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YouTube Closes Account of Anti-Torture Activist  (View post)

Ann [PersonRank 0]

Wednesday, November 28, 2007
16 years ago4,714 views

Well done YouTube, good move.

I don't want my kids stumbling upon a site showing torutre images etc..

Im glad action was taken and very swiftly.

ALEX [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

The idiot should of just made his own website... what an prat.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

> I don't want my kids stumbling upon
> a site showing torutre images etc..

Ann: that is what site filter settings are for. The kind you can disable as adult, though. Look at how web search results work at Google – they don't completely hide adult material, but they only include a SafeSearch filter for kids which adults can then turn off. So "kids shouldn't see it" does not necessarily have to mean "go delete it for all".

Guy [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

"The idiot should of just made his own website"

Surely exposing and working against torture is a noble aim. In my opinion Google should not be removing this sort of video, they should be opening a dedicated channel to help activists campaign against torture and human rights abuses.

The BBC's Panorama programme ran an expose of school fight videos on YouTube back in July (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/6921555.stm) where YouTube were very reluctant to remove videos showing school kids "getting hurt, attacked, or humiliated". Smacks of double standards. One set of videos is just for entertainment, the other is to bring attention to an important global issue.

Guy [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Full URL from above:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/6921555.stm

Piotr [PersonRank 2]

16 years ago #

Since when do violators of policies get news stories when they obviously broke the rules? Activists are not above the law, no matter how much they think they are.

doctoradel [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

So, if Google do have a policy against showing violence, should this include the 9/11....?

What about latest events in Burma.....?

"Broadcast Yourself"....indeed.

Don Danz [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

“Graphic or gratuitous violence is not allowed. If your video shows someone getting hurt, attacked, or humiliated, don’t post it.”

I look forward to Google/YouTube removing all Abu Grab videos showing people getting "hurt, attached or humiliated"...oh wait, this is Google/YouTube, it won't happen.

I used to raise the issue as to what I thought just appeared to be potential bias of Google...now there are so many incidents, it seems confirmed.

J. A. C. V. [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

I hope no one's forgetting how Google groveled at China's government's feet just to get a slice of its market – and crapped all over it's "Mission Statement".

"Do no evil" my a$$. Google's obviously becoming the ostrich with its head in the sand, where it's policy is more "speak, hear, and see no evil", so evil isn't really there if we can't see it (in regard to China's interesting take on human rights, which is probably closer to Egypt's than to ours – although ours isn't looking that different either nowadays).

It's too bad Google's software is so amazing – it would be much easier to forfeit if it were not :(

Satan [PersonRank 6]

16 years ago #

Some excellent points being made here in the comments!

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." As a child I disregarded this as childish (ironically). Now I can recognize how true of a statement that expression really is.

Free speech, unadulterated and raw, is the only 'purist' concept I can believe in 100%. Down with the censors!

David Marshall [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Dear Google,

Thank you for the society-transforming work you have done. Who would have thought that a couple of kids playing around with some script could make it so big! I am most impressed with your recent purchase of YouTube. What a brilliant move! I watch a lot of videos on YouTube.

There's one guy I used to watch all the time by the name of...wait, what's his name? Oh, yeah, Wael Abbas (how could I forget his name!? LOL. Won't make that mistake again). He used to have this blog from which he would broadcast—with the help of YouTube, of course—these horrible atrocities of police brutality in Egypt. Most recently, he presented in his blog the video of a man being sodomized by the police with a stick.

With a stick, can you imagine!

I was horrified to see what the police forces were doing in Egypt. I was glad there was someone in Egypt to let people know what was going on, to show us video proof of what was happening there. I mean, can you imagine how much worse the police abuse would be if Wael wasn't there to make this stuff public?

