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Published: March. 7, 2012 at 8:53 PM

PITTSBURGH, March 7 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've analyzed "soft" censorship of social media in China, identifying politically sensitive terms Chinese censors may notice.

Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science analyzed millions of Chinese microblogs, or "weibos" and found individual messages containing such terms were often deleted at rates that could vary based on current events or geography.

The study is the first large-scale analysis of political content censorship in social media, a controversy highlighted by Twitter's announcement earlier this year of a country-by-country policy for removing tweets that don't comply with local laws.

In China the researchers found that oft-censored terms included well-known hot buttons such as Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned by the Chinese government, and human rights activists such as Ai Weiwei and Liu Xiaobo.

The study also found high rates of weibo censorship in certain provinces, notably Tibet, a hotbed of political unrest.

In Tibet up to 53 percent of locally generated microblogs were deleted by authorities, it found.

"A lot of studies have focused on censorship that blocks access to Internet sites, but the practice of deleting individual messages is not yet well understood," researcher Noah Smith said in a university release. "The rise of domestic Chinese microblogging sites has provided a unique opportunity to systematically study content censorship in detail."

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China's 'soft' blog censorship studied

The tide of change can be felt in Myanmar's media landscape. Although some independent journalists are skeptical, Parliament is currently reviewing a draft law that might abolish censorship altogether.

Ahr Mahn collapses into his leather armchair in the small conference room. The editor-in-chief of the weekly 7-Day News has just come back from the censors. Myanmar is going through a reform process and censorship has been relaxed, but not abolished.

He explains that a recent article he wrote was particularly displeasing to the censors. "They demanded I use a milder tone. I had mentioned the fact that many people were worried something might happen to Aung San Suu Kyi during her election campaign trips."

Hillary Clinton's trip to Myanmar aroused a lot of media interest

Generally, however, he says, it is no longer a problem to talk about Myanmar's iconic opposition leader. Barely a newspaper appears these days without her picture on the cover. The young editor explains that there has been a marked change since she met President Thein Sein. "Before it was strictly forbidden to show her on the cover and only sometimes was it allowed inside."

'The people believe us'

Mahn says that the newspaper's popularity has increased dramatically since last April. It now has a weekly circulation of 140,000. "The news suddenly became important and the people believe what we say."

Zeya Thu, deputy editor at The Voice, which has a weekly circulation of 85,000, says another reason is the fact that the news is more up-to-date. "The censorship process used to take at least a week," he says.

Nonetheless, there are still subjects which remain taboo. The peace talks between the government and ethnic minorities are delicate. There can be no talk of fighting. No statements made by ethnic groups, especially the Kachin, are allowed to be published.

But Zeya Thu says he no longer censors himself. "Before we couldn't write about anything - about political prisoners or human rights. Now we simply write what we want and then the censors can decide what to cut out."

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Myanmar's journalists breathe more freely but it's a long haul

Censorship? More like "censorsh*t," am I right? Censorship is one of those topics we do not hear about too often, but when we do, we are furious.

A fundamental concept of the First Amendment, freedom of speech is an American fan favorite that we pride ourselves on.

Recently, censorship has been prominent in the news in the United States and countries around the world. Here at home, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) has been the ultimate threat of an Internet troll for quite some time.

It was created in the hope of stopping online trafficking in counterfeiting and piracy.

If enacted, it will not "shut down the internet" like every middle schooler on Tumblr thought, but it will block access to sites that allow copyright violated or pirated downloading and linking.

So what does that mean? There would be noFacebook, YouTube, MediaFire, SoundCloud, Twitter, DropBox or any other site that can be targeted as a place where online piracy could take place.

No Twitter? But I put jokes up there. It's my lifeline (@MaeveMcDonough #shamelessplug).

Many blogs would also be shut down. Everyone would be responsible for what they put on their blog or website and if it does have copyright infringement, consider it gone. This threat to our right to be an Internet dweller should make us realize how lucky we really are.

In Cuba this week, Project Censored, an American nonprofit organization dedicated to media criticism and investigative journalism, made its case to a conference of Cuban authors and journalists hosted by Fidel Castro.

It's been more than 50 years since a bad word about Cuba was uttered in any sort of national media. After Project Censored's failed conference, it's going to stay that way.

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SOPA small beans compared to international censorship

The opening bedroom scene of Andrea Juillerat-Olvera's new, erotic science-fiction novel Demon's Grace is a classic of its kind. "He is on his knees," it begins, "worshiping the cavernous female torso."

