Difference between revisions of "Censorship"
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The current copyright model in the US protects the publishers and distributors of media by attempting to sanction/censor any transaction other than direct purchase that spreads copies of media. Considering a consumer's perspective in assessing value of media, it stand to reason that less restrictions of copy distribution would increase the maximum price point; if John can only burn his CD onto one computer, why would he pay as much as if he could transfer it between all of his media equipment<ref name= snapper>Snapper, John. The Matter of Plagarism: What, Why, and If? in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. Himma, K. and Tavani, H., eds. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience. 2008.</ref>? | The current copyright model in the US protects the publishers and distributors of media by attempting to sanction/censor any transaction other than direct purchase that spreads copies of media. Considering a consumer's perspective in assessing value of media, it stand to reason that less restrictions of copy distribution would increase the maximum price point; if John can only burn his CD onto one computer, why would he pay as much as if he could transfer it between all of his media equipment<ref name= snapper>Snapper, John. The Matter of Plagarism: What, Why, and If? in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. Himma, K. and Tavani, H., eds. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience. 2008.</ref>? | ||
| − | + | Research is mixed as to whether file sharing suppresses or increases the sale of music.<ref>Oberholzer-Gee, Felix & Koleman Strumpf, "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis." ''Journal of Political Economy'' 115 (2007): 1-42. | |
From an artist's perspective, consider the Hip-Hop boom of the 1990s; sampling of copyrighted material was integral to the creation of new hip-hop. Without copyright infringement, the music industry would most likely not have had such an array of artists to market and revenue would suffer as a reult<ref name= snapper/>. Additionally, artists have a longstanding tradition of freely borrowing each other's work in creating their own<ref name= snapper/>. Notable for this practice are Morrisey, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Jarmusch. Considering the mass of creative work that depends on intertextual utilization of source material, looser copyright restrictions, or copyright restrictions designed to enable artists rather than staunchly protecting publisher's exclusive rights to control use, could actually benefit both the creative community and the publishing companies by enabling artists to create more media on their own terms. | From an artist's perspective, consider the Hip-Hop boom of the 1990s; sampling of copyrighted material was integral to the creation of new hip-hop. Without copyright infringement, the music industry would most likely not have had such an array of artists to market and revenue would suffer as a reult<ref name= snapper/>. Additionally, artists have a longstanding tradition of freely borrowing each other's work in creating their own<ref name= snapper/>. Notable for this practice are Morrisey, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Jarmusch. Considering the mass of creative work that depends on intertextual utilization of source material, looser copyright restrictions, or copyright restrictions designed to enable artists rather than staunchly protecting publisher's exclusive rights to control use, could actually benefit both the creative community and the publishing companies by enabling artists to create more media on their own terms. | ||
Revision as of 19:33, 13 April 2017
Contents
Types of censorship
Censorship takes place in the following forms both digitally and in print:
- Text: This refers to the censorship of material found in the written media such as newspapers, magazines, published articles and books.
- Visual Media: This refers to content that involves motion art or photographs. Examples are comics, television shows, and movies.
- Audio: Artists must release a "clean" version of their albums, if applicable, to remove any inappropriate language. Must standard AM/FM radio stations are censored and will not play the explicit versions of many songs.
Censorship can take place in two different ways: replacement or removal of content.
Replacement
This type of censorship occurs when a part of a work is edited to replace the controversial expression. For instance, profanity on television is replaced with an alternative audio clip or silence. On other occasions foul language is replaced by a beeping noise and scenes involving nudity are often blurred.
Removal
This type of censorship occurs when the work in question is completely removed from public access. In the context of text censorship, this may involve banning a book in a country. In the visual media, a scene of a movie may be censored in the televised version.
Why censor?
"The primary motivation for censorship is often disapproval of the content or worry about its effects on "public morality". [2] There are several reasons to introduce censorship.
