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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 game in an online forum and turned into the best-selling video game ever However, now Minecraft is being used for something its creator would have never imagined.



The game of legends that revolves around placing Lego-like blocks with more than 145 million people playing each month has been turned into a center for free speech.



To host the articles of journalists who were banned online The virtual library was meticulously designed.



Work of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was killed by Saudi agents in 2018, can be found among the myriad of books available in the library.



Minecraft has declined to comment.



Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit organization that aims to safeguard the freedom of information throughout the world The project was created by the non-profit organization. Blockworks, the design studio that is responsible for the Minecraft library, built it.



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



He said that Minecraft was chosen because of its accessibility. It is available in every nation. It is not censored like other games that are suspected of being political.



"There are big communities in each featured country This is why the idea was born as an opportunity to bypass the censorship."



He explained that the authors were chosen to represent the countries where press was restricted, so that people from those communities would be able to access their work.



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



"We didn't include any content in the library without the permission of the authors themselves - provided they are alive.



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



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 effective at getting past the censors, however, he was concerned about how governments might react.



"It's an interesting idea," he said, "But I believe there are still some issues. The articles are distributed online and governments will be aware. It's unlikely to be foolproof against an armed adversary.



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



"By connecting these two things, you force them to share content," he said. "You cannot censor this one without the other."



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



He added that "censored content is constantly changing and varied" and that users prefer to use strategies that don't require preselection or separate content into specific areas online.



"Any method that doesn't provide an effortless and secure browsing experience of the entire internet as well as social media, direct messaging apps will have limited success."



The server, which can host up to 100 players at a time, was frequently inaccessible due to the number of players tried to connect at the same time. It has been visited by 3,889 players from 75 different countries. It has been downloaded more than 7,000 times.
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After two hours of trying, the BBC managed to visit the virtual library and ask its patrons what they thought of it.



SoulfulGenie said they thought "it requires more books and a brand new section on North Korea" and another user called it "ingenious in many ways" and said that, as the library may be downloaded and reloaded by other users, "it is easy to replicate and therefore hard to destroy".



In contrast, other players focused on the appearance of the library, with ReduxPL commenting that it "looks incredible indeed".



The design of the library developed by Blockworks was no easy feat that took a team of 24 people from 16 countries for 250 hours to build.



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



"It seems plausible as a real-world building," he said, "but is pushing the boundaries of what is feasible.



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



He claimed that Minecraft was improvisational at its foundation, meaning that builders weren't restricted to following a set design.



"With many people working on the same project," he said, "people see each others' work and must respond in real-time. It's a reactive method of working that can alter the look of the project.



"The style is chosen to represent the power and authority of the wearer We wanted to flip the whole thing around.



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



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