Post 2 - Censorship Case Won

China has made some progress on intellectual freedom. After sixty years of Communist rule, they still have a long way to go on this issue. A Chinese professor won a suit against an internet company who had closed down his website. Hu Xingdou, a professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, had posted articles on subjects that had included environmental issues and corruption. The professor expressed surprise that he had won this case since in the past courts did not take cases like this. And if courts took up similar cases, the person suing failed to win. The professor discovered that this was the first time that an internet user has won a suit against an internet service provider.
It was surprising that the media reported on this case widely before it went to court. The media reports brought about discussion among the Chinese people before the court case began. It also helped that an open-minded judge presided over the case. Overall, this case demonstrated that the Chinese legal system has made progress.
The Beijing New Web Digital Technology Company closed down Professor Hu's website in March claiming that there was illegal content on it. The professor moved his website to a different internet service provider.
The next thing that Professor Hu plans to do is to sue the authorities who ordered the internet service provider to take this action. However, the professor does not think that this case will make it to court. It would be a big step for Chinese intellectual freedom if this next case would make it to court and could be won.

References

Branigan, Tania. "Chinese Academic Wins Censorship Case." Irish Times 26 May 2009.

A Novel Challenged as Classroom Text

In the Lexis Nexis Academic database I found a news article from February 23, 2009 from the National Post in Canada. The title of the news article is "Atwood too Cruel for School?; Panel Approves Classic Tale, Final Decision to Come." This challenged book was The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and this challenge came in the Toronto District School Board. A father made the complaint because his child in grade 12 was studying this novel in his high school class. This parent complained of its violence, sexual content, and religious themes.
This book tells the story of a society that is totalitarian. Women in this society have few rights and are subservient to men. These women are forced to have babies for couples who can not have children who are from a higher social class.
The parent did not realize that this story was providing a message of caution against this type of thing happening in the world. This is the first that this novel by Margaret Atwood has faced a challenge in a Canadian school. Fortunately, a review panel brought together by the Toronto District School Board decided that this book should be retained as a classroom text. The final decision is to be made by Gerry Connelly, the director of education for the board. By now this person has probably already made the decision to keep this novel as a classroom text. I certainly agree that this novel should have been kept as a classroom text.

References

Fitzpatrick, Meagan. "Atwood too Cruel for School?; Panel Approves Classic Tale, Final Decision to Come." National Post 23 February 2009.

Introduction

My name is Roger L. Barnes and I am a student in the School of Library and Information Science at I.U.P.U.I. in Indianapolis, Indiana. This class is the last class that I need to complete my Master of Library Science. The name of this class is S640 : Seminar in Intellectual Freedom.