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Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1996 10:26:14 -0800 (PST)
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From: Peter Saint James <[email protected]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Freedom to Read Week (CA) and "Black Thursday" WWW page
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas


This appeared on another list I'm on.  Besides giving you a view of a (bad)
future, it is an example of an HTTP proxy which could also be used for
anonymous browsing.  -  Bill



>          ELECTRONIC FRONTIER CANADA (EFC) --- PRESS RELEASE
>
>(For immediate release --- February 27, 1996)
>
>
>                "Freedom to Read" in Cyberspace
>
>        A few members of Electronic Frontier Canada have
>        developed an amusing and interactive Web page
>        to celebrate 'Freedom to Read Week'.
>
>The Internet, some people say, is out of control and in need
>of strict government regulation.  But just what might a censored
>Internet look like?
>
>One possible answer to that question is given by the "Black Thursday Machine",
>an interactive Web page that was the brainchild of three multimedia designers:
>Brian Hall, Andrew Chak, and Rob Stanley.  Stanley is also a member of the
>online civil-liberties organization Electronic Frontier Canada.
>
>"Black Thursday Machine" Web pages:     http://www.vex.net/~brian/Censored
>                                        http://www.hyperactive.net/censored
>
>The "Black Thursday Machine" invites Internet surfers who visit the site
>to type in the address of their favourite Web page, to see what it might
>look like if a Canadian version of the new and controversial American
>"Communications Decency Act" were put into effect.
>
>The "Black Thursday Machine" will fetch any page you request, but it
>presents you with a censored version.  The algorithm it uses is simple
>and unsophisticated -- but these are the same kinds of rules recently
>used by America Online and CompuServe when they blocked access to
>discussions including the words "gay", "sex", or "breasts".
>
>"Any naughty word is replaced by the word 'CENSORED' in bright red,"
>says Rob Stanley, who was the chief programmer.  Which words are on
>the forbidden list?  "It works just like government censorship,"
>says Stanley, "you don't get to choose.  It's an arbitrary process."
>
>The Web site has links to a few representative examples, including pages
>about "Breast Feeding", "Safe Sex", "Planned Parenthood", and help for
>troubled "Gay Youth", that are rendered almost unintelligible by the
>crude censorship.
>
>"Despite well-intentioned desires to protect children,"
>says Jeffrey Shallit, vice-president of Electronic Frontier Canada,
>"adults need to be able to communicate freely about controversial issues.
>Otherwise, we'll reduce the level of discussion on the Net to
>Winnie-the-Pooh."  Paraphrasing a U.S. Supreme Court Justice,
>Shallit said that censoring the net to protect children is
>like "burning down your house in order to roast a pig".
>
>"The 'Black Thursday Machine' demonstrates the ravages of censorship
>in an amusing and provocative manner", says David Jones, president of EFC.
>"I hope people will take a moment during 'Freedom to Read Week' to visit
>the web site because it illustrates what the wired world might look like
>if artistic expression, vigourous debate, and all the subtley of human
>communication and interaction were subjected to the cold, calculating,
>and heartless scrutiny of a machine that filters out what the government
>might deem as controversial, offensive, or just plain inappropriate for
>the eyes of its citizens."
>
>
> * Why "Black Thursday" ?
>
>New and harsh restrictions on what can be communicated through American
>computer networks were signed into law on Thursday, February 8th, 1996
>-- "Black Thursday".  "This sent a shock wave through the Internet,
>where concerned individuals around the world "Painted the Web Black"
>for 48 hours as a sign of protest," says David Jones, EFC president.
>
>
> * About "Freedom to Read Week" in Canada (February 26 to March 3)
>
>"The purpose of 'Freedom to Read Week'," says Sandra Bernstein,
>"is to encourage Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment
>to intellectual freedom, as guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and
>Freedoms."  Sandra Bernstein, also a member of Electronic Frontier Canada,
>represents the Periodical Writers Association of Canada on the
>Book and Periodical Council's Freedom of Expression Committee,
>which sponsors 'Freedom to Read Week' each year.
>
>Bernstein also maintains an online "Chronicle" which documents challenges
>to Freedom of Expression in Canada:
>
>        http://www.efc.ca/pages/chronicle
>
>-30-
>
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>EFC Contact Information:
>
>
>Electronic Frontier Canada
>
> Dr. David Jones        phone: (905) 525-9140 x24689    fax: (905) 546-9995
>        email: [email protected]
>
> Dr. Jeff Shallit       phone: (519) 888-4804           fax: (519) 885-1208
>        email: [email protected]
>
> Dr. Richard Rosenberg  phone: (604) 822-4142           fax: (604) 822-5485
>        email: [email protected]
>
>
>Electronic Frontier Canada, online archives:
>
> URL:   http://www.efc.ca/
>
>
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>Other Contact Information:
>
>- - - - -
>
>Multimedia designers who dreamed up the "Black Thursday Machine":
>
>  -- programming, engine development.
>Rob Stanley,            phone: (416) 928-9503 (home), (416) 960-8400 (work)
>        email:  [email protected]
>
>  -- graphical look, interface, design, and copy
>Andrew Chak,            phone: (416) 469-4154 (home), (416) 448-2403 (work)
>        email:  [email protected]                   fax: (416) 469-0914
>
>  -- concept development, design
>Brian Hall,             phone: (416) 504-0908 (home), (416) 351-1040 (work)
>        email:   [email protected],         pager: (416) 337-3377
>
>These fellows also dreamed up the award-winning "Canadianizer"
>at the following URL:   http://www.io.org/~themaxx/canada/can.html
>
>- - - - -
>
>Additional sponsors of the "Black Thursday Machine:
>
>
>HyperActive NetMedia    http://www.hyperactive.net
>Vex.Net                 http://www.vex.net
>Passport Online         http://www.passport.ca
>
>- - - - -
>
>Further Contact Information for 'Freedom to Read Week' in general
>
>
>Freedom to Read Week -- Web page URL:   http://www.cycor.ca/pwac/freeweek.htm
>
>Freedom to Read Week  -- Publicist, Sarah Thring
>phone:  (416) 480-2533,  fax:  (416) 480-2434.
>
>Sandra Bernstein,       phone:  (416) 465-0798
>email: [email protected],  URL: http://www.inforamp.net/~sandrab/home.htm
>
>Book and Periodical Council, 35 Spadina Road Toronto, ON Canada M5R 2S9
>email:  [email protected]
>phone:  (416) 975 9366,  fax:  (416) 975 1839
>
>Periodical Writers Assoc. of Canada, 54 Wolseley St, 2nd Floor, Toronto M5T 1A5
>email:  [email protected]    URL:  http://www.cycor.ca/PWAC/Words.htm
>phone:  (416) 504-1645,  fax:  (416) 703-0059