Editing Peacefire (section)

==Activism==
Peacefire is primarily concerned with [[free speech]] rights and [[internet censorship]], and providing information to the public about this.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Oakes |first1= Elizabeth H. |last2= Greene |first2= Jeffrey D. |date= 2004 |title= Social Science Resources in the Electronic Age: Government and Civics, Volume III |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kcUYJ2Pqr1MC&pg=PA101 |location= Westport, CT |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |page= 101 |isbn= 9781573564762 |accessdate= December 14, 2014 }}</ref> The authors on the site have been opponents of web content [[Internet filter|filtering]] and [[content-control software]], which they refer to as "censorware".<ref>{{cite news |last= Oakes |first= Chris |date= March 9, 2000 |title= Censorware Exposed Again |url= http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2000/03/34842?currentPage=all |newspaper= Wired |accessdate= December 14, 2014 }}</ref> They have offered information and tools for defeating several common web filters, which has been controversial.<ref>{{cite news |last= Hanback, Jr. |first= James |date= November 5, 1998 |title= Useless Protection: A Nashville teen challenges censorship on the Internet |url= http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/useless-protection/Content?oid=1182639 |newspaper= Nashville Scene |accessdate= December 14, 2014 }}</ref>

From the website's self-description in 2007:<ref>{{cite book |last= Thomas |first= Robert Murray |date= 2008 |title= What Schools Ban and Why |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Eu1_ZTMaggYC&pg=PA51 |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |page= 51 |isbn= 9780313352980 |accessdate= December 14, 2014 }}</ref>

<blockquote>The site has conducted long battles against the most commonly used filter programs, including, most famously, [[Net Nanny]], [[SurfControl|CyberPatrol]], and [[Bess (content-control software)|Bess]]. "In particular, Peacefire has demonstrated that the filter programs suppress political speech and filter preferentially for corporate and [[Conservatism|conservative]] causes. In other cases, Peacefire has presented evidence that several filtering programs block some websites without having a human being review those sites first, despite the filtering companies' claims to the contrary. However, Peacefire is not usually active against filters that act in a more neutral way.</blockquote>

Along with publishing ways of bypassing these programs, Peacefire publishes criticism of them and information about their practices, such as [[SurfWatch]] blocking gay and lesbian websites and then unblocking them.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://peacefire.org/censorware/SurfWatch/ |title= SurfWatch examined |website= Peacefire |accessdate= December 14, 2014}}</ref>

One common test that Peacefire runs is to create web pages filled with content clipped from news items. In particular, they will take quotes from conservative politicians that seem politically sensitive. They will then submit the site to a filter and see if it gets blocked. They will then point out that the content deemed "inappropriate" on their pages was, in fact, "appropriate" when coming from a corporate (or conservative [[blog]]) site. They also routinely search out sites of [[Liberalism|liberal]] and [[progressivism|progressive]] content to see if they are blocked. They then compile a report to point out how the said software is discriminatory and restrictive of free speech/free access in what it censors. They offer these reports to the software makers and later follow up to see if any corrective measures have been taken.

The site is also involved in alerting the online community of efforts to pass laws restricting content to websites. Peacefire's own website is often blocked, either in part or whole, by filtering software, and the organization has both sued and been threatened with lawsuits in [[Civil procedure|civil court]] in the [[United States]]. Anyone of any age can become a member by signing up for the site's low-volume, announcement-only [[electronic mailing list]].