Such a law has already been used in the UK to censor online speech and hide from the public incriminating or historically significant information.
The “right to be forgotten” is an entirely new “right” that does not exist apart from the Internet, and never has, its many detractors point out.
It is unlikely the New York senators championing this bill had thought through what effect it would have had on biographies, online encyclopedias, history texts and news archives?
Erasing parts of the historical record because they are not currently relevant is far too Orwellian for some, but entirely expected from New York government liberals.
This bill may have been withdrawn for now but don’t be surprised if other similar fashioned bills appear in the future.
2. College Campuses Free FROM Free Speech
One publication has recently reported on the use of Bias Response Teams (BRTs) to report on students who express unpopular or anti-liberal opinions.
Reports by anonymous snitches can see students disciplined, expelled or clubs shut down from what would hardly have raised an eyebrow two decades ago.
The rapid growth of the “safe-spaces” philosophy is another consequence of the anti-free speech mentality on college campuses.
Rather than serving as forums for open intellectual discourse, universities are increasingly trying to shelter students from opposing viewpoints.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) found that an astonishing 42% of these BRTs contain law enforcement officers, now literal speech police.
Hate speech is not at issue here, nor speech that incites violence. Conservatives are most often the targets, but so too are professors who simply ask students to think and debate with an open mind, as in the case of a University of Northern Colorado professor who was targeted for asking students to think and debate openly on controversial subjects.
The professor received an official reprimand for trying to approach controversial subjects, and he is far from alone as student clubs are shut down, speakers dis-invited and classes closed for fear of offending “delicate snowflakes” with alternative viewpoints.
3. Google Flagging Upsetting-Offensive Content
Google has for years flagged and demoted search results content that is pornographic, low quality or dangerous and, when done right, this can serve as a huge benefit to the Internet community.
The problem lies in where the line is drawn as the search giant has recently begun flagging another category of content that it labels as “Upsetting-Offensive”.
Some Christian ministries devoted to helping Homosexuals leave the gay lifestyle have seen their videos and content blocked for this type of classification.
The offensive content flag covers a wide range of anything considered “hate” and could presumably be expanded to Christian websites that suggest other world religions are false in any way or that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.
What is “hate” is open to interpretation and no doubt will be the ongoing debate among monitors of “offensive” content.
4. Pakistan Requires Twitter and Facebook to Remove Blasphemous Content
Pakistan began a decade ago blocking social media sites one at a time as users posted content offensive to Islam. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and WordPress.com have all been blocked.
Yet this is not enough for the government of Pakistan. The government of Pakistan is now demanding the identities of people who blaspheme on Twitter and Facebook (either foreign or using VPNs to circumvent the blocks within the country) so that they can face arrest.
Previously, Youtube bowed to Pakistan’s demands and removed offending content in exchange for a temporary lift to the ban.
The sentences for blasphemy in Pakistan range from fines to death.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) continues to pressure international companies and foreign governments to enforce their laws on blasphemy and with legal developments from Europe and Canada, the chances of compliance are looking better.
5. New Canadian Blasphemy Law
In Canada, lawmakers have been busy proposing a series of new laws over the past year that would criminalize criticism of Islam under the label of Islamophobia.