Cindy's Torment

Cindy's Torment was an early example of censorship in cyberspace. The posting by "Anonymous John" which contained non-consensual acts of BDSM sparked a far reaching debate on the limits of freedom of expression in Usenet.

The story itself details a governmental office relationship where an oriental secretary is forced by financial pressure to submit into sexual slavery. Despite being posted in alt.sex.bondage, the graphic nature, racial element and non-consensual aspect together combined to spur an outcry. While different readers disagreed on which particular features of the story were decisive in defining the story as "beyond the pale", the vociferousness of the objections led a technically adept person to erase all trace of the posting from the usenet.

This attempted act of censorship proved both the illusory nature of indefatiguable freedom on the internet and the quixotic aspect of trying to decisively control the spread of content within it. While the erasure of the original posting was technically successful (a thing that had previously been considered inconceivable), the notoriety of the story ensured continued re-postings of (sometimes degraded) versions saved on the mass storage of the newsgroups readers.

Cindy's Torment was followed by even more graphically violent sequels which (unlike the original) were successfully censored. Also a tables turning revenge fantasy was posted. Cindy's Revenge was arguably more violent than either the original or sequels, and yet this story of retribution was never censored.