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title: "\n    Minecraft 'loophole' Library Of Banned Journalism"

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    Minecraft 'loophole' Library Of Banned Journalism</h1>
    <html><body><p><p><br/> Minecraft 'loophole' library of banned journalism By Tom Gerken BBC News, Washington DC<br/></p><br/><p><br/> 13 March 2020<br/></p><br/><p><br/> It started as a concept in a community forum and turned into the best-selling video game ever, but now Minecraft is being used to do something its creator could not have dreamt of.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> The center of free speech has taken the infamous game, which involved placing Lego-like blocks with more than 145 million players every month, and transformed it into a symbol.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> A virtual library was carefully designed to host the pieces written by journalists that were blocked online.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> You will find the work of Jamal Khashoggi (the journalist who was murdered by Saudi agents in 2018) in addition to a variety of other books in the library.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> Minecraft has not yet made a comment.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> The Minecraft project was initiated by the non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders, which strives to protect the rights of information across the globe and the Minecraft library itself was built by the design studio Blockworks.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> Christian Mihr, executive director of Reporters Without Borders Germany, told the BBC that Minecraft was good for the project since he believes that it's not considered an issue by governments that restrict their media.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "We chose Minecraft because of its reach," he said. "It is available in every nation. It is not censored like other games that are under suspicion of being political.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "There are large communities in all the countries featured, that's the reason why it was suggested that it's a loophole for the censorship."<br/></p><br/><p><br/> He explained that the authors were chosen to represent countries where press freedom was restricted, so that these communities could be able to access their work.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> He clarified, however, that permissions had to be sought prior to republishing in a library.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "We didn't include any material in the library without the consent of respective authors themselves - provided they are alive.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "In the case of Jamal Khashoggi we spoke with family members - with regard to the safety of people who have died and the safety of their families."<br/></p><br/><p><br/> Nick Feamster, Neubauer Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago Nick Feamster, Neubauer Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, told BBC that the library could be successful in beating the censors, but Feamster was concerned about the way governments would react.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "It's an interesting concept," he said, "But I believe there are some problems to be addressed. The articles are being circulated online and governments will be aware. It's not foolproof to a determined enemy.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> He claimed that the strength of the library comes through its use of entanglement, which mixes up the censored materials with the video game in the eyes censors.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "By entangling these two things you make them share content," he said.  <a href="https://minecraftservers.top/">Minecraft servers</a> "You cannot block this one without the other."<br/></p><br/><p><br/> Helmi Noman who is a Research Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Centre for Internet & Society He said that he believed that the library would have an unintentional audience.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> He said that "censored content is constantly changing and diverse" and that users prefer strategies that don't preselect or separate content from specific areas online.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "Any approach that doesn't create a seamless and secure experience for browsing the entire web, social media and direct messaging applications will probably be unsuccessful."<br/></p><br/><p><br/> Due to the number of players trying to log in simultaneously, the server could not be accessed regularly. Despite this limit on concurrent users, the server has been visited by 3,889 users from 75 different countries. It has also been downloaded more than 7,000 times.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> After two hours of attempting, BBC finally visited the virtual library and asked its users what they thought.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> SoulfulGenie said they believed it needed more books, including a section on North Korea. Another user said it was "ingenious" and said that the library could be downloaded and then reuploaded by other users. "It is simple to duplicate and, therefore, it is difficult to eradicate."<br/></p><br/><p><br/> ReduxPL stated that the library "looks amazing indeed".<br/></p><br/><p><br/> Blockworks took 250 hours to design the library which was completed by 24 people from 16 countries.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> James Delaney, the company's managing director, told the BBC that the goal was to create a classic style that was "on the edge of fantasy".<br/></p><br/><p><br/> He said it was feasible as a construction, but it is exceeding the limits of what is possible.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "We chose a design that is in the neoclassical style. It's very similar to the British Museum or New York's public libraries.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> He claimed that Minecraft was improvisational in its foundation, meaning that builders weren't confined to following a pre-determined design.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "With many people working on the same project," he said, "people are able to see each other's work and have to react in real time. This is a highly reactive way of working, and it can alter the appearance of the project.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "The style is chosen to symbolize authority and power - we wanted to turn the whole thing around.<br/></p><br/><p><br/> "Instead of representing the power of the government or the regime, it's representing the free press."<br/></p><br/><p><br/> How gaming became the new telethon<br/></p><br/><p><br/> 23 June 2019<br/></p><br/><p><br/> Sega joins gamers parodying viral tweet<br/></p><br/><p><br/> 12 April 2019<br/></p><br/><p><br/> Man buys website under the nose of a gaming company<br/></p><br/><p><br/> 25 October 2019<br/></p></p></body></html>
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