censorship

Suppression by authority of material considered immoral, heretical, subversive, libellous, damaging to state security, or otherwise offensive. It is generally more strict under totalitarian (one‐party) or strongly‐religious regimes, and in wartime. Concerns over the ready availability of material such as bomb recipes and pornography have led a number of countries to pass laws attempting to censor the Internet, such as the US Communications Decency Act of 1996.

The British government uses the D‐notice and the Official Secrets Act to protect itself. Laws relating to obscenity, libel, and blasphemy act as a form of censorship. The media exercise a degree of self‐censorship. During the Gulf War in 1991, access to the theatre of war was controlled by the US military: only certain reporters were allowed in and their movements were restricted. In the USA, despite First Amendment protection of free speech, attempts at censorship are made by government agencies or groups; the question is often tested in the courts, especially with respect to sexually‐explicit material. Recently, efforts have been made to suppress certain pieces of music and works of art, on such grounds as racial harassment and social depravity.

In China 213 BC the first emperor Qin ordered that all books of history be destroyed so that he could not be criticized. A mid‐18th‐century emperor had 2,665 books destroyed whose content he disapproved of. In England under the Tudors and Stuarts, the crown claimed a monopoly on printing presses, and publication could be carried out only under licence until 1695. The libel laws in Britain are more rigid than in France or the USA, for example.

Censorship of plays in the UK by the Lord Chamberlain (under the Theatres Act 1843, a continuation of the Licensing Act 1737) ended in 1968.