Prior restraint is a legal term referring to a government's actions that prevent materials from being published. Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor The working conditions of Journalists in Algeria have evolved since the 1962 independence. Australia is a federation, and responsibility for censorship is divided between the states and the federal government Censorship in Belarus Freedom of press In 2007 Reporters Without Borders ranked Belarus 151st out of 168 countries in its global press freedom listing Censorship in Bhutan is comparable to its South Asian neighbours although not as focused or systematic as censorship in China. Censorship in Burma (or Myanmar refers to government policies in controlling and regulating certain information particularly on religious, ethnic, political In Canada the principles of Community standards and Public interests are the primary adjudicants of what may be published or broadcast by the media. Censorship in the People's Republic of China is the limiting or suppressing of the publishing dissemination and viewing of certain information in the People's Republic of China Censorship in Cuba has been reported on extensively and resulted in European Union sanctions as well as statements of protest from groups governments and noted individuals As with many Soviet-allied countries prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall the government of the former German Democratic Republic (German Deutsche Demokratische Republik) applied In standard conditions France does not have Censorship laws being a Liberal democracy respectful of Freedom of press. Censorship in Germany has taken many forms during the history of the region. Censorship in India mainly targets religious issues It is justified by the government as necessary to maintain communal harmony peace and tranquillity given the history of communal tension Censorship in Iran is the limiting or suppressing of the publishing dissemination and viewing of certain information in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although Ireland does not currently exercise much censorship in practice the state has wide-ranging laws which allow censorship and has specific laws covering Films, Israel has media censorship laws based on British emergency regulations from 1945 that apply to domestic media foreign newspapers and wire service transmissions from In Japan, Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and prohibits formal censorship Censorship is a growing concern for Malaysia as it attempts to adapt to a modern knowledge-based economy The Government of Pakistan censors all Internet traffic by means of Routing all connections through a central exchange which is administered by the Censorship has been a fundamental element of Portuguese national culture throughout the country's history. The United States Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Samoa states that "The law provides for freedom of speech and of the Censorship in Saudi Arabia is prevalent in the press and with internet access Censorship in Singapore mainly targets sexual political racial and religious issues as defined by an ever-shifting panoply of out-of-bounds markers. Censorship in South Asia can apply to books movies the Internet and other media North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) has a high degree of censorship and no Freedom of the press. Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced Sweden strongly protects freedom of speech and was a pioneer in officially abolishing Censorship. Censorship in the Republic of China ( Taiwan) was eliminated in 1987 Freedom of speech in Thailand was guaranteed in the articles 39 40 41 in the 1997 Constitution. Censorship in Tunisia has been an issue since the country gained independence in 1956. Freedom of expression in Turkey is regulated by domestic and international legislation which Censorship in the United Kingdom has a long history with variously stringent and lax laws in place at different times although a much more liberal approach has been taken in recent years According to the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index the United States is currently ranked 48th in the world in terms of press freedom Freedom of speech is the concept of the inherent human right to voice one's opinion publicly without fear of Censorship or Punishment Advertising regulation refers to the Laws and rules defining the ways in which products can be advertised in a particular region Editing of anime in American distribution describes the process of altering Anime to prepare it to be distributed in the United States and forms part of the process Many societies have banned certain Books This is a partial list of books that have been banned. For nearly the entire History of film production certain films have been either Boycotted by political and religious groups or literally banned by a Regime A re-edited film is a Film that has been edited from the original theatrical release Internet censorship is control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet. Censorship of Music, the practice of censoring Music from the public may take the form of partial or total censorship with the latter banning the music entirely Similar to other forms of media Video games have been the subject of debate and Censorship. Censorship on MTV has been the subject of debate for years MTV the first and most popular Music Television network in the U Book burning (a category of biblioclasm or book destruction is the practice of destroying often ceremoniously, one or more copies of a book or other written material A bleep censor (or " bleeping " is the replacement of verbal Profanity with a beep sound (usually a) in television or radio Content-control software, also known as censorware or web filtering software, is a term for software designed and optimized for controlling what content Expurgation is a form of Censorship by way of purging anything noxious offensive sinful or erroneous usually from an artistic work