Already McDonalds, the Caffe Nero chain, Orange Phones, and a UK college, have been caught blocking access to alternative spiritual websites in the UK (such as Vigilant Citizen, Osho in UK, and Energy Therapy). This is set to massively expand, as the UK government has announced an internet censorship plan which could block access to alternative spiritual sites for 95% of UK internet users. Find out more about the UK filter and how it will affect you, below.
This infographic is courtesy of Dara at www.reachinglight.com. You can get a copy to post to your site here. Spread it around!
[…] Top of the list to get rid of today is alternative spirituality, particularly the more esoteric aspects of it, as these are the most vulnerable and easiest aspects of religion (in a broad sense) to pick off. […]
This is not directly related to the censorship, but it is an affront to free speech on the internet by commercial interests, so thought it was worth bringing up.
It seems that recently facebook has been made a public company, and that has led to some changes in their advertising principles.
Facebook has openly stated that organic (non-paid) reach for status updates from fanpages (the ones you see related to brands or causes with sometimes hundreds of thousands of fans) is set to diminish overtime. It seems that this has been happening dramatically recently though. Pages with many many thousands of fans are seeing as little as 1-2% of their audience getting their status updates, and even when status updates are being liked and shared they’re not getting out in front of people.
Why? Facebook wants people with facebook fanpages to “consider paid distribution “to maximize delivery of your message in news feed.”” In the same document that mentioned the above, facebook tries to reposition how marketers should think about the acquisition of people liking their pages – as a tool for making paid advertising more effective. As the article that talked about these changes says “In other words, the main reason to acquire fans isn’t to build a free distribution channel for content; it’s to make future Facebook ads work better.”
Some people might say that facebook is a business, and they are entitled to do what they want – but it seems like a big blow for non-profit facebook pages related to spirituality, alternative news sources and truth who may not be able to pay to reach the people who have liked their pages and want their content. These are pages that people must have spent countless hours on over years to build up. I even read on one site that facebook had started to remove likes from pages when people were not active with liking / commenting. On facebook one of the advertising options is to target updates towards people who would like your page.
Also interestingly, one of the things that facebook has introduced which is competing for space in news feeds are mainstream media type news articles. So it seems like people are going to see more and more mainstream media and advertising from businesses (including people who treat spirituality like a business?) who can afford to advertise and less real information from alternative sources.
Sadly it seems like another door is being shut on the truth.
If there are pages you want to receive updates from, if you go to the page, hover over the “Liked” button, select ‘Get notifications’ and ‘Show in news feed’ then click on ‘Settings’ and make sure ‘All updates’ is ticked you are probably more likely to get the updates.
If you’re interested you can read more here: http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-admits-organic-reach-brand-posts-dipping/245530/
Thanks David, it looks like were beginning to see the real face of FB,
Quote from Facebook in the article: “We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site.” Hardly meaningful if its all about paid advertising? I wonder who are those people who find paid advertising a meaningful experience?
I think you’re right David it definitely seems like another filtering process to take out spiritual sites, truth sites and anything that isn’t towing the corporate dollar. Sadly another avenue for free speech, excuse the pun, and freedom to associate is closing, what will we see next? Its becoming very difficult to really get anything organic be it food or information, it seems like its all moving to GM.
IMPORTANT:
About twelve or thirteen countries including Canada, Australia, and the United States are allegedly involved in largely secret talks for a supposed international trade agreement that for those who have been allowed to see it, report that it actually only contains less than one-fifth about trade.
It’s called the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership). Amongst the many concerning things apparently contained within the agreement should it pass is Internet freedom/censorship. But there are tons of articles out there for you to research it for yourself. There are also organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Open Media that are revealing to the public what’s in it and are organizing pushback against it.
