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I know Google famously censored political speech in China until Sergey Brin made his stand [a], and it continues to censor videos in e.g. India [b] (blocking co

by uvdiv 14y ago

I know Google famously censored political speech in China until Sergey Brin made his stand [a], and it continues to censor videos in e.g. India [b] (blocking content which could provoke Hindu-Muslim violence). But in those places, the courts of those countries force them to censor; here, the censorship is voluntary, seemingly of their own initiative. Is there a precedent for this? [a] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin#Censorship_of_Google_in_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin#Censorship_of_Googl... [b] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/21/net-us-india-violence-internet-idUSBRE87K0NM20120821 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/21/net-us-india-viole...

mtgx 14y ago
They censored the DNC speech and who knows how many thousands or hundreds of thousands other videos. It may have been "automatic censorship" because of their idiotic system, but that's not exactly a very good excuse for such important (political, no less) videos and on such a large scale, is it?
- uvdiv 14y ago
  Yes, but in this case it's overtly political -- they are blocking videos on the basis of their speech content.
- raldi 14y ago
  The DNC thing never actually happened: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/09/05/michelle_obama_dnc_speech_why_did_youtube_flag_it_for_copyright_infringement_.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/09/05/michelle_... There's always a delay between the end of a livestream and the point where you can watch the prerecorded video. In this case, YouTube merely displayed the wrong error message during that delay.
calibraxis 14y ago
Does Google/YouTube proactively restrict content based on notions of intellectual property or other US interests?
leephillips 14y ago
"Is there a precedent for this?" There are many. Here's one from a few years ago: http://lee-phillips.org/youtube/ http://lee-phillips.org/youtube/

by uvdiv 14y ago

mtgx 14y ago

They censored the DNC speech and who knows how many thousands or hundreds of thousands other videos. It may have been "automatic censorship" because of their idiotic system, but that's not exactly a very good excuse for such important (political, no less) videos and on such a large scale, is it?

uvdiv 14y ago
Yes, but in this case it's overtly political -- they are blocking videos on the basis of their speech content.
raldi 14y ago
The DNC thing never actually happened: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/09/05/michelle_obama_dnc_speech_why_did_youtube_flag_it_for_copyright_infringement_.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/09/05/michelle_... There's always a delay between the end of a livestream and the point where you can watch the prerecorded video. In this case, YouTube merely displayed the wrong error message during that delay.

calibraxis 14y ago

Does Google/YouTube proactively restrict content based on notions of intellectual property or other US interests?

leephillips 14y ago

"Is there a precedent for this?" There are many. Here's one from a few years ago: http://lee-phillips.org/youtube/ http://lee-phillips.org/youtube/