Voice against the ban of lolicon art!
on April 19th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
“He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.” – Benjamin Franklin
We’ve all know some of the recent acts in congress and work by specific foundations which abuse our privacy and freedom of expression. Recently, acts by the Internet Watch Foundation, the Chilling Effects organization, and Google has really pulled the last straw for me. I would like to note, since this blog has multiple authors, this post only reflects my personal beliefs.
So, for those of you who don’t know, the blog Little White Butterflies (along with several others that hosted lolicon art) no longer display in Google search results. Instead, we now see this.
I would like to note Little White Butterflies took the time out to list it’s blog as an adult site. If you follow the link about the legal request, ChillingEffects.org claims the following:
The site violates US Law Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 110, § 2256 under subsection 8:
“(8) “child pornography” means any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct…”
Well guess what Google and Chilling Effects organization, you’re dead wrong.
Because that law was amended to include the following:
(11) the term “indistinguishable” used with respect to a depiction, means virtually indistinguishable(they are talking about photo-realistic images of real children, here), in that the depiction is such that an ordinary person viewing the depiction would conclude that the depiction is of an actual minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. This definition does not apply to depictions that are drawings, cartoons, sculptures, or paintings depicting minors or adults.
So, due to a false claim by Chilling Effects, Google has decided to voluntarily censor their index due to a false legal claim, despite their claims to not endorse censorship.
This is a pathetic sight. Furthermore, since they are such a big corporation (regardless of their rights as a company) this is a form of human rights abuse called corporate censorship.
You can go to a museum and see pictures of young, naked angels fluttering around and it’s considered the highest art of the Renaissance period. If you honestly believe that someone deserves to go to jail because they like sexually deviant art, you are horribly mistaken. There’s no victim, there’s no crime, and no one is hurt in this situation. There’s no way you can say perfectly participating members of society (from cashiers to engineers) should be on the same level as people who rape, steal, or murder.
If you honestly assume that art like this should be illegal because some sick fuck is going to see it and want to rape children, you’re saying that all adults are really just pedophiles on the verge of becoming rapists and this is all they need is art to go over the edge.
Frankly, I like to believe people can be responsible and rational adults. Censoring sites like this validate blame on the art, and take the blame off people who actually rape children.
I, for one, have a much higher faith in humanity than that. Censorship is counter-productive of art and evolution. Humanity is better than that by now, I would think.
So, for those of you really, truly, dedicated to fighting this bullshit before censorship laws eventually get to what you care about, I’ve decided to make a list of resources you can you use to help fight this cause.
First off, I would like to say the best thing to do is email Google about this issue specifically. The more emails they get the better. I’ve supported Google for some time (even through their Chinese search engine censorship ordeal), and I do use their services. Regardless, corporations are big, heartless beings. They completely listen to and obey the customer to get profit. Show them you disagree with this action!
Second, the next would be get in contact with your local political representatives (state or even town) about this issue. It takes a lot of guts to fight in support of art that is distasteful to many, but even an email to your senator explaining the issues can be helpful. Get them aware of the issue. Cite section 11 of § 2256. Make sure they know that you feel it’s wrong for people to be jailed or sentenced for a crimeless or thought-crime accusation.
That being said, I will now provide you with what resources I can.
First, what I cited above: http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002256—-000-.html
The strike-down of the CPPA for being “over-broad and unconstitutional” by the Supreme Court: http://www2.law.cornell.edu/supct/pdf/00-795P.ZO
The Comic-Book Legal Defense Fund, the strongest organization going legally against artistic censorship: http://cbldf.org/
The International Anti-Censorship organization, Yes to Freedom: http://yestofreedom.org/ (I’ve lost faith with this organization as a reliable source.)
A study regarding how pornography decreases the rate of actual rape: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/06/rape-porn-and-criminality-political.php
A very informed blogger, mt-i: http://www.tsurupeta.info/
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And as a bonus, here’s some quotes I found that I liked:
Citing a man arrested by the Gestapo in 1938,
“The came first for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
“Still, you seem to want lolicon banned, and people prosecuted for owning it, and I don’t. You ask, What makes it worth defending? and the only answer I can give is this: Freedom to write, freedom to read, freedom to own material that you believe is worth defending means you’re going to have to stand up for stuff you don’t believe is worth defending, even stuff you find actively distasteful, because laws are big blunt instruments that do not differentiate between what you like and what you don’t, because prosecutors are humans and bear grudges and fight for re-election, because one person’s obscenity is another person’s art.