Here is one large petition that has been set up:
https://openmedia.org/censorship
Here’s a press release in Canada that was put out about it yesterday:
https://openmedia.ca/news/breaking-leaked-documents-reveal-canadian-government-being-pressured-us-accept-extreme-internet-cens
Have a look into it for yourself…
Yes, this is extremely concerning, thanks Jordan for posting it here. The Open Media also asks people who supported their petition to donate however small amount they can (even a few dollars), so they can afford to stand against these evil giants in a bit better way. It seems to me this is a very important front on which many things are being decided right now. It always felt a bit strange to me, why all of a sudden Canada is so strict with this Censorship issue, as one would expect that more from the US, where all these global elites are localized. But now its clear how it is all connected together.
Thanks Jordan for posting this information. Please note that a better version of the petition would be this link (without the extra “s”): http://openmedia.org/censorship (thanks again Andrew).
I agree with you Lucia about being surprised with the Canadian government’s sudden and aggressive involvement. I hope people realize that every little bit of effort, no matter how small, really counts with bringing this matter to light and taking action to stop it. I don’t want to take any of my civil liberties for granted and I don’t ever want to see this website being shut down by any rogue government officials.
Thank you, please keep trying. Never give up.
I pray for all of us to find a way to get pasted this. I know that whatever happens, whatever comes we will over come this as we always do.
To my friends here, please keep up the work in regards to passing the petition around. I agree with Richard people seem to be very passive in fully understanding how important this really is. It is being implamented in America. As it sits right now, you have to “fight” to get through the filters and click and click again until you can get the sites to come up. This even made me realize in more detail how important it really is. No matter what we will over come this! Good Luck Angels
As of today, this has impacted some of the sites in America. You have to fight to get the links to work but if you click on them a few times they will get through the filters. I have shared this with two of my friends on facebook, one of which is in America and one of which is in Austrlia. I had a textbook awareness of what this meant but now it hits home. Please pray and keep up the great work in passing the petition around. I know there are many people in America that don’t have an awareness of this material and really could use it. Whatever happens, we are strong enough to get passed this obsticle.
“Two things define us, the patience we have when we have nothing, and the attitude we have when we have everything.” ~Anon
Good Luck,
Laura
What a great job, that’s fantastic! Well done Dara.
Awesome job Dara!! You did a really great job of laying everything out and getting all the info on there. I’ve been sharing it wherever I can. Thanks for all the hard work!
Hey guys, Jaime Tanna’s new email from change.org just came out. Please have a read and tweet to David Cameron. Hopefully many people will take action and it can make a big impact!
>>
Thanks again for signing the petition against censorship of esoteric material. One thing that has clearly struck me, and many others, the more we look into this matter is that censorship of any kind should not be tolerated. Once we give the government an inch, they will take a yard!
Controlling what information is out there is paramount to “business as usual” for them, and the UK government’s blatant attempts to pass a new law which will gag charities stands as clear proof of their hidden agenda.
Let’s try to get the message across again!
So far they have ignored us but 20,000 people tweeting over 24-48 hours WILL get their attention loud and clear. It will get the attention of the Media as well.
Let’s do this together, it will be fun!
Here’s how…
1) Please take a moment to sign up for twitter here (if don’t already tweet). https://twitter.com/
You just need a valid email address.
2) Next, go to the infographic and scroll to the bottom.
http://www.reachinglight.com/infographic-uk-filter-block-esoteric-content-worldwide-implications/
Click on the link to tweet David Cameron (you’ll need to be signed in to twitter).
That’s it!
Thanks for being part of a movement for change.
With hope,
Jaime Tanna
Very well done Dara, what a great way to explain people clearly what this censorship campaign is all about and why it is important to take a minute or so and sign the petition.
Excellent work Dara.
Far out Dara. That infographic is absolutely awesome in both design and content. Perfect for sharing on the web
Really awesome infographic Dara! This will totally help the word to spread. It’s really great all the efforts people are making to get the word out and to get in touch with relevant government and corporate officials on this very serious issue.
