“This prosecution should never have been brought in the first place,” said Jo Glanville, editor of Index on Censorship. “Since the landmark obscenity cases of the 60s and 70s, writers have been protected from such prosecutions and have remained free to explore the extremes of human behaviour. This case posed a serious threat to that freedom. In future, obscenity cases should be referred directly to the director of public prosecutions before any prosecution is triggered.”

Source: Index on Censorship

A blogger who wrote an article imagining the kidnap, rape and murder of the pop group Girls Aloud was cleared of obscenity today.
… faced prosecution after writing a 12-page blog called Girls (Scream) Aloud on a fantasy pornography site.
…
Judge Esmond Faulks returned a not guilty verdict to the charge of publishing an obscene article

Source: The Guardian

The Ministry of Defence is trying to block all internet access to the whistleblowing site Wikileaks from thousands of its own computers after discovering that dissidents have been using it to leak copies of British military manuals.

Newly obtained MoD emails reveal alarm over the discovery that Wikileaks is freely publishing manuals that are used by patrols in Iraq.

One email says: “There are thousands of things on here, I literally mean thousands. Not just UK MoD but other places as well. Everything I clicked on to do with MoD was ‘restricted’ … It is huge.”

Source: guardian.co.uk

THE BIG four music labels have launched legal proceedings against Ireland’s second-largest telco, BT Ireland, and largest cable operator UPC Ireland, to force them to act against illegal music downloads by their subscribers.

The move follows an out-of-court settlement in January between Eircom and the labels – EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner Music – under which the telco agreed to introduce a “three strikes and you’re out” rule for persistent downloaders.

Source: IrishTimes.com
via: Techdirt, TorrentFreak

The German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, has adopted a new set of laws making it possible to block child pornography Web sites.

The legislation requires Web hosting companies to post “stop” signs when internet users try to access child pornography sites. The bill still has to go through several stages before it becomes law.

The motion has been the subject of a protest petition, with opponents claiming it is a first step towards Internet censorship. The petition has gathered 130,000 signatures calling for the bill to be scrapped.

Source: Deutsche Welle
via: Slashdot

In a written question, [Baroness Neville-Jones] asked her government counterpart Lord West “why the Internet Watch Foundation’s list enables internet service providers to block child sexual abuse images if they are hosted abroad but does not enable them to block websites hosted abroad promoting violent extremism and terrorism.”
…
Could it be that the party most likely to form our next government plans to expand the IWF’s mandate … ?
…
according to Conservative HQ, maybe. The question was part of ongoing policy research into the IWF, it said.

Source: The Register

Germany is on the verge of censoring its Internet: The government – a grand coalition between the German social democrats and conservative party – seems united in its decision: On Thursday the parliament is to vote on the erection of an internet censorship architecture.

Source: netzpolitik.org

Lord Carter’s Digital Britain review has been the most comprehensive examination of the media and telecoms landscape in the UK in recent memory. Its impact will reverberate across the industry for some time – regardless of how long the communications minister himself remains in government.

January’s interim report set out five objectives: upgrading and modernising the UK’s digital networks; encouraging investment in the digital economy; ensuring “UK content for UK users”; providing access for all to new digital technologies; and developing the skills needed to enable widespread take-up of public services online.

It also had 22 so-called action points; Carter’s final report tomorrow will have twice that number, spanning everything from digital literacy and protecting children on the internet, to solving Channel 4’s funding crisis and combating online piracy. Here are some of the main areas …

Source: guardian.co.uk