Pixelization is a video- and image-editing technique where an image or part of it is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution Postal censorship is the Inspection or examination of Mail, most often by Governments that can include opening reading or marking of covers, Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own work ( Blog, Book (s Film (s or other means of expression out To Whitewash is to gloss over or cover up vices crimes or to exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data A gag order (or suppression order) is an order sometimes a legal order by a court or government other times a private order by an employer or other institution restricting Corporate censorship is Censorship by Corporations the sanctioning of speech by spokespersons employees and business associates by threat of monetary loss loss Censorship in Italy under Fascism Censorship in Italy was not created with Fascism, nor did it end with it but it had heavy influence in the life of Italians Political censorship exists when a Government attempts to conceal distort or falsify information that its citizens receive by suppressing or crowding out political news Censorship by religion is a form of Censorship where Freedom of expression is controlled or limited using Religious authority or on the basis of the teachings Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. Censorship that requires a person to seek governmental permission in the form of a license or imprimatur before publishing anything constitutes prior restraint every time permission is denied. Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor An Imprimatur is an official declaration from the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church that a literary or similar work is free from error in matters of Roman Catholic More recently, prior restraint has often taken the form of an injunction or other governmental order prohibiting the publication of a specific document or subject. An injunction is an Equitable remedy in the form of a Court order, whereby a party is required to do or interact with in certain ways all right or to refrain from Sometimes, the government becomes aware of a forthcoming publication on a particular subject and seeks to prevent it. In other cases, the government attempts to halt ongoing publication and prevent its resumption. These injunctions are also usually considered to be cases of prior restraint, because future publications are stopped before they start.
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Anglo-American legal tradition
Blackstone and early views
In William Blackstone’s Commentaries “Freedom of the Press” is defined as the right to be free from prior restraints. Sir William Blackstone (originally pronounced Blexstun ( 10 July 1723 &ndash 14 February 1780) was an English Jurist and The Commentaries on the Laws of England are an influential 18th century treatise on the Common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally In addition, he held that a person should not be punished for speaking or writing the truth, with good motives and for justifiable ends. (However, truth alone was not considered a sufficient justification, if published with bad motives. )
- ”The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state; but this consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications, and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published. Every freeman has an [283 U. S. 697, 714] undoubted right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public; to forbid this, is to destroy the freedom of the press; but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous or illegal, he must take the consequence of his own temerity. " (4 Bl. Com. 151, 152. )
This view was the common legal understanding at the time the US constitution was adopted. The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. Only later have the concepts of freedom of speech and the press been extended (in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries sharing their legal tradition) to protect honest error, or truth even if published for questionable reasons. Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation. Freedom Constitutional or statutory protections pertaining to freedom of the press The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located
Judicial view
Prior restraint is often considered a particularly oppressive form of censorship in Anglo-American jurisprudence because it prevents the restricted material from being heard or distributed at all. Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor Other forms of restrictions on expression (such as suits for libel, slander, defamation, or actions for criminal libel) generally involve punishment only after the offending material has been published. While such punishment might lead to a chilling effect, legal commentators argue that at least such actions do not directly impoverish the marketplace of ideas. The " marketplace of ideas " is a rationale for Freedom of expression based on an Analogy to the economic concept of a Free market Prior restraint, on the other hand, takes an idea or material completely out of the marketplace. Thus it is often considered to be the most extreme form of censorship. The United States Supreme Court expressed this view in Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart by noting:
- " The thread running through all these cases is that prior restraints on speech and publication are the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. In the 1976 landmark case Nebraska Press Association v Stuart,, the Court addressed the Constitutionality of an order prohibiting the media from publishing A criminal penalty or a judgment in a defamation case is subject to the whole panoply of protections afforded by deferring the impact of the judgment until all avenues of appellate review have been exhausted. Only after judgment has become final, correct or otherwise, does the law's sanction become fully operative.
