Notes

Minecraft 'loophole' Library Of Banned Journalism



Minecraft 'loophole' library of banned journalism

Published 13 March 2020.



It began as an online project , and has since evolved to become the most popular video game ever. But now, Minecraft is being used in ways its creators could never have imagined.



The hub of free speech has taken the infamous game of putting Lego-like blocks together with more than 145 million players every month, and made it into an icon.



A virtual library was meticulously created to host journalistic articles that were later censored online.



You will find the work of Jamal Khashoggi (the journalist who was murdered by Saudi agents in 2018), among many other books at the library.



Minecraft has refused to comment.



The project was started by Reporters Without Borders which aims to protect the right to information throughout the world. The Minecraft library was also created by Blockworks design studio.



Christian Mihr, executive director of Reporters Without Borders Germany, told the BBC that Minecraft was a great choice for the project because he believes it is not considered an issue by governments that control their media.



He said that Minecraft was chosen due to its accessibility. It is available in every nation. The game is not subject to censorship as other games suspected to be politically motivated.



"There are huge communities in each of the countries featured This is why the idea came up as an opportunity to bypass censorship."



He stated that the authors were chosen to represent countries in which press freedom was restricted, so that people in those communities could be able to access their work.



He did clarify, however, that permissions must be sought prior to republishing in a library.



"We have not uploaded any content into the library without the consent of the author in the event that they're still alive.



"In the case of Jamal Khashoggi we talked to family members - with regard to the safety of deceased relatives, and the safety their families."



Nick Feamster, Neubauer Professor of Computer Science, at the University of Chicago, said that the library could beat the censors, but was worried about the response of governments.



"It's an interesting idea," he said, "But I believe there are still some problems. The articles are being distributed online and governments will be aware. It won't be foolproof against an aggressive enemy.



He stated that the strength of the library was in its use of entanglement - mixing up the censored material with the video game in the eyes censors.



"By connecting these two things, you make them share content," he said. Irc101 "You can't block one without the other."



Helmi Noman who is a Research Associate at the Berkman Klein Centre for Internet & Society, stated that he believed the library would have a small population.



He said that "censored content is constantly changing and varied" and that users prefer to use methods that don't pre-select or compartmentalize content in specific areas online.



"Any approach that doesn't create a seamless and secure browsing experience of the entire web, social media and direct messaging apps will likely be unsuccessful."



The server, which holds a maximum of 100 users at a time was frequently unavailable due to how many players were trying to log on at once. Despite this limit on simultaneous users, the server has been visited by 3,889 users from 75 different countries and downloaded over 7,000 times.



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



SoulfulGenie said they thought "it requires more books and a new section on North Korea" and another user called it "ingenious in many ways", adding that, as the library could be downloaded and reuploaded by others, "it is easy to duplicate and therefore difficult to eliminate".



ReduxPL stated that the library "looks amazing indeed".



The design of the Blockworks library took a team of 24 people, drawn from 16 countries, approximately 250 hours to finish.



James Delaney, Managing Director of the design company told the BBC that the goal was to create a classical design which was "on the border of fantasy".



He said it was plausible as a building, but it is exceeding the limits of what is possible.



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



Outside of these influences he stated that Minecraft was an improvisational game at its core and the creators did not have to adhere to established patterns.



"With many people working on the same project," he said, "people see each others' work and must respond in real-time. This is a highly reactive method of working and that changes the look.



"The style is chosen to represent the power and authority of the wearer - we wanted to turn the whole thing around.



"Instead of representing the power of the government or the regime, it's representing the free press."





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