Journalists from five different countries, despite having been banned, jailed, exiled and even killed – now have a place to make their voices heard again. Their articles have now been republished as Minecraft books in English and the articles’ original language and are available in countries that censored their works, says a report by Reporters Without Borders, a Press freedom NGO.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) initiative
Using a backdoor, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has opened “The Uncensored Library” which is now accessible on an open server for Minecraft players around the globe. The library is filled with books, containing articles that were censored in their country of origin. These articles are now available again within Minecraft hidden from government surveillance technology inside a computer game.
These articles are now available again within Minecraft hidden from government surveillance technology
Initially, the library will be stocked with stories from five countries that rank near the bottom of Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, including Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.
Anyone with access to the Minecraft server hosting the library will have access to the stories that will be published in English and whichever language they were originally written in.
The library is filled with books, containing articles that were censored in their country of origin
Several prominent international journalists who’ve had their work, or the work of someone they loved, censored, have backed the project. Some of them include Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Van Dai, Russian journalist Yulia Berezovskaia, and Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Access to independent information
Christian Mihr, Managing Director Reporters Without Borders Germany claims “In many countries around the world, there is no free access to information. Web- sites are blocked, independent newspapers are banned and the press is controlled by the state. Young people grow up without being able to form their own opinions. By using Minecraft, the world’s most popular computer game, as a medium, we give them access to independent information.”
Use of Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox video game created by Swedish developer Markus Persson, released by Mojang in 2011 and purchased by Microsoft in 2014.