked from seeing this website:

https://www.ntv.ru/novosti/2997578/

#censorship

https://parimatch.ua

#censorship

Website blocked by #Ukraine government, by order of Zelensky.

https://www.piter.com/

It appears to be a website that sells books. Do they not trust their own citizens to be able to read and think for themselves?

#censorship

When searching the internet for real people in #Ukraine (not media corporations or propaganda) posting their views of life and war in their country, I have come up with almost nothing. Then I learned that #Ukraine is under martial law, and the regime actively shuts down websites without court order.

During #war, #censorship is worse than in times of peace.

Archived list of some websites banned in Ukraine:

https://archive.is/unsuz

https://github.com/uablacklist/uablacklist.net

@kurator88
Interesting point: Ukraine, at war, has a more favorable rating than the United States. However, both countries are reported to have the same number of detained reporters: zero.

The same website says Russia currently has 48 detained: 34 journalists and 14 media workers. Does that sound true to you?

https://rsf.org/en/index

#censorship

How #YouTube uses the claim of "hate speech" to impose #censorship.

#NYC

“To ban #books simply because they have a hardcover or they’re used is just trying to solve a problem that may exist in prison by finding the easiest target. And the easiest target they can find is to change the rules for what books can come in.” https://www.texasobserver.org/prison-crackdown-reading-access-profile/

#bookstodon #prison #HumanRights #law #Texas #censorship

India orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat

“The application enables anonymous communication without mandatory user registration, phone number verification, or centralised logging of communications. The technical architecture of the application significantly impedes lawful interception, attribution and investigation by law enforcement agencies,”

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/government-orders-github-to-remove-bluetooth-based-chat-app-bitchat-over-security-concerns-jack-dorsey/article71262049.ece

#github #censorship

@mmeier
You can lower the speed of crawling down to as low as 10 pages per minute if you like.

What I like about #Yacy is it produces uncensored search results.

#censorship

If you have been wondering about the effectiveness of the social media ban of under 15 year olds, this study got you :)

Spoiler: 92%+ of kids age 14-15 in #Australia still use it 🥳

Meanwhile IMO forced verification of users had a much better success rate 😉

Source:
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w35162/w35162.pdf

#Privacy #ageverification #IDverification #Study #Data #Science #Survey #Tech #SocialMedia #Technology #Internet #Censorship #Authoritarianism #MassSurveillance #Surveillance

Alt...

Screenshot of graphic from this study of Australia's social media ban: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w35162/w35162.pdf Percent of banned 14-15-year olds (b) Compliance rate, April versus June 2026 Usage rate: 64% April, 92% June Implied compliance: 27% April, 6% June Notes: Figure 5 reports self-reported past-7-day use of any banned platform.

I've accused #DOGE of terminating #NEH grants (and other grants) by using dumb keyword searches to look for prohibited words. It turns out that DOGE used dumb #ChatGPT prompts instead. Like this one (quoting verbatim): “Does the following relate at all to D.E.I.? Respond factually in less than 120 characters. Begin with ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/arts/humanities-endowment-doge-trump.html

#Censorship #DefendResearch #DEI #Funding #Humanities #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Here's a #DOGE bro testifying in the lawsuit about terminating #DEI-related #NEH grants. He's being asked: What is DEI? If that's too complicated, what is your understanding of DEI?
https://bsky.app/profile/404media.co/post/3mgpkttntsk2t

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"How #DOGE Gutted the #NEH in 22 Days."
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/research/2026/03/11/how-doge-gutted-neh-22-days

"[A newly released] trove of documents—including depositions with top NEH administrators and DOGE staff, as well as emails, spreadsheets and text messages—suggest rushed, chaotic funding termination decisions and reveal the extent of DOGE’s influence in terminating 97 percent of the agency’s grants."

Example: DOGE terminated an NEH grant to replace the HVAC system at a museum, acting on this #ChatGPT rationale: "Improving HVAC systems enhances preservation conditions for collections, aligning with the goal of providing greater access to diverse audiences."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Humanities #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California last year admitted that they used keywords related to diversity, gender, vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 to screen for projects that ran afoul of the Trump administration’s priorities. It’s an admission that lawyers for the research professors say is proof that the agencies illegally cancelled nearly $2 billion in grants. And that’s a major development in a lawsuit filed by UC researchers against the Trump administration to permanently get their grants back."
https://apnews.com/article/california-research-grants-terminated-keywords-lawsuit-a0ddb01413ecb68d9668490a20be6207

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

France Jumps Off Cliff, Passes Age Verification Laws

France has passed the failed age verification laws and set the restriction to 15 years of age and younger.