- "A prior restraint, by contrast and by definition, has an immediate and irreversible sanction. If it can be said that a threat of criminal or civil sanctions after publication 'chills' speech, prior restraint 'freezes' it at least for the time. "
Also, most of the early struggles for freedom of the press were against forms of prior restraint. Freedom Constitutional or statutory protections pertaining to freedom of the press Thus prior restraint came to be looked upon with a particular horror, and Anglo-American courts became particularly unwilling to approve it, when they might approve other forms of press restriction.
Prior restraint in the United States
Near v. Minnesota
The first notable case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled on a prior restraint issue was Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697, (1931). The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Near v Minnesota, 283 US 697 (1931 was a United States Supreme Court decision that recognized the Freedom of the press from Prior restraints Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past Court cases either in special series of books called reporters Year 1931 ( MCMXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In that case the Court held prior restraints to be unconstitutional, except in extremely limited circumstances such as national security issues. The ruling came about after Jay Near's newspaper, The Saturday Press, a small local paper that ran countless exposés of Minneapolis's elected officials’ alleged illicit activities, including gambling, racketeering, and graft, was silenced by the Minnesota Gag Law of 1925, also known as The Public Nuisance Law. The Saturday Press was the name of at least two periodicals One was run by Jay Near an anti-Jew anti-labor anti-Communist small-time editor Near v Minnesota, 283 US 697 (1931 was a United States Supreme Court decision that recognized the Freedom of the press from Prior restraints Year 1925 ( MCMXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Near’s critics called his paper a scandal sheet, and alleged that he tried to extort money threatening to publish attacks on officials and others. In the Near case the Court held that the state had no power to enjoin the publication of the paper in this way – that any such action would be unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Constitutionality is the status of a law, a procedure or an act's accordance with the laws or guidelines set forth in the applicable Constitution. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the United States Bill of Rights that expressly prohibits the United States Congress It wrote:
- ”If we cut through mere details of procedure, the operation and effect of the statute in substance is that public authorities may bring the owner or publisher of a newspaper or periodical before a judge upon a charge of conducting a business of publishing scandalous and defamatory matter-in particular that the matter consists of charges against public officers of official dereliction-and, unless the owner or publisher is able and disposed to bring competent evidence to satisfy the judge that the charges are true and are published with good motives and for justifiable ends, his newspaper or periodical is suppressed and further publication is made punishable as a contempt. This is of the essence of censorship. ”
And
- ”The statute in question cannot be justified by reason of the fact that the publisher is permitted to show, before injunction issues, that the matter published is true and is published with good motives and for justifiable ends. … it would be but a step to a complete system of censorship. … The preliminary freedom, by virtue of the very reason for its existence, does not depend, as this court has said, on proof of truth. (Patterson v. Colorado 205 U. S. 454, 462)”.
This was an extension of the Court’s earlier views, which had followed Blackstone. In Patterson v. Colorado, the Court had written: “In the first place, the main purpose of such constitutional provisions is 'to prevent all such previous restraints upon publications as had been practiced by other governments,' and they do not prevent the subsequent punishment of such as may be deemed contrary to the public welfare. ” (quoted in the Near decision). The Near decision was the first time that it was held that even alleged untruth or malicious intent would not be sufficient reason to impose prior restraints. Near was decided 5-4, and the four dissenting justices strongly approved of the "gag law", and felt that the nature of the articles in the Saturday Press, including their recurrent anti-Semitism, their frequent (allegedly false) accusations of official misconduct, and their disrespectful and confrontational tone, made them unworthy of protection. Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility But this view did not prevail. After the Near decision, newspapers had a clearly established freedom to criticize public officials without fear of retribution, even when charges made by the papers could not be proven in court. Newspapers could still be punished through libel laws, if they published material found to be untrue. It should be noted that the "Gag Law" was unique in the United States at that time, and even in Minnesota had only been used on two occasions. Indeed the Court commented on the unusual nature of the proceeding in its decision.
