Hey Folks: I know you are likely busy studying for Monday's test, but an interesting story popped up that I wanted to share. From the New York Times:
A Moscow court on Thursday ruled that videos of performances by the punk group Pussy Riot were extremist, falling under a law intended to rein in hate speech. The court called for limiting public access to Web sites and blogs displaying the videos. But the ruling is unlikely to cut off access to them, since it applies only to servers in Russia. One video from February shows band members in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior beseeching the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Vladimir V. Putin, who was returned to the presidency in March. Last summer, three of the performers were sentenced to two years in a penal colony. An appeals court released one of them on bail in October. Thursday’s ruling cited “psycho-linguistic research” proving that the videos “humiliate various social groups based on their religious beliefs” and contain “hidden calls to rebellion and nonsubmission to authority.”
It is fun to watch how governments try and control information flows on the globally-connected World Wide Web. That said, I think Russia could have more success than this short article suggests.
Happy studying!
