Andrew Shaffer Quotes

Of course, people say maybe there are some self-published books out there that shouldn't be out there. Well, it's the same with conventional publishing.

I have a lot of Chinese fans who buy my movies on the street and watch them, and I'm OK with it. I'm not OK with it in other places, but if the government's going to censor me, then I want the people to see it in any way they can.

On YouTube, you know, if you say something, you know, that triggers somebody, it becomes a whole controversy, a whole thing - and all the comments and everybody's upset, whereas a book, there's no comment section. There's no - there's nowhere for the audience to, you know, get mad at you for saying something.

Congress created a safe harbor for defamation in 1996 and for copyright in 1998. Both safe harbors were designed to ensure that the Internet would remain a participatory medium of speech.

What we will do is we'll say, 'Okay, you have your page, and if you're not trying to organize harm against someone, or attacking someone, then you can put up that content on your page, even if people might disagree with it or find it offensive.' But that doesn't mean that we have a responsibility to make it widely distributed in News Feed.

You either have commercial pressure or ideological pressure. I prefer commercial pressure; otherwise, you can be at the mercy of one or two idiots.

It is a lamentable observation that because of the way our laws are skewed toward the plaintiff, London has become the libel capital of the world.

On Broadway, there is no censoring, just self-censorship and doing what makes sense.

Did you know you can't say 'Jesus' in a sitcom? They told me that, and I was like, You gotta be kiddin' me. If you don't want my God here, you don't want me here either.

It's almost impossible to totally eliminate terrible content in a huge open network.

I don't want the government to be censoring people, I don't think there should be censoring boards, but I think that means that we the artists need to be very careful about what we're putting out and what were saying and how we're saying it. And I don't think we're being as careful as we should be.

I definitely have to censor myself a lot of the time because I'm used to just being a loose cannon, and I'm used to doing and saying whatever I want because I work on YouTube.

Can any sane person say that before something comes on the Net you must screen it? How can there be pre-screening?

Mass protests often get books or films banned, but very few people take to the streets to challenge the right of the State to decide what we can read or watch - it's still someone else's problem.

Prohibiting any words not approved of as 'politically correct' - that's not progressive. Putting 'trigger warnings' on books, movies, music, anything that might offend people - that's not progressive, either.

Terrorism has come to publishing. It is a grave concern when criticism is turned to mortal threats.

I really do love 'Panama.' But I'd also have to admit that right now, if I were driven to write another novel like that, I wouldn't even try to find a publisher for it. It simply wouldn't be published. I'd be writing it to put in my closet upstairs.

Censorship should never go. But we can always give a little more space to the director.

If we start attacking advertisers because of what somebody said - it's the wrong thing to do.

With the Internet I just love how anything goes, especially in the light of this whole Sachsgate.

I feel instead of censorship, we need to self-regulate ourselves while producing any kind of content.

Producing zines can offer an unexpected respite from the scrutiny on the Internet, which can be as oppressive as it is liberating.

People back down because the libel system is so utterly hostile to journalists, bloggers, scientists. The smart thing is not to fight.

I think over the long run, it's better that government does not regulate the content of speech.

People are deciding - if they don't like a particular point of view or a particular paper, it goes out of business.