Because if you don’t stand up for the stuff you don’t like, when they come for the stuff you do like, you’ve already lost.” - Neil Gaiman, CBLDF
“If you’re allowed to punish someone for something they could do, then where do you draw the line? What factors go into determining whether or not someone is capable of committing a crime? And even if you could determine a method that would differentiate those who “can” from those who “cannot,” how are you to tell someone to simply stop how they feel?” – Author of Ogiue Maniax
Edit: It seems like Google deleted the thread about Little White Butterfly’s request to have themselves added back into the index (since they were removed under false allegations).
I only have part of the record (the first page), here. Does anyone still have pages 2/3?
Yes, but Japan is twice as perverted than the US at least.
Japan has lower rape rates than the US does.
That doesn’t mean they’re not still perverted.
Google can do whatever they want, they’re a company and aren’t regulated to index any site they don’t wish to.
In reply to Jura
When a company as powerful and influential as Google with the amount of personal information they contain and importance of services they provide, it’s time for government to step in and protect it’s people. I understand the Bush-generation has a very negative view on government, as that administration often treated Americans as children – but a government should be for it’s people. This includes regulating large corporations. Even if you were the most radical capitalistic free-market advocate in existence, I think you could even say a company is doing wrong when they don’t follow their own policies.
I don’t like being lied to.
@ darkslime,
Define “perverted” please. I’d assume that the greatest porn industry in world is by far more “perverted” than silly drawings.
@ komidol,
Nice article, thanks for the support. We most definitely need more dedicated bloggers spreading the world to everyone that wishes to protect free speech… if they keep this up, censorship of, say, the opening theme of Kannagi doesn’t seem so far-fetched. That is, not to mention the sensationalistic tendency of the media that accelerate greatly the process of “demonisation”.
Yet again, us humans fear what we cannot understand.
komidol, you are wrong on one point though. No law was “amended”, these are simply two very different laws, namely obscenity and child pornography laws. If the latter does contain an explicit clause exempting drawings and such, the former is where lies the problem. No “obscene manga” case has ever made any use of child porn laws lest it involved actual child porn… What we must fight are obscenity laws.
In reply to Azarius
Yes, you are quite correct, but the reason Google accepted the legal request (as listed) was because it violated section 8, which is clearly does not. If we want to find sites that violate the obscenity statures, there are probably millions on the internet, so singling out one blogger only hurts them. If google wanted to get serious about erasing sites in their index because of the obscurity stature, they’d have a lot more work and sites to remove.
And I seriously doubt anyone would use Google if they did. cuil.com is a decent search engine, anyway. As mentioned, I do use Google services throughout their past allegations (assuming that the Chinese government was even too big of an opponent for even Google), but if they really want to be the bastion of privacy and freedom they claim to be, this should not be happening. They should either reverse this action or start taking a lot more sites off their index for the same reason.
@ Jura,
You are entirely right. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the laws in place that influenced their decision are absurd. We wish to change these laws, not the behaviour of Google as a company.
It goes against their company policy, and what they’ve said about being against censorship. Also the basis of the legal request is false, hence their reasoning for doing so is also incorrect.
So, unless Google intends to be hypocritical, they shouldn’t be doing this.
People may blog or tweet about it, but that’s not changing laws.
In reply to Jura
It’s up to each individual person to change the laws of who’s jurisdiction they fall under. However, there is power in voicing opinion and informing people of their resources. If people wouldn’t be so critical on the internet and just be like “hey, I didn’t know I could do this or that” or “I didn’t know this was happening, I want to do something about it”, than my efforts are not in vein. If you want to enter the international field however, there’s plenty of people to talk to about that.
As a point of order (again), Chilling Effects is not the site that issued the request. They’re simply a clearinghouse where Google posts the requests they receive so that there’s some sort of public record of what happened (and that it isn’t all kept secret). The site is a good thing because now we can see why the site was removed from the index, rather than it all being done in secret with no disclosure. The actual identity of the person or organization that issued the request is unknown.
In reply to relentlessflame
It’s still ridiculous, they’re attacking a small blogger without purpose. We should see what happens if 4chan.org is removed from the site listing for the same “offenses”.
Here’s an idea: Stop liking shitty things.
Gar, Mecha, Battleships, and combination sequences will never be under fire from Right Wing Puritans.
Less QQ, more GATTAI
Psh, at this rate, only a matter of time. Lets not forget what New Hampshire senator Nick Levasseur said,
“anime is a prime example of why two nukes just wasn’t enough…..”
I’m not about to sit back and let big brother put good people in jail and censor artwork for no good reason.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=42ef23b063343df1&hl=en&fid=42ef23b063343df1000484a359c93246 This is the google thread in question.
I hope one day you realize why people gave their lives for these rights you’re just going to sit back and let people take away.
