The Barbra Streisand Effect

In 2003, Kenneth Adelman placed an aerial photograph of Barbra Streisand’s mansion in a publicly available collection of California coastline photos. Wanting this photo removed from the collection, Streisand attempted to sue both the photographer, and the archive site, Pictopia.com. The ensuing legal battle ended up drawing more attention to the photo rather than diverting attention, thus achieving the opposite effect. This phenomena, attempting to censor something and in the process raising awareness and spreading it instead of hiding it, has become known as the Streisand Effect.

It astounds me just how many people, companies, etc. just don’t get it.

Virtually any attempt at censorship will result in this very thing. Trying to keep vulgar or politically incorrect language out of our vocabulary simple gives power to the words and makes them more appealing. Trying to protect the children from violent video games simply serves as additional advertising for the games.

Strangely, it seems the best way to keep information from spreading is to let it spread. Those with interest will read it, and before long it will be lost in the news cycle, rather than remaining a staple part of it.