yestofreedom is an informal, non-profit, Internet-based organisation dedicated to promoting strong civil liberties in general, and free communication of ideas – between consenting adults at least – in particular. It was created in 2009 amidst the debacle surrounding the efforts of groups such as Equality Now, CEDAW and UNICEF Japan to ban “obscene” fiction – specifically eroge and marginal subsets of anime and manga. We enjoyed a brief peak of popularity when we were featured twice on the adult news blog Sankaku Complex, but as media interest in the matter declined, so did active participation in the organisation. After over a year of relative inertia and major structural changes, yestofreedom was rebuilt in accordance to a new, more solid organisational paradigm.

Our eclectic community seeks to raise awareness of the ethical and practical benefits of free speech, among politicians and the general public. For this purpose, we index and comment on related news, compose essays on topics such as censorship and obscenity, and correspond with elected officials, NPOs and corporations. We firmly believe in participative politics and in the potential of independent, decentralized groups to change the outcome of political debates. We coordinate our work mainly through our IRC channel (#yestofreedom @ irc.rizon.net), but also maintain a forum and a Wiki.

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Members of yestofreedom that were active within the past 3 or 4 months are listed below:

Azarius, Aronyan, Reikoku, Breadbasket, edible, HunterOfTheSky, Jigsy, TrueShiftBlue

As a tribute to their help, the following is a list of past active members, who may or may not come back some day:

the_pragmatist, Nayuta, toruvinn, Aknorals, Ikigami, incal, Immigrant88, Deth, Poor_Todd, Miroku74, Eriol-kun, sycamore, Orenji-kun, melancholymomo, Hayami, Otaku Girl, solace, CS and last but not least LunarSD without whom we wouldn’t exist.