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How Photoshop is used to accommodate Middle East’s modesty laws

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I admit, the first time I saw these images I though they were fake. Someone probably added their clothes on as a joke. But when I realized the context and saw the source of the images, it made sense. The fact that the execution was bad made it hilarious. Accommodate

“Bikinis and mini-skirts may be commonplace in the Western world, but the Middle-East is a slightly different story. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran enforce strict modesty laws on women in keeping with Islamic tradition, and prohibit any skin other than the face and hands from showing. These restrictions even apply to Britney and Madonna, as it turns out.” – Bored Panda

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Copyright and Censorship on Instagram: Marie Claire stole my photo and blocked me from commenting

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Yesterday I found out that one of my photographs was misused, or stolen if you ask me, by a major international publishing company. Sadly this type of thing is so common that it’s almost not even worth writing about. However, it’s what happened during my quest to call-out the company that really captured my attention.

I was contacted by a friend who asked me if I’d seen that Marie Claire posted my photo to their Instagram feed. I knew nothing about it, so I went to Instagram to see.

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Can off the shelf AI Vision systems detect and censor art nude photographs?

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Question: can AI vision systems from Microsoft and Google, which are available for free to anybody, identify NSFW (not safe for work, nudity) images? Can this identification be used to automatically censor images by blacking out or blurring NSFW areas of the image?

Method: I spent a few hours creating in some rough code in Microsoft office to find files on my computer and send them to Google Vision and Microsoft Vision so they could be analysed.

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Facebook to relax censorship restrictions on photos considered newsworthy

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After a rather recent public controversy over censorship rules, Facebook are revisiting their playbook when it comes to newsworthy images. Those posting images like the one at the top of this post by photography Nick Ut, were warned to remove or pixelate them to comply with Facebook’s guidelines. When even Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg reposted the photo to shot her support, her post was removed, too.

The images and associated posts have since been reinstated. It does leave obvious unanswered questions about what is and isn’t allowed, though. After receiving feedback from its community, Facebook are taking another look at their rules and how they can create a system that respects such work, while continuing to block things we don’t want to see.

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Facebook censored, then uncensored, famous photo of ‘Napalm Girl’

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Facebook is probably the biggest media outlet in the word, which probably makes Mark Zuckerberg the most powerful editor in the world. But with great power comes great responsibility, and that means that Facebook should be extra careful when deciding which photos they are removing from their network.

The story begins with Facebook removing a post (and the photo) of Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten. The photo was part of an article discussing seven photographs that changed the history of warfare. (By the way, the “real name” of this photo by Nick Ut is The Terror of War).

The next step was to delete a Facebook post by Tom Egeland, the author, discussing the removal or the initial photo, and blocking him from facebook for 24 hours.

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Facebook now censors photos for depicting body in ‘undesirable manner’ even when promoting feminist agenda

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To start with the end of the story, Facebook did apologize and allowed the photo at the end, but this case shows how Social media networks have control over what photos are perceived “OK”, or “accepted”.

The story starts when Cherchez la Femme, an Australian group that promotes an agenda of “unapologetically feminist angle”, said that an ad for their upcoming even was rejected by Facebook. The ad featured Tess Holliday, a plus-sized model wearing a bikini. According to Facebook, grounds for rejection were: violating the company’s “ad guidelines”.

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Thailand Declares War on Underboob Selfies; Could Lead To Five Years in Jail

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Thailand’s military government recently warned local women to refrain from posting selfies revealing the lower half of their breasts.

Underboob selfies have apparently become a viral trend on social media, but the Kingdom’s authorities warn that posting such photos could violate the 2007 Computer Crimes Act and result in up to five years in prison.

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Instagram in Hot Water for Censoring a Photo of a Fully Clothed Woman on Her Period

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Rupi Kaur, a poetess & spoken word performer as she calls herself, was at the center of a recent social media storm after she posted a photo of woman lying in bed with period blood visible on the sheets and the woman’s pants.

The photo is part of a series created by Kaur as part of her final project for a visual rhetoric course she’s taking, aimed at demystifying the period and making it “normal” again.

Sure, this isn’t a subject you see photographed or posted online very often, but what caused the outraged responses was Instagram’s reaction to the photo. The mobile photo-sharing social network deleted the photo stating it was in violation of the community guidelines. When Kaur re-uploaded the photo, and Instagram once again deleted it, the artist lashed out against the “misogynist” decision.

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Indian Government Blocks Vimeo And Weebly Due To ISIS Content

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In what seems to be an absurd overreaction on behalf of the Indian government, local internet service providers have been ordered to block 32 sites, including the popular video sharing site and the “drag-and-drop” website builder and hosting service.

Weebly stated on their Facebook page that they have reached out to the Indian authorities regarding the ban, but that they do not have any additional information regarding this matter.

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