Sadly, for admirers of Juillerat-Olvera, it's about to get harder to enjoy her fruity pose. In what victims are calling the most far-reaching act of censorship of the internet era, Demon's Grace and thousands of books like it have just been effectively banned. To blame is the online payment company PayPal, which has a virtual monopoly over the business of allowing cash transfers to be made via the internet.

The US firm has come to dominate online self-publishing, a rapidly expanding industry which allows authors sell ebooks directly to readers. Last week, without warning, PayPal wrote to every major self-publishing website, announcing that henceforth it will refuse to process payments for clients that sell books which contain certain types of what it regards as "obscene" content.

From now on, the firm said, it will begin aggressively prohibiting erotic literature which contains scenes of bestiality, rape, incest and under-age sex. Ebook websites that sell such works will have their PayPal accounts deactivated. "It's underhanded, unfair and ludicrous, and it bodes badly for the future of free speech and expression," said Juillerat-Olvera, adding that Demon's Grace is now banned by self-publishing sites.

Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, one of the world's largest such sites, said the announcement has so far caused roughly 1,000 of the 100,000 novels that he stocks to be withdrawn from sale. "Regardless of whether you or I want to read these books, this is perfectly legal fiction and people have a right to publish it," he told The Independent on Sunday. "It surely isn't for some financial services company to control what is written by an author."

Mr Coker said that attempting to enforce PayPal's effective ban is likely to be impossible. "They say they won't have rape, bestiality or incest presented in a way that might titillate. But deciding what constitutes titillation is completely subjective," he said. "The Bible has incest in it, and rape. Nabokov's literature does. Should we ban the sale of those books?"

PayPal's move is odd because its founder, Peter Thiel, proudly bills himself as one of America's leading libertarians. In a statement, the Silicon Valley firm claimed: "In general, PayPal does allow our service to be used for the sale of erotic books, but we have to draw the line on certain adult content that is extreme or potentially illegal." The firm added that the decision does not represent an effort to impose a morality on the reading public.

Vella Munn, who writes under the name Vonna Harper, said that the guidelines will ban the most successful novel from her back catalogue, Carnal Captives. "It contains a scene of non-consensual sex," she said. "But that doesn't make the book illegal. Given that it sells more copies than all my other books combined, I have to conclude that it's what people want. It's incredible: how can an internet company not believe in free speech?"

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Self-publishers accuse PayPal of censorship

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Media censorship is nothing new in Pakistan, where military dictators come and go. But newly proposed rules to ban TV programming deemed against the national interest spring from an unlikely source: a civilian government that has prided itself on inching the country toward democracy over the past four years.

The proposals were issued last month by a media regulatory body that says it is responding to public complaints about an explosion of increasingly shrill, fact-twisting and privacy-invading cable news shows. But the draft measures also take pointed aim at coverage that criticizes the organs of the state or undermines Pakistans solidarity as an independent and sovereign country.

Graphic

The two countries are allies but their relationship has been plagued by mistrust over the last 50 years.

Besides condemning the restrictions as impossibly vague, some foes of censorship see the powerful hand of Pakistans military behind them. Any ban on purported anti-state news would extend to coverage of the secessionist movement in Baluchistan, a province where the army and internal intelligence agencies are accused of extrajudicial killings of nationalists.

Last week the interior minister, Rehman Malik, asked cable news channels to stop booking Baluch separatist leaders on talk shows, saying the rebels were spreading propaganda about forced disappearances.

Government officials say the proposed restrictions are not meant to intimidate or impose censorship on the media but are instead intended to prod the raucous TV news industry to regulate itself.

You have to define certain rules for their own betterment, Firdous Ashiq Awan, the minister of information and broadcasting, said in an interview. Its not that government wants it; the whole nation wants it. There must be some rules and regulations.

The prospect of such government intrusion unnerves free-speech advocates, who have watched an emboldened media take on civilian as well as military leaders in recent years. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, which operates under the information minister, contends that its proposals are benign, but the agency has the power to punish alleged violations by imposing fines and pulling broadcast licenses.

The governments goal is not to educate the media or the public, said Hamza Farooq, a Karachi journalist who has worked at CNBC Pakistan and Geo TV, a leading broadcaster. They are just trying to pressure the media.

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Pakistan proposes curbs on raucous media