How do you define censorship?

[netmouse]

Someone commented in another journal the idea that censorship is something only governments can do.

I had defined it as something people with power do to people (publications, performances, etc) they have power over.

ETA: by power I meant institutionally-based authority, not merely physical force. "Institution" can include social institutions, such as clubs, churches, or families.

How do you define censorship?

Comments

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Well, first amendment protections only extend to government actions.

Other than the government, is censorship possible? It's not the same thing as "suppressing information", is it? If I want to say something, maybe Tor won't buy the book, but there's always Lulu. The only way to stop me is to invoke government power, or to kill me.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

I think it's applicable in any case where someone applies authority that they have for some purpose other than one that is arguably affected by the expression that is suppressed. - Suppression for political purposes other than to forward the success of a play or publication or the institution producing it, in other words.

For instance, if you worked for Tor, and they warned you that your job was in jeopardy unless you stopped speaking out about photographic methods, they would be trying to censor you (the argument gets more blurry in situations where the statements you make could arguably have negative effects on the institution to which you belong - but I think economic pressure is akin to legal pressure, and seem to recall that some of the strongest censorship boards during the McCarthy era were not specifically governmental).

Schools are capable of censorship, I think, and so are parents. Prison administrations, likewise. Perhaps mental institutions and other places where someone has been given control over someone else's freedom of movement and/or activity.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Note also that someone can threaten to kill you, or hurt or kill someone you care about, or to take away your livelihood or social standing (see: blacklist and excommunicate). There are several types of leverage other than the strength of law.