Of Montreal Live in Berlin: Psychediddilydoodilypop!
Popularity: 42%
Reporters Without Borders offers ways to circumvent Internet censorship
Thailand is banning YouTube for hosting videos ridiculing the monarchy, after giving a 10-year prison term only last week to a Swiss man for spraying graffiti on the poster of the king. Weeks after lifting a similar ban on YouTube, Turkey is now considering blocking all websites that are insulting to Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, as well as websites with information on Kurdish rebels in the country.
So what do you do when your dictator governments are denying you access to information on the Internet? Reporters Without Borders offers some technical ways to get around censorship.
Popularity: 31%
Liberty, Equality and Big Brotherhood: Citizen Journalism Outlawed in France
On March 3, 1991, African American taxi driver Rodney King was stopped by four LAPD officers for speeding after an alleged high speed chase. When King refused to assume the felony prone position, the four police officers fired a taser, and started kicking and beating him repeatedly with their batons. King suffered a fractured skull and internal injuries in the attack. George Holliday, an Argentinian immigrant who lived in a nearby apartment, captured the incident with his video camera, which was broadcast on different networks on the same day. Charge of felony evasion against King was later dropped, and the four officers were indicted for assault. A year later, on April 29, despite the obvious excess use of extreme force witnessed by the world, three of the officers were acquitted by a predominantly white jury (one Latin and one Asian out of twelve). Hours after the verdict one of the worst riots in Los Angeles history erupted, which lasted four days, causing more than 50 deaths, over 2300 injuries and over 7000 arrests. The case against the four officers was reopened and two of the four officers, Powell and Koon were found guilty and sentenced to 30 months in federal correctional camps.
Years later at a gas station an African American approached Holliday and said, “Yeah, you don’t recognized me.” “No,” replied Holliday. “You saved my life,” said Rodney King.
Popularity: 27%