The Court in Near left open the possibility of prior restraints for various exceptional purposes, such as national security, control of obscenity, and the like. It wrote:
- "…the protection even as to previous restraint is not absolutely unlimited. But the limitation has been recognized only in exceptional cases. 'When a nation is at war many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right. ' (Schenck v. United States, 249 U. S. 47, 52 , 39 S. Ct. 247, 249). No one would question but that a government might prevent actual obstruction to its recruiting service or the publication of the sailing dates of transports or the number and location of troops. On similar grounds, the primary requirements of decency may be enforced against obscene publications. The security of the community life may be protected against incitements to acts of violence and the overthrow by force of orderly government. "
In a later case (Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart), the Court wrote:
- "The principles enunciated in Near were so universally accepted that the precise issue did not come before us again until Organization for a Better Austin v. In the 1976 landmark case Nebraska Press Association v Stuart,, the Court addressed the Constitutionality of an order prohibiting the media from publishing Keefe (402 U. S. 415) (1971). Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. There the state courts had enjoined the petitioners from picketing or passing out literature of any kind in a specified area. Noting the similarity to Near v. Minnesota, a unanimous Court held:
- "Here, as in that case, the injunction operates, not to redress alleged private wrongs, but to suppress, on the basis of previous publications, distribution of literature `of any kind' in a city of 18,000.
- . . . . .
- "Any prior restraint on expression comes to this Court with a `heavy presumption' against its constitutional validity. Carroll v. Princess Anne, 393 U. S. 175, 181 (1968); Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan, 372 U. S. 58, 70 (1963). Respondent thus carries a heavy burden of showing justification for the imposition of such a restraint. "
This shows the strong later acceptance of what had been a disputed decision when it was first handed down.
Wartime censorship
During World War I, and to a greater extent during World War II, war correspondents accompanied military forces, and their reports were subject to advance censorship to preserve military secrets. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A war correspondent is a Journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. The extent of such censorship was not generally challenged, and no major court case arose from this issue. In later conflicts the degree to which war reporting was subject to censorship varied, and in some cases it has been alleged that the censorship was as much political as military in purpose. This was particularly true during the Vietnam War and the invasion of Grenada. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Grenada (grɪˈneɪdə is an Island nation that includes the southern Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea.
Such issues arose again during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, when many embedded reporters accompanied soldiers as they made their way into the country. The 2003 invasion of Iraq involved unprecedented media coverage These reports were subject to censorship in that they were not allowed to reveal a unit's exact location.
Pentagon papers case
In the Pentagon Papers case (New York Times Co. v. United States, 1971), the Nixon administration sought to enjoin the New York Times and the Washington Post newspapers from publishing excerpts from a top-secret United States Department of Defense history of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945 to 1971. The Pentagon Papers is the popular name for a 14000-page top-secret United States government report about the history of the Government's internal planning and policy New York Times Co v United States, 403 US 713 ( 1971) was a United States Supreme Court Per curiam decision Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. The Washington Post is the largest and most circulated Newspaper in Washington D The United States Department of Defense ( DOD or DoD) is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. The government tried to use the “national security” exception that had been suggested in the Near decision. The Supreme Court struck down the injunctions. However, the decision was fragmented, with nine separate opinions being filed in the case. It was not clear at the time what the effect would be on future prior restraint cases.
The H-Bomb Article Cases
Scientific American
On March 15, 1950 Scientific American published an article by Hans Bethe about thermonuclear fusion, the basic process that makes stars shine, and that is used in the hydrogen bomb (or H-Bomb). Events 44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Scientific American is a Popular science magazine, published (first weekly and later monthly since August 28, 1845, making it Hans Albrecht Bethe (/hans ˈalbʀɛçt ˈbeːtə/ ( July 2 1906 &ndash March 6, 2005) was a German - American Physicist In Physics and Nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple- like charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the The AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) ordered publication stopped. The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control Several thousand copies of the printed magazine were destroyed, and the article was published with some text removed at the direction of the AEC. At this time there existed in the United States no workable designs for a hydrogen bomb (the Teller-Ulam design would not come into existence for another year), but the U. The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the S. was engaged in a crash program to develop one. Gerard Piel, the publisher of Scientific American, complained that the AEC was "suppressing information which the American People need in order to form intelligent judgments. Gerard Piel (? 1915 – ? September 2004 was one of the co-founders and the long-term publisher of the modern incarnation of Scientific American magazine " Bethe, however, declined to support this complaint, and the suppression of the unedited version of the article was never litigated.
