I am in shock! Don’t-be-Evil company would never do this.

They actually were censoring for as long as Google owned youtube. Now, they going official with it.

I noticed that during the Iraq war, Youtube had a policy of deleting just about every video that had the slightest whiff of anti-US sentiment. I’m not talking about graphic blood-and-guts violence here, just anything that claimed to be posted by the opposing side of the war/occupation.

But anyone who cared to get past the title would see that many of these videos did not live up to their claims. I remember watching one video that claimed to show a US tank being blown up. In reality, the roadside bomb exploded much too far from the tank to cause any possible damage, other than blowing some dust on it. It was also a small explosive charge that would probably not done any damage even if the tank tread had been on top of it when it exploded. So the whole thing was nothing more than an empty boast.

I explained all this in the Youtube page comments. Then when I went back a short time later, the page had been deleted.

Although Youtube had a horrible censorship policy, Google Video seemed to be much more lenient in allowing videos that expressed anti-American sentiment.

This is in the finest tradition of Maggie Thatcher. Hands up all who remember –

“Democratic nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend.”

Speech 1985, excerpt:

The terrorist uses force because he knows he will never get his way by democratic means.

Through calculated savagery, his aim is to induce fear in the hearts of people. And weariness towards resistance.

In this evil strategy, the actions of the media are all important. For newspapers and television, acts of terrorism inevitably make good copy and compelling viewing. The hijacker and the terrorist thrive on publicity: without it, their activities and their influence are sharply curtailed. There is a fearful progression, which the terrorists exploit to the full. They see how acts of violence and horror dominate the newspaper columns and television screens of the free world. They see how that coverage creates a natural wave of sympathy for the victims and pressure to end their plight no matter what the consequence. And the terrorists exploit it. Violence and atrocity command attention. We must not play into their hands.

Mr. President, let us make no mistake: the threat from terrorism is growing constantly. The terrorist has access to ever more money. He operates across national boundaries. Modern technology makes the terrorists job easier and that of the security forces more difficult.

Now there is a new dimension, brought home to us in the horrific hijacking of your TWA aircraft a few weeks ago: not only an aircraft but an airport were in the hands of hijackers.

Increasingly we see evidence of links between the terrorist groups of different countries. They share funds, training, intelligence and weapons?and a total ruthlessness.

Could anything more clearly point up the need for the Governments and security services of all civilised nations to work together against such people? For a victory for terrorism anywhere is a victory for terrorism everywhere.

Nor is terrorism confined to countries where lawlessness and anarchy prevail. Its followers abuse the very freedom of open societies to do their evil work. Where they cannot get their way by the ballot box they use the bomb. They intimidate or they eliminate those who stand in their way.

The more open our society, the more we must be on our guard. Civilised societies cannot use the weapons of terrorism to fight the terrorist. But we must take every possible precaution to protect ourselves: sustained security measures for our aircraft and our airports: constant checking of people and luggage however irksome: combined action to penalise countries which harbour and assist terrorists: and above all the closest possible cooperation on pre-emptive intelligence. Too often in the past our countries have begun well but then slackened and grown complacent, making ourselves easier targets.

We have behind us many fine declarations and communiques of good intent. We need action; action to which all countries are committed until the terrorist knows that he has no haven, no escape. Alas that is far from true today.

And we must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend. In our societies we do not believe in constraining the media, still less in censorship. But ought we not to ask the media to agree among themselves a voluntary code of conduct, a code under which they would not say or show anything which could assist the terrorists’ morale or their cause while the hijack lasted?

etc
http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106096

Congratulations YouTube.

You’ve now given me the kick in the ass I needed to stop using your website.

Bravo!

The freedom of the current internet is dying and tech guys think this is something that can be fixed.