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Minecraft 'loophole' Library Of Banned Journalism

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

13 March 2020

It was initially an online forum project and has since grown into the most played video game ever. But now Minecraft is being used in a way that its creator could not have imagined.

The iconic game based on the concept of putting Lego-like blocks together with more than 145 million players each month has been turned into a nexus of free speech.

A virtual library was carefully designed to host the articles written by journalists which were blocked online.

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 created by non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders, which seeks to defend the freedom of information worldwide The Minecraft library itself was created by the design studio Blockworks.

Christian Mihr, the executive director of Reporters Without Borders Germany, said that Minecraft was a great project as he doesn't believe it poses a threat to governments that control their media.

He said that Minecraft was chosen due to its accessibility. It is accessible in every country. The game is not subject to censorship like some other games which are believed to be political.

"There are large communities in every country included, which is the reason why it was suggested that it is a loophole to the censorship."

He stated that the authors were chosen to represent countries where press freedom was restricted, to ensure that these communities could be able to access their work.

He clarified, however, that permissions must be sought before republishing in libraries.

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

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

"It's an interesting idea," he said, "But I believe there are some issues to be resolved. Governments will know about this and the articles are being circulated across the internet. It's not foolproof to an armed adversary.

He explained that the strength of the library was due to its use of Entanglement which is the mix of censored materials and video games to the satisfaction of the editors.

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

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

"The content that is censored is dynamic and diverse," he said, saying that in his study "the users prefer methods that don't pre-select and separate content on certain websites.

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

Due to the sheer number of players trying to login simultaneously the server was unable to be regularly accessed. It has been visited by 3,889 users from 75 countries, and has been downloaded more than 7,000 times.

After two hours of experimenting after trying for two hours, the BBC was able to access the virtual library and asked its patrons what they thought of it.

SoulfulGenie said that they thought "it requires more books as well as a new section on North Korea" and another user described it as "ingenious in many ways" and added that since the library can be downloaded and reuploaded by others, "it is easy to replicate and therefore hard to destroy".

Meanwhile, other players focused on the design of the library The library's appearance was the focus, with ReduxPL declaring that it "looks amazing indeed".

The design of the library by Blockworks was no easy task that took 24 people from 16 different countries around 250 hours to create.

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

"It is plausible as a building," he said, "but it is pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

"We picked a design that is in the neoclassical style. It's similar to things like the British Museum and public libraries in New York."

He stated that Minecraft was improvisational in its fundamentals, which means that creators weren't confined to following a pre-determined design.

He said that when there are many people working on the same project, "people can see each their work and react in real-time." It is a reactive way of working, which can change the look of the project.

"The style is meant to signify authority and power. Info We wanted to flip that around.

"It's not a representation of the power of either the regime or the government. It's symbolizing freedom of expression."

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