The Progressive
In February 1979, an anti-nuclear activist named Howard Morland drafted an article for The Progressive magazine, entitled "The H-Bomb Secret: To Know How is to Ask Why. Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) Howard Morland is a United States journalist and Activist against Nuclear weapons born in 1942 who in 1979 became famous for apparently discovering the The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics and culture with a pronounced leftist perspective " The article was an attempt by Morland to publish what he thought the "H-Bomb Secret" was (the Teller-Ulam design), derived from various unclassified sources and informal interviews with scientists and plant workers. The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the Through a number of complicated circumstances, the Department of Energy attempted to enjoin its publication, alleging that the article contained sensitive technical information which was (1) probably derived from classified sources, or (2) became a classified source when compiled in a correct way, even if it were derived from unclassified sources, based on the "born secret" provisions of the 1954 Atomic Energy Act. The United States Department of Energy ( DOE) is a Cabinet -level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy " Born secret " and " born classified " are both terms which refer to a policy of information being classified from the moment of its inception usually Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) A preliminary injunction was granted against the article's publication, and Morland and the magazine appealed (United States v. The Progressive, et al.). United States of America v Progressive Inc Erwin Knoll Samuel Day Jr After a lengthy set of hearings (one in camera, another open to the public), and attracting considerable attention as a "freedom of the press" case, the government dropped its charges after it claimed the case became moot when another bomb speculator (Chuck Hansen) published his own views on the "secret" (many commentators speculated that they were afraid the Atomic Energy Act would become overturned under such scrutiny). In Camera was a musical project of Andrew Gray, who later formed The Wolfgang Press. Freedom Constitutional or statutory protections pertaining to freedom of the press The article was duly published in The Progressive (in the November 1979 issue) six months after it was originally scheduled, and remains available in libraries. Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) (As an aside, Morland himself decided that he did not have the secret, and published a "corrected" version a month later. )
Judicial "gag" orders
Frequently a court will impose advance restrictions on lawyers, parties, and on the press in reporting of trials, particularly criminal trials. These restrictions are intended to protect the right to a fair trial, and to avoid interference with the judicial process. Nonetheless, they are a form of prior restraint, and the press in particular has often objected to such orders.
In Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart, (427 U. In the 1976 landmark case Nebraska Press Association v Stuart,, the Court addressed the Constitutionality of an order prohibiting the media from publishing S. 539) (1976), the United States Supreme Court overturned such a "gag order". Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. It ruled that alternative methods to help ensure a fair trial, short of prior restraints, might have been used, and that it was not all clear, under the circumstances, that the gag order would have the desired effect even if upheld. It also made a particular point of asserting that orders restricting reporting on events that occur in open court are not permissible. It wrote:
- "To the extent that this order prohibited the reporting of evidence adduced at the open preliminary hearing, it plainly violated settled principles: '[T]here is nothing that proscribes the press from reporting events that transpire in the courtroom. ' Sheppard v. Maxwell, (384 U. Sheppard v Maxwell, 384 US 333 ( 1966) was a United States Supreme Court case that examined the rights of Freedom of the press S. , at 362 -363)".
The Court's conclusion in this case reaffirmed its general opposition to prior restraints, and indicated that judicial gag orders would be sustained only in exceptional cases. It wrote:
- "Our analysis ends as it began, with a confrontation between prior restraint imposed to protect one vital constitutional guarantee and the explicit command of another that the freedom to speak and publish shall not be abridged. We reaffirm that the guarantees of freedom of expression are not an absolute prohibition under all circumstances, but the barriers to prior restraint remain high and the presumption against its use continues intact. "
In the United Kingdom judicial gag orders are much more frequently employed, and the strong prejudice against them reflected in the above quote does not seem to be felt by British courts. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Other countries also employ such orders more freely than the United States does. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
The DeCSS Case
In October 1999 the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), learned of the availability on the internet of DeCSS, a program intended to allow DVDs to be viewed on operating systems that lacked commercial DVD players, and to that end, bypassing the encryption system known as the Content Scrambling System (CSS) generally used on commercial DVDs. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) DeCSS is a Computer program capable of decrypting content on a DVD -Video disc encrypted using the Content-Scrambling System (CSS DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is Content Scramble System ( CSS) is a Digital Rights Management (DRM scheme used on almost all commercially produced DVD -Video discs The MPAA responded by sending out a number of cease and desist letters to web site operators who posted the software. A cease and desist (also called C & D) is an order or request to halt an activity or else face legal action In January 2000, a lawsuit was filed against the publisher of the online magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, and others. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. 2600 The Hacker Quarterly is a quarterly American publication that specializes in publishing technical information on a variety of subjects including telephone This case is known as Universal v. Reimerdes. Universal City Studios Inc v Reimerdes 111 F Supp 2d 294 ( SD
The suit asked for an injunction under the U. S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibiting the 2600 site from posting the DeCSS code. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA is a United States Copyright Law which implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property It also asked for a prohibition on linking to other sites that posted the code.
