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PROS AND CONS OF CENSORSHIP
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By Prabhakar Pillai
Censorship is the control of the influx of information and ideas in a
society. Both democratic and non-democratic countries use it. With the
explosion of communication technology, it has become all-pervasive.

There is a dispute as to whether censorship is good or bad. It is
applicable to programs on television, plays, movies, printed books, print
magazines, video games and everything on the Internet.

Examples of Censorship
One of the very first incidents of censorship in movies took place
in Hollywood in the year 1934, when a nude scene was snipped off from
the film 'Tarzan and His Mate', as it violated the moral code back then.

Even today films follow the modern MPAA (Motion Picture Association
of America) code for censorship. During the 1950s, Elvis Presley
appeared in one of the famous TV programs only to be shot by the

camera till his torso; as his world-famous pelvic movements were
deemed vulgar. Again during the 1950s, the Scientific American
magazine published an article on thermonuclear fusion which was

censored by the United States Atomic Energy Commission. The printed
copies of the magazine were found and burnt as it contained classified
information. During both World War I and World War II strict military
censorship was laid on the freedom of press. A similar kind of

censorship was also laid in India during the State of Emergency period
in the 1980s. With the introduction of television and Internet, many
important developments have taken place in the field of censorship

around the world. A number of countries like Syria, Australia, Cuba,
UAE, Yemen, Pakistan and Burma have censored the Internet. China
has imposed stringent censorship regulations. A military censor was also
laid on the freedom of press and Internet in Egypt lately. To protest

against Internet censorship through PIPA (PROTECT IP Act) and SOPA
(Stop Online Piracy Act), Wikipedia went on a 24 hour blackout.
WikiLeaks, the sensational international whistle blowing website was

closed down several times under the pretext of censorship. Satellite
phones, Internet and freedom of press were also censored in Libya

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Pillai P. Pros and Cons of Cencorship / Prabhakar Pillai. – Available at:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-censorship.html