Do you want to be in a club that courts prospective members like this?…Turkey demands that Germany censors satirical YouTube video about Erdogan

Read more Middle East Censorship News at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See  article from rt.com See video from YouTube

Ankara reportedly tried to pressurise Berlin into censorsing a satirical clip aired by German broadcaster NDR earlier this month.However, the show’s producers decided to amplify the message and released English and Turkish subtitled versions of the video criticizing the Turkish President. Following the broadcast of the satirical piece titled Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan on an NDR show titled Extra 3 on March 17, German Ambassador Martin Erdmann was summoned several days later to officially explain in length the reasons for the broadcaster’s behavior. An anonymous Turkish diplomat told AFP: We demanded that the programme be deleted. On Tuesday, the Foreign Office in Berlin said that Erdmann has been called in once again. However, during the meeting the German ambassador made it clear to the Turkish side that Germany is home to freedom of speech which it will protect. Erdmann said: The rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and the protection of fundamental freedoms, including press freedom… need to be protected. In the meantime, Extra 3 went out on a full-blown offensive against Erdogan’s demand. The program’s Facebook page shared an image of the request to stop showing the clip under the caption: Erdogan’s idea of ‘TV on demand’ . The satirical piece about The big boss from Bosporus, who is ripe for his great Ottoman Empire, starts off with criticizing Erdogan crackdown on freedom of speech. Erdogan is also criticized for the alleged shuffling of the electorate votes and cracking down on women. The controversy inevitably added to the popularity of the video, with the English version of the video on YouTube receiving over 1.7 million views in less than 24 hours after the news first emerged of Ankara summoning the German Ambassador.

Small victory…US small ads website, Backpage.com, wins appeal with the court agreeing that the website is not responsible for the posts added by users

Read more US Censorship News at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See  article from nswp.org

Advertising website Backpage.com, which includes small ads for sex workers, won an appeal on the 14 th of March, 2016. The ruling states that Backpage is not responsible for any trafficking that may happen because of the advertisements on their website.Backpage provides free or cheap advertisements and has been used a lot by sex workers since the removal of Craigslist in 2010. Ads are moved to the front using Bitcoin transactions after credit card companies were pressured to stop working for the website. In recent years, the website has been subject to multiple lawsuits in different states. The website has also been subject to hearings in the United States Congress, as NSWP reported here . Three young women who alleged they had been trafficked through ads on Backpage brought the civil case forward. They were all minors at the time the events occurred. As Mike Masnick reports at Techdirt , the case alleged that Backpage was responsible for this activity under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorisation Act (TVPRA) of 2008. The TVPRA states that, anyone who “knowingly benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value from participation in a venture which that person knew or should have known has engaged” in an act of sex trafficking. However, Backpage argued that they were not responsible because they are protected through section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 states that websites are not responsible for the actions of their users. The three women argued that Backpage was aware of and encouraged sex trafficking on their website. The court did not accept this assessment, upholding their protection under section 230.

Secondhand Lions…Cutting Edge Quick Trims Episode 28. BBFC category cuts for a PG rated cinema release

Read more News: Latest Cuts at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See video from YouTube

Secondhand Lions is a 2003 USA family comedy drama by Tim McCanlies. Starring Haley Joel Osment, Michael Caine and Robert Duvall. BBFC category cuts were required for a PG rated 2003 cinema release. Uncut and 12 rated on home video. Uncut and MPAA PG rated in the US. Summary Notes A boy named Walter is dropped by his mother Mae at his great-uncles’ house. Later,Walter will find out his great-uncles’ big secret. And rumors say that Hub & Garth, Walter’s great uncles, have stolen much gold & money. (some  say they stole it from Al Capone) Did they really steal that money or not? See video from YouTube

France demands that it should be the World’s internet censor…France ludicrously claims the right to censor the World’s internet and fines Google for not blocking Americans from viewing content censored in the EU

Read more EU Censorship News at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See article from engadget.com

Europe’s right to be forgotten is a nasty and arbitrary censorship power used to hide internet content such as past criminal history. Many think it tramples on the public’s right to know, as quite a few examples have born out. It seems that France and the EU thinks that such content should be censored worldwide, and have fined Google 100,000 euro for allowing non EU internet viewers to see information censored in the EU. Since EU laws don’t apply elsewhere, Google at first just deleted right to be forgotten requested results from its French domain. However, France pointed out that it would be easy to find the info on a different site and ordered the company to scrub results everywhere. In an attempted compromise, Google started omitting results worldwide as long as it determined, by geolocation, that the search was conducted from within France. But now EU internet censors have rejected that idea (as it would be easy to get around with a VPN) and fined Google effectively for allowing Americans to see content censored in the EU. Google commented: We disagree with the [regulator’s] assertion that it has the authority to control the content that people can access outside France. In its ruling, France’s CNIL censor says that geolocalizing search results does not give people effective, full protection of their right to be delisted … accordingly, the CNIL restricted committee pronounced a 100,000 euro fine against Google. Google plans to appeal the ruling.

