Blacklist

Related Topics:
Blacklists

"Blacklisted" redirects here. For the Neko Case album, see Blacklisted (album).

A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, or mobility. As a verb, blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize them from a certain social circle.

Political context

The term blacklisting is generally used in a negative context, since it implies that someone has been prevented from having legitimate access to something due to the whims or judgments of another. For instance, a person being served with a restraining order for having threatened someone else would not generally be considered to have been blacklisted, but if someone is fired for exposing poor working conditions in a particular company and is subsequently blocked from finding work in that industry, that may be considered a form of blacklisting.

One of the most famous examples of blacklisting in American history stemmed from the HUAC's investigations into Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry, among whom were the "Hollywood Ten", a group of Communist screenwriters. Among them was Dalton Trumbo, who was barred, or blacklisted, from working in Hollywood due to these associations. (He later worked under a pseudonym and wrote the script for Spartacus, among other films.)

A radio actress named Madeline Lee (wife of actor Jack Gilford who was also blacklisted) who specialized in making baby noises, was blacklisted during McCarthyism. It had been discovered that she had given a party in her house to raise funds for a group later listed as a Communist front.

A different Madaline Lee (spelled differently) was a regular on the Amos & Andy television show; she had no blemishes in her political past, but the network was soon the recipient of thousands of protest phone calls against her television appearances.

Another actress, Camilla Ashland from the television show Danger, physically resembled Madeline Lee and received protest phone calls at the network even though she had no political past. Madeline Pierce, a 20-year veteran of radio and who had no political past, also specialized in making baby noises, and she, too, was ultimately blacklisted.

The term "blacklist" can be offensive to African Americans. The British Sociological Association's website explains: "The term has taken on more political connotations with the rise of black activism in the USA since the 1960s and now its usage implies solidarity against racism. The idea of 'black' has thus been reclaimed as a source of pride and identity. To accept this means that we should be sensitive to the many negative connotations relating to the word 'black' in the English language (black leg, black list etc.)."

Private clubs

Another word for blacklisting is blackballing. This term allegedly derives from the practice of some private clubs of allowing any member to veto the application for membership of any person by anonymously placing a black ball or other token among the white balls put in an urn by other members when the individual's application was brought up for consideration: See blackball.

Computing

In computing, a blacklist is an access control mechanism that means, allow everybody, except members of the blacklist. The opposite is a whitelist, which means, allow nobody, except members of the white list. As a sort of middle ground, a greylist serves as a temporary blacklist that could be used, for example, to block poorly-configured electronic mail clients that may be used to send undesirable electronic mail.

An organization may keep a blacklist of software or websites in its computer system. Titles on the list would be banned and everything else would be allowed. For example, a school might blacklist KaZaA and ICQ; other Internet services would still be allowed.

An e-mail spam filter may keep a blacklist of addresses, any mail from which would be prevented from reaching its intended destination.

Many copy prevention schemes include software blacklisting.

Alternative terms

"Blocklist" is considered to be more sensitive to African Americans and has been adopted by some technology departments - especially in U.S. higher education. "Rejectlist" is another alternative.

Literature

"Blacklist" is the title of a mystery novel written by Sara Paretsky.

References

James J. Lorence. The Suppression of Salt of the Earth. How Hollywood, Big Labor, and Politicians Blacklisted a Movie in Cold War America. University of New Mexico Press: 1999. ISBN 0-8263-2027-9 (cloth) ISBN 0-8263-2028-7 (paper)

External links

Current IP Blacklist

Informal legal terms

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Blacklist