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Minecraft 'loophole' Library Of Banned Journalism

Minecraft 'loophole' library of banned journalism By Tom Gerken BBC News, Washington DC



13 March 2020



It began as a project on a forum online and grew into the most-loved video game ever, but now Minecraft is being used for something its creator would not have thought of.



The hub of free speech has taken the iconic game, which involved placing Lego-like blocks in the same space with more than 145,000,000 people every month, and transformed into a symbol.



To host journalistic articles that were censored online A virtual library was meticulously designed.



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 at the library.



Minecraft has declined to comment.



The project was developed by a non-profit organization called Reporters Without Borders, which seeks to defend the right to information in all countries The Minecraft library itself was built by design studio Blockworks.



Christian Mihr, the executive director of Reporters Without Borders Germany, said that Minecraft was a worthy project because he doesn't believe that it poses an issue for governments that control their media.



"We have chosen Minecraft because of its global reach," he said. It is accessible in every country. The game is not subject to censorship like other games believed to be political.



"There are large communities in all the countries which is why it was suggested - it is a loophole to the practice of censorship."



He explained that the authors were selected to represent countries in which press freedom was restricted, to ensure that those communities could access their work.
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He also clarified that permissions were sought before republishing in the library.



"We have not uploaded any information into the library without the consent of the respective authors - if they're still alive.



"In the Jamal Khashoggi case, we spoke with family members - to express our respect for those who have been killed, and to ensure the security of their families."



Nick Feamster, Neubauer Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago He told the BBC that the library could be effective at beating the censors, but he was worried about how governments might react.



"It's an interesting idea," he said, "But I think there are still some problems. Governments will know about this and the articles are being circulated all over the internet. It's not foolproof to a determined enemy.



He stated that the library's strength was due to its use of Entanglement which is the mix of censored material and video games, in the eyes of the editors.



"By entangling these two things you oblige them to share content," he said. "You can't block one without the other."



Helmi Noman who is a Research Associate at the Berkman Klein Centre for Internet & Society said that he thought the library would have a limited audience.



"The censored content is dynamic and diverse," he said, adding that in his research "the users prefer approaches that don't pre-select and separate content in certain spaces online.



"Any approach that doesn't create an effortless and secure experience for browsing the entire internet, social media and direct messaging applications will probably be ineffective."



The server, which holds a maximum of 100 players at a time, was frequently unavailable due to the sheer number of players tried to connect at once. It has been visited by 3,889 players from 75 different countries. It has been downloaded more than 7,000 times.



After two hours of trying, BBC finally visited the virtual library and asked users what they thought of it.



SoulfulGenie said that they felt 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 reuploaded again by other users. "It is easy to replicate and therefore it is difficult to eradicate."



Meanwhile, other players focused on the design of the library, with ReduxPL declaring that it "looks amazing indeed".



The design of the library by Blockworks was no easy task, taking 24 people from 16 different countries around 250 hours to construct.



James Delaney, the company's managing director, stated to the BBC that the goal was to create a design that was "on the edge of fantasy".



He said it was feasible as a construction, but it is over the limit of what is possible.



"We chose a design that's in the neoclassical style. It's very similar to the British Museum or New York's public libraries.



Outside of these influences, he said Minecraft was an improvisational game at its core So the builders did not have to adhere to established plans.



"With many people working on the same project," he said, "people observe each other's work and have to react in real-time. So it is a very reactive method of working, and that can change the look of the project.



"The style is used to symbolize the power and authority of the wearer - we wanted to turn that on its head.



"It's not representing the power of either the regime or the government. It's representing freedom of speech."



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