I’ve got to tell you, as an aside, that I was so mad when it was revealed a few weeks ago that Yahoo had provided critical information to Chinese state security officials that led to the conviction and ten-year sentence of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist. By gee, by gosh, by gum, I was outraged. Thank God, I thought from the comfort of my easy chair, that this was just an isolated incident by one Internet company. Surely this was not something that my beloved Google or YouTube would do!

But I was beyond horrified when I heard what happened next.

But you know all too well what happened next, don't you, my good friends Larry and Sergey: That's right, you shut him down. You said ‘no more YouTubing for you, Mr. Blogger Wael Abbas.’

That’s what you did. "Powered by Google" is what is on the YouTube website. Don't you see, I've got to believe you smarty pants are behind these shenanigans. Let’s call it reverse agency.

Shame on you!

Here I thought all along that Google was the good guy and Microsoft and Yahoo and others who have picked on you in the past were the bad guys.

Wow, did you prove me wrong!

Wait, I know what you’re going to say. Don't tell me: I shouldn't talk about things I know nothing about. I am a silly, impudent boy, right? Certainly, you have information that would make my position untenable, secret information you have been sworn not to reveal.

Let me guess: a couple of guys with badges showed up at your headquarters in Mountain View and talked to you about the greater good. Better yet, the White House called and The President himself talked to you! Told you some secret stuff to make your chests puff.

So now here you are, with Sousa music playing in your elevators and dining rooms, the king of search secretly collaborating with the government. How special that makes you feel!

'Here's the great contribution in your power to make,' someone hissed. 'Only you will know. It's a dangerous mission, and your business might suffer from the bad publicity. But guys,' the sibilant voice continued, ‘this is a time of war, and it would not do to ignite a controversy in Egypt to distract us in the eve of great talks between Israel and Palestine.’

And here’s Voldemort at his most snaky: ‘This is such a small request, really, shutting one guy down for the good of so many! Egypt asked us extra special to talk to you, and we knew you'd understand the import, the immense import. They’re trying so hard, you know, and this isn’t helping matters any. Thank you, my patriotic businessmen, thank you. I knew we could count on you. You have the gratitude of a nation.’

‘Oh!’ you gush with secret avuncular pride, ‘we so wish we could take the American people aside and tell them all the good we have done in the name of Google and YouTube and all the great innovations that our smart, young people have created. Gosh, when History reveals our role, what a day that will be. Reader’s Digest will feature us. Then they will know. Then they will know.’

Larry, I know you wish you could sit me down, uncle to nephew. And Sergey, you are so sure if I had the whole story, I would be so thankful that Google and YouTube were around...we are so lucky! ‘Oh, if you had an inkling of what we do behind the scenes,’ you would say. 'We are the best thing that has happened to democracy,’ I am sure you would tell me with star-spangled, zealous eyes and a catch in your throat.

I can just see a Google executive spinning this like Willy Wonka with a grandiose sweep of his hands, 'Just wait a little longer, my little Google friend, and you will see the tipping point of a free and open Internet closing all divides and transforming the whole world.'

Well, I have seen enough...at least enough to make me lose my dinner.

I don't believe you. I don't believe you have the best intentions for this world, for democracy, or even the American people. You cannot think for yourselves. It's simply not in your computer code-writing DNA. You let others tell you what is politically expedient, and you accept what they say as the greater good.

You are typical of what happens when science and technology are not balanced by the liberal arts. (And your handlers are the very worst kind of "patriots"; they, at least, have an excuse: they're idiots.) Technology in your hands will not save us; rather, it might very well destroy us.

Well, ironically, you have achieved your intentioned goal unintentionally. You have furthered democracy in a small, but significant way. I was a cynical, dour young man, disaffected to a keen degree of paralysis. Now I am angry and ready for Activism with a capital 'A'. You have cured my catatonia. You have armed me with self-righteous indignation. You have inflamed me.
Thank you, thank you, a million times thanks, Google and YouTube (and of course, Yahoo! before you) a million, billion megabyte thanks! You have awakened a giant.

See you in the streets.

David

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