Really great job Dara, it will attract many people
I will share it in forums, social networks and websites.
All the best
Nor I and I had also emailed them a while back (Swinson, McDonalds, CaffeNero, EE/Orange). I think it may be worthwhile to try contacting them again soon.
This is really great work Dara!
Thanks to everyone who has helped spread the graphic around. I’m glad it is useful. And thanks to David for doing the research to back it up.
Geraldine I agree with you, it’s possible to stop these things from happening but it really takes a constant effort of reaching out to people so that word gets around to different circles.
Jordan, I like your idea of having a video….great effort, let’s hope more people find and sign the petition through it!
In an effort to help spread the information on it around on a different channel, I just made this video version of it, which anyone can get at the following link or on YouTube:
http://www.ancientsacredknowledge.com/world-issues/uk-filter-to-block-esoteric-content-worldwide-implications/#video
Once again, great work Dara (and anyone who helped)!
Nice one Jordan!
Just an update that so far I have emailed Ms Jo Swinson, McDonalds, Caffe Nero, and EE (Orange) and received no replies yet. Has anyone else received anything?
I haven’t received any replies either.
No replies…
I emailed them a little while ago, but have not heard back either..
No I haven’t heard back either.
I haven’t heard anything back either.
Nothing back.. :/
No reply from any of them
nope, no reply back
I still haven’t heard anything, other than getting automatic confirmations that my messages were received.
Thanks for that – such a great way to communicate the message! Will definitely spread it around.
There are several articles and videos online but this infographic sums it up very well. I find it easy and quick to understand and it gets right to the core. I’m sure this will help many people to understand the implications of internet censorship David Cameron wants to push through.
Amazing infographic. Great work!
It’s definitely starting to become more and more real. Just yesterday I noticed on twitter one of the staff from Open Rights Group tweeted this:
“The site http://vigilantcitizen.com blocked to me by Orange’s Safeguard (on Light setting). Possible eg of ‘esoteric’ content being blocked?!”
If you look at the content on vigilant citizen it tries to expose the darkness behind things in mainstream media, the entertainment industry and government in the past & present. So it is not surprising that it would be blocked, but one has to ask what are the implications of that? The ones who are responsible for this darkness are snuffing out the truth about whats really behind things by manipulating people into thinking it is for their own and their children’s protection. Really sickening in my opinion.
Well done Dara! It is such a powerful way to pass information. It explains things so clearly, and will be a great help in helping people understand the full ramifications of such intense and absurd censorship.
It can be stopped – we just need to keep spreading the word. Thanks everyone for your efforts in making a difference.
Oh yes and well done Dara it looks great : )
That’s awesome Dara. They say a picture tells a thousand words. The creative way you’ve combined pictures with words to explain the situation is really powerful.
Great infographic poster! Thank you Dara.
Beautiful infographic and great quotes Dara. I really liked the one about the twilight – it definitely feels like we are in that period now. :-( Hopefully the Light won’t set completely and that there is still time to at least prevent the worst things from happening. It seems that despite everything, there are quite a few people who are willing to sacrifice a lot for the truth to be revealed, and many others are awakening from the slumber too.
This looks great, Dara! I hope it reaches a lot of people. It really presents the issues in an easy to understand way.
Great job Dara. I am sure it will help a lot to spread the news of the upcoming esoteric censorship.
I shared it in Diaspora social network. Many people that are fed up with Facebook and Twitter’s lack of respect for privacy gather there so I hope it will have an impact.
Thanks Dara, this looks great. I hope it will get more people to pay attention to the negative implications of this unnecessary censorship and take the appropriate action to stop it, starting with signing the petition.
It is a fantastic infographic, well done Dara! I’ve been spreading it around on facebook and it seems to be taking off with heaps of shares and people signing the petition.
The infographic is awesome!
I cant believe this has actually started to be implemented, and the sad thing is it seems the general consensus is most people don’t really care about this bill, its the end of the world as we know it