The injunction was issued and sustained in an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the constitutionality of the DMCA was upheld. The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. The district court wrote that the computer code "… does more, in other words, than convey a message" and that "… it has a distinctly functional, non-speech aspect in addition to reflecting the thoughts of the programmers. " The appeals court later wrote that "Under the circumstances amply shown by the record, the injunction's linking prohibition validly regulates the Appellants' opportunity instantly to enable anyone anywhere to gain unauthorized access to copyrighted movies on DVDs" thus upholding the injunction against publishing links to the DeCSS code in these circumstances.
The appeals court did consider the prior restraint and free expression issues, but treated the DeCSS program primarily as a means of evading copyright protection, and under that theory, held that the 2600 site could be permanently enjoined from posting the DeCSS code, and from linking to sites that posted it in an attempt to make the code available. The case was not taken to the Supreme Court.
Theater and motion pictures
There is a long history of prior restraints on the theater; and, in the United Kingdom, plays still required a license until well into the twentieth century. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This attitude was early transferred to motion pictures, and prior restraints have been retained for films long after they have been dropped for other forms of publication. Both the state of Maryland and the province of Ontario retained film censor boards to a particularly late date. Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec However, Maryland abandoned its board in the 1980s, and a 2004 decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal, reversing a previous trend in favor of the Ontario Film Classification Board's right to insist on cuts, ruled that the province had no right to insist on cuts as a condition of release in view of the fact that Canadian federal obscenity laws were sufficient to deal with obscene material. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Obscenity (in Latin obscenus, meaning "foul repulsive detestable" is a term that is most often used in a legal context to In May, 2005, the Ontario government ended the power of the Classification Board to insist on cuts, requiring all films with adult content that were not judged obscene to be rated "R" for adults only.
In many countries, legally effective rating systems are in effect. A motion picture rating system categorizes films with regard to suitability for audiences in terms of issues such as sex violence substance abuse profanity impudence or other types See History of British Film Certificates for information on film restrictions in the UK. This article chronicles the history of British film certificates.
Industry codes
Many industries have formulated to "voluntary" codes limiting the content of expression. Examples of these include the Hays Code, which affected Hollywood films from the 1930s to the 1950s, and the Comics Code, which was designed to deal with the rise of horror comics in the 1950s and lasted into the 1970s. For the television broadcasting term please see Production code number. The Comics Code Authority ( CCA) is part of the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA and was created to regulate the content of comic books in the United The movie rating system currently in effect in the United States, run by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is another such industry code. The Motion Picture Association of America's film-rating system is used in the U Such codes have generally been adopted with the twofold purposes of forestalling possible government intervention, and avoiding unfavorable publicity or boycotts. While such codes are not generally enforced by governmental action, they are generally enforced on content producers by gatekeepers in the marketing chain: studios in the case of the Hayes Code; distributors in the case of the Comics Code; and theater chains in the case of the MPAA rating system. In popular usage "marketing" is the promotion of products especially Advertising and Branding However in professional usage the term has a wider meaning of Content producers have often objected to these codes, and argue that they are, in effect, a form of prior restraint.