It sure is nice, isn’t it? Sitting back behind your computer, never being put in a life threatening situation, never having had liking something enough to fight for it. Being able to do whatever you want because people already gave you the rights you need to lead an un-hindered life.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to give more people that same very chance. No one “forced” what these people liked on anyone (as it was labeled adult content), and I’m sure most of them are recordless, perfectly capable participating members of society (much like Chris Handley).
It’s not about liking or disliking anything. It’s about doing what’s right to stop people from going to jail for something as ridiculous as this. No one deserves imprisonment for liking any sort of art, deviant or not.
You’re free to have your opinion, but I’m also free to have mine, and the authors at Little White Butterfly are free to have theirs. At no point should anyone tell them they need to stop doing something, try to censor them, or change their ways, for exploring the more obscure parts of humanity.
It’s counter-productive, it’s wrong, and oppressing. History has shown what happens to people who do this in the past.
– Define “perverted” please. I’d assume that the greatest porn industry in world is by far more “perverted” than silly drawings.
The Japanese are really perverted, that’s all I’m saying. Not that it has any impact on this argument though, I just said it before I knew there was going to be lots of serious discussion.
yeah, because your zealous posting on some no name blog will surely start changing opinions and hearts of millions and lead to people changing their beliefs
pro gamer tip: people don’t change their beliefs.
Also, i’m totally with you: 2d drawings shouldn’t fall under the same laws as 3d actions
but saying things about rights and oppressive and bullshit is hyping it
That’s because that’s what it’s about. This has been an issue for a long time, and this issue with Google is only the final straw. Probably because I’ve expected better of them.
Well, I support your noble case of campaigning against the loli ban, sir.
Please follow up all comments at the new post. I added a bit of structure and details regarding LWB’s status and the events since I think I was feeling very Passionate when I wrote this and it can come off hard to understand if you weren’t in the events. I strongly recommend you check the second one:
http://komidol.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/the-campaign-against-the-ban-of-lolicon-art-2-little-white-butterflies-incident/
Bare with me on this,
“Freedoms” definition is that we can do what we want. This is not true. Basically our lives are conducted by many silent rules we comply with whether we acknowledge them or not. “Freedom “used politically, from what I have been able to grasp, is we are able to do what we want, as long as it is within this unwritten code (We have no choice, we are given sides of good and bad). This is given meaning usually by a collective of major figures that make or break the rules. Don’t think it is simply so easy to fire the blame on a certain group, because there are many ideas attached to lolicon, as well as fact there are people out there who still don’t know what anime is, but I’ll bet they know Mc’donalds. Even in this idiosyncrasy there has derived meaning and purpose. By banning lolicon, they are attempting to nail this particular problem through every solution they know.
I’m not particularly against the campaign. But this is not about freedom, or choice.
Basically if there is a will, there is a way, things will happen regardless (this goes for both sides). By them putting this ban up it just creates another taboo. It’s not about thought control either, that’s more about your own self awareness, and in general – I believe the term “WAKE UP” is suited.
If anything it’s laughable, this comes under political correctness for me. It’s interesting at the most to see new laws slowly developing. As sited above, comic books being censored. Plus many cartoons being made at the moment; are made under a new set of rules of what is allowed and what is isn’t.
Point is we don’t own the industry. It’s not the workers that run the business that makes the jobs. It’s the businesses, the entertainment industry, the media, and the government that do. Therein lays the general problem. No business will support this, have you noticed the increase in media over the last 5 or more years on the crack down on pedophiles? Seriously! I’m not suggesting this is the case about everybody that looks at lolicon, but they’ve attempted to ban alcohol. We all know what happened there. But the key aspect here is there were many people reaping business from this, among a lot of people getting involved. I’m not talking about people they could delete from their email list either.
On another note ‘responsible rational adults’ do not exist, if they do, they are a rarity. If there were responsible and rational people running the world they would have realized by now man cannot conquer nature, if you ban things from humans, they will try to conquer it. If you restrict them, create barriers, they will try to break them. Or my favorite, if they lack intellect (just knowledge and a general interest), they are boring and trapped because they don’t know any better, they don’t know what it’s to be human. I think this is the most preferred, because people stay subdued and controllable, because if they act out it’s seen as stupidity or irrational, so they settle for content.
So I’m gunna wrap this up. While it’s sweet to defend a cause, just remember there are more people out there blindly following this ban, while in some cases lolicon may not breach the code of conduct, there a certain ideals attached to these pictures that impact it. Otherwise good luck :)
Well, here is a great way to protest against google for censorship. Send them an email telling them that you are going to block all of their ads until you stop your censorship of art sites, as controversial as they may be to some. That’s it. We should start a petition; a petition for google to stop censorship, and until google stops their censorship we will continue to use adblock and a variety of software to block their ads.
aye here be a question for ye. why be ye searching for loli,shota,etc if it offends ye?