Notes

Minecraft 'loophole' Library Of Banned Journalism

It began as a game on a forum online and turned into the best-selling video game of all time, but now Minecraft is being used for something even its creator could never have dreamt of.



The game of legends that revolves on the placement of Lego-like blocks and more than 145 million people playing each month has been turned into a nexus of free speech.



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



The work of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist killed by Saudi agents in the year 2018 is available among the myriad of books in the library.



Minecraft has refused to comment.



Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit organization that seeks to protect the freedom of information across the globe has created the project. Blockworks, the design studio responsible for the Minecraft library, built it.



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



"We chose Minecraft because of its reach," he said. It is accessible in every country. The game is not censored like other games that are under suspicion of being political.



"There are large communities in all the countries which is why it was suggested - it's a way to circumvent censorship."



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



He also clarified that permissions were sought before publishing in the library.



"We didn't put any material in the library without the approval of the authors themselves - provided they are alive.



"In the Jamal Khashoggi case, we spoke to family members - with respect of those who were killed, and for the safety of their families."



Nick Feamster, Neubauer Professor of Computer Science, at the University of Chicago, stated to the BBC that the library was able to beat the censors , but was concerned about the reaction of the governments.



He said it was an interesting idea however there were some issues. The government will be aware of this as the articles are spreading across the internet. It's unlikely to be secure against an adversary who is determined.



He said that the strength of the library was due to the use of Entanglement which is the mix of the censored material and the video game in the eyes of the censors.



He said, "By entangling the two things you force them all to share content." "You cannot block one without the other."



In the meantime, Helmi Noman who is a Research Associate of the Berkman Klein Centre for Internet & Society He said the library would likely to be able to attract an audience that is limited.



"The content that is censored is constantly changing diverse and dispersed," he said, noting that in his research "the users prefer methods that don't pre-select and separate content on certain websites.



"Any method that doesn't provide an unhindered and secure experience for browsing the entire internet including social media, direct messaging applications will probably have limited success."



Due to the sheer number of players trying to login simultaneously, the server could not be regularly accessed. It has been visited by 3,889 people from 75 countries and has been downloaded more than 7,000 times.



After two hours of trying, 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 described it as "ingenious in many ways" adding that since the library can be downloaded and downloaded by other users, "it is easy to replicate and therefore difficult to eradicate".



ReduxPL stated that the library "looks amazing indeed".



The design of the library developed by Blockworks was no easy task, taking 24 people from 16 countries for 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 imagination".



"It is plausible as a building," he said, "but is pushing the limits of what is feasible.



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



He stated that Minecraft was improvisational in its foundation, meaning that builders weren't confined to following a pre-determined design.



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

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