CENSORSHIP IS AS old as language itself. Many ancient people believed that words held special powers and reasoned that such powers had to be controlled for the good of the community. For example, many early Native Americans believed that names held magic powers. They thought a person who knew another person's name held power over the person whose name was known. The one who knew the name could use that power to harm the other person or his or her tribe. To avoid this fate, these Native Americans were forbidden from speaking their names in public.

In many cultures speaking the names of gods and spirits was also taboo. For example, the third commandment, one of ten laws that Moses, a leader of the Jews, presented to his people around 1250 B.C., forbids the speaking of the name of God...