December 13, 2004

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  U.S. government moves to muzzle dissident voices

  By Scott Martelle | Associated Press December 7, 2004

  
  

  In an apparent reversal of decades of U.S. practice, recent federal Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations bar American companies from publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they first obtain U.S. government approval.
  
  The restriction, condemned by critics as a violation of the First Amendment, means that books and other works banned by some totalitarian regimes cannot be published freely in the United States.
  
  Violations carry severe reprisals -- publishing houses can be fined $1 million and individual violators face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
  
  In a further wrinkle, even if publishers obtain a license for a book, they believe the regulations bar them from advertising it, forcing readers to find the dissident works on their own.
  
  Officials from the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees OFAC, declined comment, but spokeswoman Molly Millerwise described the sanctions as "a very important part of our overall national security."

  
  

   

  • 7:18 am
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