Lost Business…BBFC bows out of rating cinema adverts

Read more BBFC News at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See  article from bbfc.co.uk See also cinemaadvertisingassociation.co.uk

From 31 March 2016, the BBFC will delegate to the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA) the regulation of all cinema advertisements in the UK. Following a Government consultation, the BBFC and the CAA agreed to end the dual regulation of advertisements shown in UK cinemas. Henceforth, the CAA will assess and classify all cinema advertisements. The BBFC retains its classification role in relation to trailers, public information films, campaigning films and all other theatrical works. DCMS carried out a public consultation in May 2012 on the future regulation of cinema advertising. At the time, the BBFC and the CAA both classified cinema advertisements. The BBFC and the CAA argued in favour of removing this dual regulation and duplication of responsibility. As a result, the BBFC has stepped back from the day-to-day classification of cinema advertisements and sub-contracted responsibility for classifying such advertisements to the CAA. In the event of there being any doubt as to whether a particular film should be considered an advertisement, the BBFC shall determine whether such film requires to be classified in accordance with its Classification Guidelines and will inform the CAA accordingly.

Daily Mail targeted at aged readers, not youngsters…Daily Mail let off by the advert censor for trailing a 15 rated ghost film before a One Direction music video

Read more ASA Watch at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See  article from asa.org.uk

a. A pre-roll video ad for the certificate 15 film Paranormal Activity – The Ghost Dimension , seen on 21 October 2015, on the Mail Online website http://www.dailymail.co.uk, before a clip relating to the boy band One Direction. b. The same ad was seen on a playlist of pre-selected Disney and music lyric videos accessed via the Vevo app on an Apple TV. The complainant, who believed the ads appeared before content likely to appeal to children, challenged whether the ads were responsibly targeted. parental controls that could have prevented the ad from being shown were available on the Apple TV device. ASA Assessment: Complaint not upheld We understood that the ad was for a certificate 15 film. We noted that the ad contained screams of a young girl who appeared to be possessed, with visuals that suggested supernatural activity and atmospheric music. We considered that the ad was serious in tone and that, while it would not cause fear or distress to older people (including the target demographic of 15- to 24-year-olds), it was unsuitable for display before content under 15s were likely to be watching. We understood that Paramount Pictures utilised a targeting strategy where the ad was served on music content that had been shown to be popular with 15 to 24-year-olds. Examples of artists used to target consumers included One Direction, Beyonce and Selena Gomez. We noted that the ad was further targeted by only being served to those with an online profile that indicated they were over the age of 15. We understood that ad (a) appeared before a clip about the popular boyband One Direction. Although we acknowledged that the group were popular with people of various ages, including under 15s, we considered that the Mail Online contained current affairs content that was not likely to appeal to children, and that ad (a) had therefore not been irresponsibly targeted before that clip on the site. We understood ad (b) was served before videos in a playlist that the complainant had created within her own Apple account. We understood that her playlist was likely to have been targeted because it featured videos by the selected artists and because she was signed into her Apple TV account which indicated she was over 15. We noted that the ad had appeared before videos from artists who would be popular with people of various ages, including under 15s, but that they appealed primarily to the target demographic of 15- to 24-year-olds. As such, we did not consider that the ad was placed within content specifically aimed at children or likely to appeal to them particularly. For those reasons, we concluded that the ads had not been irresponsibly targeted.

Responding to Blunt Criticism…Government reverses its homophobic ban on poppers

Read more UK Sex Shop News at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See  article from mirror.co.uk

The UK Government has decided to reverse its homophobic ban on poppers.Ministers had previously announced the alkyl nitrites would be outlawed next month under their far-reaching Psychoactive Substances Act. Now after robust criticism from Tory Crispin Blunt and Labour Andy Burnham the Home Office have announced that poppers will be excluded from the ban. In a silly attempt at saving face the said that it was advised that poppers do not directly stimulate or depress the central nervous system . which means they are not technically a psychoactive drug. Crime Creation Minister Karen Bradley accepted the advice and passed it on to police to ensure people are not criminalised. Before the government U-turn sex shops were due to face up to seven years’ jail for selling them when the Psychoactive Substances Act takes force next month. Crispin Blunt had told the Commons : There are some times when something is proposed which becomes personal to you and you realise the government is about to do something fantastically stupid. Theresa May has been criticised over the Act, which also bans laughing gas (right). And I think in those circumstances one has a duty to speak up. I use poppers, I out myself as a popper user, and would be directly affected by this legislation. I’m astonished then to find that it’s proposing to be banned and frankly so would many other gay men. And if I follow my own mindset reaction to this it simply serves to bring the whole law into disrepute. In a letter to Home Secretary Theresa May, Andy Burnham said poppers have beneficial health and relationship effects and were an important issue for the gay community.