Talk:Censorship in the United Kingdom

Obscene Publications Act

Shouldn't the Obscene Publications Act have a seperate entry (so it can be included in Category:British laws and/or the List of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom)?? Lmno 03:46, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

No dissenting votes. Did it.Lmno 22:05, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Indecency vs. obscenity

This stuff is quite misleading. Lmno 00:15, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Shouldn't we talk about non-indecency/obscenity related censorship, too? --Penta 19:55, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Go for it :-) Lmno 16:30, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Ministry of Information

Shouldn't there be something on the ministry from the First World War and it's infamous staff of 999? It was vital in censorship during the war years, and kept much information from the public during the war years. J.StuartClarke

Yes of course! Please add. Secretlondon 01:48, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Done. Feel free to add to it as you see fit. J.StuartClarke

What's infamous about having a staff of 999? Soczyczi (talk) 10:08, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

It was well known to the public, and 999 just appeared to them to be an amusing number of staff. --J.StuartClarke (talk) 16:48, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Weasel words

Could somebody add sources for some of the claims regarding the views of "some people"? Joe D (t) 01:07, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't have sources, so I've changed the wording to 'There is no clear line between self-regulation in matters of expression and self-censorship' which is (I think) incontrovertible. Edit away if you don't like it, or better, add a quote from a legal or civil rights expert if you have any. --Squiddy | (squirt ink?) 10:29, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Religeous hatred

I'm sure some churches etc were in favour. It looks currently as though it was everyone vs the government. Secretlondon 11:50, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

The Muslim Association of Britain are in favour of it, I believe (can't find anything on their website, though), and the (more moderate?) Muslim Council of Britain are generally in favour but aren't happy with the watering down it recieved in the Lords on 1 Feb [1]. George Galloway's RESPECT party are in favour of it too, taking the same line as the MCB [2]. That's all I can find at the mo. --Squiddy | (squirt ink?) 16:24, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Need more examples

This article could use more examples of cases of censorship in the UK, especially modern examples. Perhaps even a section devoted to prominent cases of censorship. Kaldari 04:01, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Licensing act 1695

I think this has a place in any article about Censorship in the UK, this was the point when news papers became wide spread after this act lapsed http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=367 The papers exploded at this time and there a great many within 5 years and as a result the electorate standing at around 200,000 or 4.3% (this comes from a book but i can not recall the name) were much better informed about politics the main topic of these papers to start with. It was not only news papers that this helped but they were the main thing that were helped.

There is a primary source here to show the date if need be: http://www.univ.trieste.it/~storia/GuidoOnLine/Proceedings_Parliament_1695_1745.htm

I will leave this here for a bit to see if anyone come up with anything more.

Internet censorship

Removed from article: "censorship occurs in many ways upon the internet primarily through the subtlety of gurilla marketing such as AOL upon the release of it's broadband service in the UK it has segregated US material from UK material denying access to many US chatrooms. Another example would be Yahoo instant messenger depending upon the country a person selects at the install stage will determine the radio stations available to the user e.g. A UK user will only get UK radio stations. "

Removed as I'm not sure it is censorship. Secretlondon 17:07, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Citations and references

Please consider adding them to the article, especially if they are Internet sources. Skinnyweed 23:22, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

No trials under Official Secrets Act?

"No cases have gone to trial where a newspaper or journalist has been prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act." The ABC Trial involved 2 journalists being prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. They won their case but they were certainly charged. We should also mention the Richard Tomlinson book The Big Breach which they tried to censor too. Secretlondon 09:25, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

I wouldn't know, but I'm removed it. Skinnyweed 17:13, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

OPA prosecutions

While I believe the comment is correct about there being no prosecutions for text-only sexual obscentity since 'Inside Linda Lovelace', there has been at least one successful prosecution for obscenity for drug-related material. I'll see if I can find a reference...

The position of online material is particularly interesting following a partially successful prosecution of a UK-based 'scat' (playing with shit) website. The owner was convicted of obscentity in relation to the free preview video, but cleared by the jury of charges relating to the larger members-only library. Lovingboth 14:05, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Northern Ireland

Would it be worth including mention of the censorship of Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein MP in the 80s Alastairward 00:24, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Scotland

This whole article on the UK seems to talk exclusivly about (or at least reference) english (+welsh) law. Are these UK wide laws or are there are diffrences in Scots Law? (seperate legal system) It needs clarification. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaosume (talk • contribs) 01:34, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Video Games

Should video games be included in this article, with reference to items such as Manhunt 2? AlasdairJohnstone (talk) 18:10, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Economist article about Libel laws in the UK + NY Review of Books

To be integrated in the libel section. [3] MaxPont (talk) 14:39, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

One additional article from NY Review of Books "A Chill on 'The Guardian"[4] MaxPont (talk) 09:15, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

One more article from The Economist "Libel tourism - Are English courts stifling free speech around the world?"[5]MaxPont (talk) 18:08, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Other censors

• Police - eg indecent displays. At least two statues in recent years. Nobody seems to know what indecent actually means so the law is largely determined by the whim of the police officer on the scene.
• WHSmiths - will not distribute periodicals that they disapprove of. They dominate the wholesale newsagent business so they are the unofficial censor of the periodical scene.
• Phone companies - internet access. British Naturism recently had to persuade Vodafone to change their policy.
• ASDA - refused to put a photograph of a nude toddler on an 18th birthday cake.
• Every ISP, every council, every police officer, publishers, distributors, retailers. The list goes on and on.

There is no regulation, agreed standards, right of appeal or any other reasonably accessible means of redress.

I can provide references but I am sorry, I don't have time to write it up at present.

Malcolm Boura, British Naturism. Rlo.bn (talk) 22:06, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Article in a mess

The structure of the article makes it look like a talk page. Could it be changed to look more like an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.144.38.123 (talk) 20:01, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia

Nothing of the time Wikipedia was banned in the UK because of that album cover? 91.104.103.231 (talk) 18:49, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

See Internet censorship in the United Kingdom, a subtopic of this article. Christopher Connor (talk) 21:35, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Troubles

Should have seperate section in main article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.95.176.113 (talk) 17:27, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Press TV

I removed the reference to the unpaid £100,000 fine because it was not the direct reason for the licence revocation by Ofcom. See David Blair "Iran's Press TV loses UK licence", Daily Telegraph, 20 January 2012. Philip Cross (talk) 11:50, 24 January 2012 (UTC)