folder_open iconWanted: Examples of Copyright Being Used For Censorship

Permalink: http://questioncopyright.org/censorship_examples_wanted
Posted by kfogel | Posted in: Syndicated Articles | Comments(0) August 2009

p style=text-align: center;a href=/censorship_examples_wanted img src=/cm/images/censorship-small.jpg border=0 alt=(c)ensorship //a/p pDo you know some great examples of copyright being used to censor?/p pIf so, please share them by a href=/comment/reply/327#comment-form commenting here/a or by a href=/contact sending us email/a. We're putting together a presentation about the equivalence between copyright and censorship, and need to have an overwhelming number of examples at handnbsp;mdash;nbsp;enough to make it clear that the ones we choose to highlight have been picked from an ocean of candidates. We need compelling examples because the most important ones are the hardest to show: when an artist unconsciously steers away from an idea because of rights issues, that emis/em censorship, but it is internalized and thus invisible to the outside world. We need examples to help make clear the link between visible, externally-imposed censorship and the much more common self-imposed censorship that copyright law encourages./p pHere are a few:/p ul li pJ.D. Salinger a href=http://questioncopyright.org/salinger_censors uses copyright to censor/a another author./p /li li pThe James Joyce Estate a href=http://www.fepproject.org/news/joyce.html bans non-cooperating editions/a of Joyce's works./p /li li pHow the play citeBlanche Survives Katrina in a FEMA Trailer Named Desire/cite ran into a href=http://www.fepproject.org/commentaries/blanchesurviveskatrina.html a streetcar named censorship/a./p /li li pThe story of citeSita Sings the Blues/cite: how a href=/nina_paley_sita_interview copyright almost prevented a popular and award-winning film/a from reaching audiences./p /li li pThe story of citeEyes on the Prize/cite: how a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_on_the_Prize copyright prevented an important film/a from reaching audiences for years./p /li li pThe same story yet again: copyright prevented a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_of_Sheep this film/a from being released for 30 years./p /li li pema href=/comment/reply/327#comment-form ...help us dig up more.../a/em/p /li /ul pThe audience we're aiming at is groups already concerned about freedom of expression who may not have considered copyright as a systemic form of censorship. For example, the American Library Association's a href=http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/ifrt/index.cfm Intellectual Freedom Roundtable/a, the a href=http://www.indexoncensorship.org/ Index On Censorship/a, and the a href=http://authorsguild.org/ Authors Guild/a. Note that such groups are often comprised of writers and artists who came of age in the pre-Internet, copyright-controlled era, so it is especially important to have an overwhelming amount of data to show that there emis/em a problem here./p pThe a href=http://www.fepproject.org/ Free Expression Policy Project/a seems to already have copyright-based censorship on their radar screen; there's probably some good stuff in the archives there. Also, if you're an artist who has been affected by this kind of censorship, we emdefinitely/em want to hear from you!/p pa href=http://questioncopyright.org/censorship_examples_wanted target=_blankread more/a/p
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folder_open iconHelp Us Brainstorm This Grant Application!

Permalink: http://questioncopyright.org/warhol_grant
Posted by Bryan Andrews | Posted in: Syndicated Articles | Comments(0) August 2009

p style=text-align: center;img src=/cm/images/censorship-small.jpg border=0 alt=(c)ensorship //p pThere's a grant out there that's practically begging QuestionCopyright.org to apply, from the a href=http://www.warholfoundation.org/grant/overview.html Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts/a. This is the paragraph that jumps out (emphasis added):/p blockquotepGrants are also made to support efforts to strengthen areas that directly affect the context in which artists work. emIn 2006 the Foundation formally designated one of its grants The Wynn Kramarsky Freedom of Artistic Expression Award to recognize the work of organizations with a deep-seated commitment to preserving and defending the First Amendment rights of artists./em Named in honor of the Foundation's former Board Chair, the grant rewards outstanding advocacy, legal, and curatorial efforts on behalf of those whose rights to free expression have been challenged.../p /blockquote pMaybe they're not thinking right now of copyright as a force for censorshipnbsp;mdash;nbsp;but explaining that is a central part of our mission, and we might as well start with this grant application (see the a href=/salinger_censors previous post/a, for example). QuestionCopyright might have a shot at getting a good project funded here, and we'd like your help brainstorming some possibilities./p pOne idea is to propose as a project the parts of our Minute Memes proposal that deal directly with censorship:/p ul lia href=/minute_memes#meme-copyright-origins Origins of Copyright/a/li lia href=/minute_memes#meme-copyright-and-freedom-of-speech Copyright and Freedom of Speech/a/li lia href=/minute_memes#meme-rights-clearance What Rights Clearance Actually Looks Like/a/li /ul pOr we could do something involving ema href=/sita_distribution Sita Sings the Blues/a, Nina Paley's award-winning film that was almost censored into obscurity by copyright restrictions, or that film combined with other works that have been censored (and that therefore the public hasn't seen). Another possibility is the a href=/projects#ghost-works Ghost Works Survey/a (and look over our a href=/projects projects/a page for some more)./em/p pBut mainly, we'd love to hear your ideas! Two heads are better than one; hundreds of heads are better than two. What is the most compelling project we can come up withnbsp;mdash;nbsp;preferably involving the visual artsnbsp;mdash;nbsp;to demonstrate the connection between copyright and censorship?/p pThe application deadline is September 1st. Please put your ideas as comments on this post, and don't worry about any idea being too sillynbsp;mdash;nbsp;this is a brainstorm. We'll winnow it down and turn in the best application we can./p pThoughts?/p pa href=http://questioncopyright.org/warhol_grant target=_blankread more/a/p
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