Censor bars are a basic form of text,
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is emplo ...
, and
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
in which "sensitive" information or images are occluded by black, gray, or white rectangular boxes. These bars have been used to censor various parts of images. Since the creation of
digital editing
Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. '' ...
software which can apply less obtrusive effects such as
pixelization
Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorshi ...
and blurring, censor bars are typically used for
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming o ...
,
[Click: The Forces Behind How We Fully Engage with People, Work, and Everything We Do, Ori Brafman & Rom Brafman, p.10]
/ref> although they remain in contemporary use to address privacy concerns. Censor bars are also used in art forms such as blackout poetry.
Censor bars may also have the words 'censored', 'redacted', 'private information', 'sensitive information', etc. to indicate their presence.
Illustrations of usage
File:1965 FBI monograph on Nation of Islam - Elijah Muhammad at Airport (redacted).png, A 1965 Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...
surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...
photograph
File:Aclu-v-ashcroft-redacted.jpg, A heavily redacted page from the lawsuit ''American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft
''American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft'' (filed April 9, 2004 in the United States) is a lawsuit filed on behalf of a formerly unknown Internet Service Provider (ISP) owner by the American Civil Liberties Union against the U.S. federal gover ...
''
File:Google Doodle Censored 2.png, The censor bar as used by Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
in the SOPA and PIPA online protests
File:CENSORED The Birth of Venus by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1879).jpg, Censor bars applied to an academy painting, ''The Birth of Venus
''The Birth of Venus'' ( it, Nascita di Venere ) is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea ...
'' by William-Adolphe Bouguereau
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...
File:Frau-2 censored de.jpg, Censor bars applied to a model
File:Riley day.jpg, Censor bars used to anonymise a woman with familial dysautonomia
Familial dysautonomia (FD), also known as Riley-Day Syndrome, is a rare, progressive, recessive genetic disorder of the autonomic nervous system that affects the development and survival of sensory, sympathetic and some parasympathetic neurons ...
File:Censored wikipedia logo for trwiki.svg, The Turkish Wikipedia logo with a censor bar covering the text, used from April 2017 to January 2020 when Turkish authorities blocked online access to Wikipedia in all languages across Turkey
File:Chwiesiuk complaint affidavit 0.pdf, A portion of the redacted affidavit used to obtain a search warrant for former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and resort, with the signature block blacked out.
See also
* Sanitization (classified information)
Sanitization is the process of removing sensitive information from a document or other message (or sometimes encrypting it), so that the document may be distributed to a broader audience. When the intent is secrecy protection, such as in dealing ...
References
External links
Censorship
{{Humanrights-stub