You might remember Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 from high school. Or perhaps you chose to read the book after reaching adulthood. But whether you’ve read it or not, most know that it is a book about censorship.
The novel presents firemen as fire-starters rather than fire-fighters as they burn books in an extreme act of censorship. The novel got its name because its author believed that 451-degrees Fahrenheit was the temperature at which books burn.
Now, a new proposal would create an error code 451, as a sort of homage to Bradbury, which would display if the website that the user is attempting to access is made unavailable by an individual or entity other than the owner of the website, according to TheVerge, among other outlets.
The code would display, “451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons” so that the user understands that censorship is the reason they cannot access the website. What’s more, the proposal calls for an explanation of the legality behind blocking access to the website to be included with the code.
Bradbury was a well-known science fiction writer, although he pointed out that Fahrenheit 451 was the only novel he wrote that could be classified as such, classifying his other works as fantasy. He believed that science fiction pertained to stories that were possible, while fantasy dealt with the impossible.
His other works included The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes, among many others. Bradbury passed away on June 6, 2012 in Los Angeles at the age of 91.
Censorship, technology, and literature are among the many topics discussed in the newsgroups found on Usenet, and Bradbury’s status among fans of science fiction and fantasy fans makes him a well-discussed individual.
