[243] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Google, Thailand, and an Internet Mushroom Cloud
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Mon May 14 01:52:16 2007
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Date: Sun, 13 May 2007 18:59:54 -0700
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Google, Thailand, and an Internet Mushroom Cloud
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000235.html
Greetings. By now you've probably heard that Google has very
recently dropped some videos from YouTube that were considered
offensive enough to the Thailand government that Thailand threatened
a criminal lawsuit. That threat is now dropped, though at last
report blocking of YouTube by Thailand may still be in place.
What you may not know -- and what has not been widely reported -- is
that the controversy over the original offending videos has
triggered countless mirrors of those videos themselves in various
locations, and a slew of even more directly "vulgar" videos on the
same theme, playable at YouTube and a morphing list of other sites.
It doesn't take more than a few minutes of research on Google to find
piles of these materials, once you're provided with (or figure out)
some "second-tier" keywords relating to the subject and the various
personages involved in the disputes. Will Thailand soon demand that
Google remove those links? Once we pass over the event horizon into
the vortex of "political" censorship is it possible to ever escape?
And to what end? As predicted, it appears that Thailand's demands
and Google's response in this case have fanned the flames rather
than put them out, along the very lines I've talked about recently
(e.g., http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000229.html ).
This is but the beginning. Google (and other Web entities) must
understandably enforce their stated policies, but to the extent that
these policies are viewed by the world as largely ad hoc and subject
to pressure or expediency, the politically-based demands will keep on
coming, much as the stereotypical blackmailer is never satisfied
with the initial payment and always wants more. Meanwhile,
"offending" materials will continue to circulate around the globe
largely unimpeded, in ever wider circles, never to be eradicated no
matter the rationale. That's just the way it is. No escape.
We can and should make diligent attempts to work through these
issues -- and that means brainstorming on a scale beyond any
individual boardrooms. Even then a possible -- perhaps even likely
- -- result of current trends will essentially be content and
copyright chaos, with freedom of speech ironically a casualty as
ever more repressive means to try controlling content are brought to
bear. We may despite our best intentions be powerless to prevent
this outcome. However, we haven't yet really even made a sincere
effort at dealing with this dilemma, so it's too early to write off
the possibilities of success -- yet.
But if we don't get off of our collective butts soon, we will
absolutely guarantee a bad outcome for everybody involved, except
perhaps for those who have long viewed free speech as an enemy, and
the Internet as their personal mechanism for societal control.
The Internet is arguably in its own way the most powerful tool
created since the nuclear bomb. The battles over control of the
Net's content may prove to be as important in the sphere of human
rights and culture, as battles over nukes are to the survival of
mankind.
This isn't just about money, business plans, and stockholders, or
even stimulating R&D. It's about human rights and our collective
intellectual and political futures. We're screwing up. We will not
be forgiven if we haven't even tried to get this right.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
- International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Founder, CIFIP
- California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com
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