political material. For example, in the local elections of 2005, CDs with videos ridiculing candidates were confiscated in accordance to the Election and Recall Act. Laws prohibiting the promotion of Communism has already abolished in 2011. For example, Taiwan Communist Party obtaining registration as a political party in 2008, and become the 141st registered party in Taiwan. More covert moves have also been made by the government to censor unfavorable media. In 2006 under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, the independent National Communications Commission (NCC) refused to renew the broadcasting licenses of certain television channels suggesting that the broadcasters were not in compliance with broadcasting standards. Publication censorship in Taiwan During the martial law period the KMT, as an authoritarian state, exercised strict control of publication. Distribution of political manifestos and documents other than those from the KMT, Chinese Youth Party and China Democratic Socialist Party, were banned and publications advocating either democracy or Taiwan independence were banned. The KMT found that one of the causes leading to the failure of the fight against the communists was the policy regarding literary and artistic work. It was then decided to start book-ban to control the thinking of the people—not only were the books on communism banned but those which echoed similar ideas and whose authors stayed in communist region. Publications were strictly managed by the Taiwan Garrison Command and regulated by the Publication Control Act (出版物管制辦法) during the martial law era. Books that bore the name of Karl Marx were suppressed, as well as works by other authors whose names began with an "M," such as Max Weber and Mark Twain, because in Mandarin their first names sounded similar to Marx. While this has become a joke today, it was a real manifestation of the thought control at the time. Universities became a hotbed for communist study groups and the KMT recognized that university campuses were places of open ideas and thought and would hire student informants in classes to inform the Garrison Command of any students discussing issues that may be seen as a threat to the KMT. Some illegal communist publications remained in the archives and back shelves of some University libraries and the books would bear a stamp declaring the book and its content as an order of arrest. The publishing ban also affected teaching materials for modern Chinese literature and foreign literature. Renowned Chinese writers, such as