See also
External links
- "Prior Restraint" on Findlaw
- "Prior Restraints and the Presumption of Unconstitutionality"
- "Prior Restraint" by Barry O. According to the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index the United States is currently ranked 48th in the world in terms of press freedom Tory v Cochran, 544 US 734 ( 2005) is a United States Supreme Court case involving libel Media Transparency is the concept of determining how and why Information is conveyed through various means Westmoreland v CBS was a $120 million libel suit brought by William Westmoreland against CBS Television for the televising of a documentary entitled Hines, R. Kurt Wilke, & Sarah M. Lahr
- "Prior Restraint" from the Massachusetts Bar Association's Journalists' Handbook.
- Howard Morland's account of The Progressive case and the events leading up to it.
- United States of America v. Progressive, Inc. The decision of the lower court in this case. The appeal was denied as moot after the government dropped the case.
- Wisconsin Free Speech Legacy's extensive discussion of the case and the stages it went through
- "The Holocaust Bomb: a Question of Time" by Howard Morland. Later comment by the author of the original "H-bomb" article.
- "The H-Bomb Secret" by Howard Morland (as published in The Progressive) This link includes the entire text of the November 1979 issue of the magazine, most of which was devoted to this subject. Howard Morland is a United States journalist and Activist against Nuclear weapons born in 1942 who in 1979 became famous for apparently discovering the Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) It includes articles about the court case, public response to the case, and why The Progressive insisted on publishing the article as originally written.
- Applied Cryptography Source Code Disk appeal
- "The First Amendment Handbook: Prior Restraints" Deals largely with Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart.
- The text of Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart from Findlaw
Bibliography
- Born Secret: The H-Bomb, the Progressive Case and National Security Devolpi (Pergamon) 1981
- The Secret that Exploded, Howard Morland (Random House) 1981 About the Progressive case. Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Howard Morland is a United States journalist and Activist against Nuclear weapons born in 1942 who in 1979 became famous for apparently discovering the Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981
- Minnesota Rag: Corruption, Yellow Journalism, and the Case That Saved Freedom of the Press, Fred W. Friendly (University of Minnesota Press) 1982 A history of the Near case. Fred Friendly should not be confused with Ed Friendly. Fred W Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar)
- The Good Guys, The Bad Guys and The First Amendment: Free speech vs. fairness in broadcasting by Fred W. Friendly (Random House; 1976) (ISBN 0-394-49725-2)
- Make No Law : The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment Anthony Lewis (Random House) 1991 A history of the case that established the actual malice standard for libel of public officials. Fred Friendly should not be confused with Ed Friendly. Fred W Anthony Lewis (born March 27, 1927, New York City) is a prominent liberal intellectual writing for The New York Times op-ed Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Actual malice in United States Law is a condition required to establish libel against public officials or public figures and is defined as "knowledge that the
- Beyond the Burning Cross: A Landmark Case of Race, Censorship, and the First Amendment Edward J. Cleary (Vintage) 1995 A History of R. Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 A. V. v. St Paul a "hate crime" case.
- The Day the Presses Stopped: A History of the Pentagon Papers Case David Rudenstine (University of California Press) 1996
- American Aurora: A Democratic-Republican Returns : The Suppressed History of Our Nation's Beginnings and the Heroic Newspaper That Tried to Report It Richard N. David Rudenstine is the Dean of the Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law as well as the school's Sheldon H Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Rosenfeld (St. Martin's Press) 1997 A newspaper suppression case in the early years of the United States. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar
- Press Censorship in Elizabethan England Cyndia Susan Clegg (Cambridge University Press) 1997
- Flag Burning and Free Speech: The Case of Texas v. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Johnson Robert Justin Goldstein (University Press of Kansas) 2000
- The Law of Public Communication Kent R. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Middleton, William E. Lee, and Bill F. Chamberlin (Allyn & Bacon) 2003 A general survey of the current US law. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.
- The Tyranny of Printers": Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic Jeffrey L. Pasley (University Press of Virginia) 2003
- Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from The Sedition Act of 1798 to The War on Terrorism Geoffrey R. Stone (W. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Geoffrey R Stone (1946 is an American law professor He is currently the Edward H W. Norton & Company) 2004
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