Two words for ya: basiji bloggers RT @evgenymorozov: on how authoritarian regimes use crowdsourcing to muzzle free speech http://is.gd/2q7CmThis is really just the latest incarnation of what we have seen here in the US. A minority of people, who are willing to organize around their personal offense at someone else's statement are able to magnify their voices to drown out the majority of people who have better things to do. We saw it with FCC complaint campaigns like this one.
It may seem that a site like youtube seems pretty liberal with its "Community Guidelines" however, it still starts down the slippery slope of not allowing "pornography", or "bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, under-age drinking and smoking, or bomb making." and also "YouTube is not a shock site. Don't post gross-out videos of accidents, dead bodies or similar things intended to shock or disgust."
The problem here is that, everyone will be offended by something. Youtube (and many other sites) implement "Flag Systems" that are all the rage. You let the community flag problems and have things taken down. So is it any surprize that armies of "the offended" will now spring up to make their voices heard above the rest?
How do we define pornography when the internet has people from all countries on it? Here in the US, its generally illegal for a woman to be topless in public; In France, being topless at the beach is simply a part of life normal for women from birth through old age; then there is Saudi Arabia, where women are covered from head to ankle.
It is plainly clear to me that there is only one solution here, only one real choice. Show nothing, or show everything. Get rid of any shadow of censorship and declare everything ok, or shut down the site completely, because everything will offend someone.
It was thirteen years ago when John Perry Barlow transmitted "A Cyberspace Independence Declaration". I think it is high time that the citizens of this space take heed and demand the independance that we need. Why should we continue to subject ourselves to the tyrrany of the whiners and the nannies?
These well meaning, if misguided, ninnies who seek to force others into silence, are worst than all the crimnals and miscreants combined. We should not kow-tow to them one iota.
I will let John Close it out:
...more to the point, let us now take our leave of them. They have
declared war on Cyberspace. Let us show them how cunning, baffling, and
powerful we can be in our own defense.