Reasons for censorship
Politics
Political censorship can be used for a variety of purposes. Often governments use censorship for the interest of the security of their nations. Sometimes it is used to safeguard military intelligence and other security aspects of a country. On the contrary, censorship is sometimes misused to conceal useful information and to turn around a political situation. Political leaders can exercise their power to restrict information that speaks against their respective governments. One well known example is the the censorship policy of the People's Republic of China. Across nearly all media sources, including text messages, the PRC government censors a variety of subjects, including politics, foreign competitors, and pornography. It has received large amounts of criticism, from foreign and domestic sources, and occasionally backlash. One instance of this was when Google was asked to remove certain content from its searches as well as links to non PRC websites. Google was heavily criticized for its vulgarity, while domestic search engines that gave just as inappropriate search results were completely ignored, and the Chinese Central Television aired an interview with a "student" about Google. The "student" claimed that Google was corrupting him and his classmates, but it was later discovered that the interviewee was actually an intern at CCTV. This sparked outrage online, and led to hackers releasing the interviewee's private information online. [3]
Religion
Americans have the freedom to speak and write freely, but recently it is becoming more important to use censorship when dealing with sensitive issues such as religion. In some cases where the release of inaccurate information has the potential to cause disruptive results, it may be ideal to withhold such controversial information. If censorship can protect and respect religious beliefs through censorship, then it may be the right option to choose. However, religion has often been used as a tool to speak out against censorship. These kinds of instances should be minimized because it hampers the overall growth of a community.
Social
Morally questionable content is often censored to protect the interests of families and children. Such content may include obscene language, material that shows violence, or sexual content. However, there are often ratings and other markers that can indicate to the viewer that such content is considered objectionable or distasteful. For example, movies in the United States (US) often have rankings of one or two letters that indicate what kinds of content one can expect to see in a particular movie. These ratings are given out by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). In the US, there are similar ratings given to Television shows, which are a part of the Television Parental Guidelines system.
Other times, censorship is used to protect the morals, values, and traditions of a particular culture or way of life. People sometimes argue that the media is responsible for introducing new cultures and ideas to the masses. This can be seen as a threat to customs of the local people in the community. While some people agree with this statement, others rely on the media to learn and better understand the values and traditions of other cultures.
Copyright Protection
The United States recognizes the Berne Convention, which states that all works should be automatically copyrighted, and abides by the Buenos Aires convention, which requires copyrighted material to have a copyright notice. The first United States copyright law was enacted in 1790, and it ran for fourteen years, plus one fourteen-year-long renewal. A copyright renewal refers to the process of extending a term of copyright to another term before it enters the public domain. This initial copyright law protected the authors of written works like books and maps and didn’t cover music, a medium that sparks many copyright lawsuits today. This may stem from the fact that at this point in time, music was limited to an analog form and was very difficult to reproduce. By 1998, television, movies and records were protected under the copyright laws in place in the United States. In this year, copyright was increased to run for one hundred and twenty five years, or the author’s life plus seventy years, and copyright infringement began being criminalized [4]
The current copyright model in the US protects the publishers and distributors of media by attempting to sanction/censor any transaction other than direct purchase that spreads copies of media. Considering a consumer's perspective in assessing value of media, it stand to reason that less restrictions of copy distribution would increase the maximum price point; if John can only burn his CD onto one computer, why would he pay as much as if he could transfer it between all of his media equipment[5]?
Research is mixed as to whether file sharing suppresses or increases the sale of music.Cite error: Closing</ref> missing for <ref> tag- ↑ Wikipedia: Censorship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship
- ↑ "Censorship and Access to Expression" The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics, 2008. [1]
- ↑ Regulators target Google for pornographic content... - China Digital Times [2]
- ↑ U.S. Copyright Office, (n.d.). United states copyright office: A brief introduction and history. Retrieved from website: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1a.html
- ↑ Snapper, John. The Matter of Plagarism: What, Why, and If? in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. Himma, K. and Tavani, H., eds. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience. 2008.