https://www.freezenet.ca/france-jumps-off-cliff-passes-age-verification-laws/

#Censorship #News #AgeVerification #facepalm #France #legislation #SocialMedia

After getting over 2 million views, I wonder why YouTube (or even the BBC) would want to block this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNsdvhh8_X0

"Princess Diana BBC Announce her death"

#YouTube #censorship

Australia Considers Targeting VPNs Following Age Verification Failure

With the failure of age verification in Australia, the eSafety regulator is eyeing VPNs as a new target.

https://www.freezenet.ca/australia-considers-targeting-vpns-following-age-verification-failure/

#Censorship #News #Privacy #Security #AgeVerification #Australia #eSafety #VPN

It's strange that a CBS news video is age-restricted. I saw the thumbnail image for only a moment, which YouTube promptly replaced with a sign-in requirement. But I do not have a YouTube account, because they locked me out. So, for me, this news video is effectively being censored. I guess the video shows the US military in an unfavorable light.

I live in the US, but do not agree with the constant wars they engage in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itt2XYfxQs4

#YouTube #censorship #news #Iraq

Firefox is acting strange, as if it is censoring a website. Why would they do that?

Original link:

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/07/15/772286/Impact-footage-captures-Iranian-strikes-on-US-assets-in-Persian-Gulf-

It has been archived, but without the video:

https://archive.is/0nAzX

And the video on that web page is also archived:

http://filsofia.com/share/20260718-Iran-attack-on-Jordan.mp4

#Firefox #censorship #news #Iran

Time: Australia’s Age Verification a Success Because Vibes

By all metrics, Australia's age verification law was a failure. So, Time said it's a success because it has good vibes.

https://www.freezenet.ca/time-australias-age-verification-a-success-because-vibes/

#Censorship #News #AgeVerification #Australia #journalism #Time

"As I’ve argued before, I think Haidt’s book has done exactly what Gray was afraid it might do – namely, it has played into and exacerbated a moral panic over smartphones and social media and their alleged impact on the emotional and psychological wellbeing of teenagers. The architect of the Australian social-media age-gating law, South Australian premier Peter Malinouskas, described in an interview how his wife had recommended Haidt’s Anxious Generation to him, and how after reading it he had resolved to take action. His wife “put the book down on her lap and turned to me and said you’ve really got to do something about this,” he said. “And then I stopped and thought about it and thought maybe we actually can.” So he introduced state-level legislation hoping it could win federal support. It did, and since then the UK has passed a new law it says was modeled on the Australian one (modeled so closely that it too offered virtually no evidence that such a law was necessary), and Canada is also considering one.

As a journalist who once worked for the Columbia Journalism Review, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the biggest proponents of Jonathan Haidt’s views about cellphones and social media and their impact on the wellbeing of teenagers has been the media."

https://mathewingram.com/work/2026/07/16/kids-need-to-explore-the-world-and-that-includes-social-media/

#SocialMedia #PlayTime #MentalHealth #MoralPanic #Censorship #Fascism

Google admits they block emails from getting into your inbox, even those from friends and family that are in your address book.

In my opinion, if the email sender is known and saved in the #Gmail user's address book, their emails should never be blocked, but #Google does not agree. And their technical requirements for an email to get through are past the average user's understanding or ability.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126

#censorship #SelfHosting

Shit. This is on the calendar, and yes, it is the national book banning bill. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7661/text #Censorship #Books #Book #Bookstodon

Gmail blocks emails, even from friends and family, if they use another email host without the technical settings they demand. This means people who self-host their email can be blocked from communicating with #Gmail users.

One solution: Gmail users could move to an email host that does not block from known contacts in your own address book!

I suspect many Gmail users are unaware of this change beginning in 2024.

https://m-chrzan.xyz/blog/sending-mail-to-gmail.html

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126

#censorship #SelfHosting

UK Pushes for Baffling Social Media Curfew for Teens

The UK, like others, is experiencing disaster with age verification, so it's now doubling down with a curfew on social media.

https://www.freezenet.ca/uk-pushes-for-baffling-social-media-curfew-for-teens/

#Censorship #News #AgeVerification #SocialMedia #teens #UK

A quotation from Salman Rushdie

At its most effective, the censor’s lie actually succeeds in replacing the artist’s truth. That which is censored is thought to have deserved censorship. Boat-rocking is deplored.

Salman Rushdie (b. 1947) Indian novelist
Speech (2012-05-06), Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture, PEN World Voices Festival, New York City

More about this quote: wist.info/rushdie-salman/85000…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #salmanrushdie #censor #censorship #justdeserts #label #makingtrouble #outrage #rockingtheboat #troublemaker