Internet Censorship Has Begun: Google Reveals 'Terrorism Video' Removals from YouTube

This is one more small step towards a global 'China-like' censorship of the internet, and then some:

BBC - 17th June 2012

Google has revealed it removed about 640 videos from YouTube that allegedly promoted terrorism over the second half of 2011 after complaints from the UK's Association of Chief Police Officers.

The news was contained in its latest Transparency Report which discloses requests by international authorities to remove or hand over material.

The firm said it terminated five accounts linked to the suspect videos.

However, the firm said it had rejected many other state's requests for action.

But Google did act in hundreds of cases, including:


1. The removal of a YouTube video that contained hate speech that had been posted in Turkey
2. The termination of four YouTube accounts responsible for videos that allegedly contained threatening and harassing content after complaints by different US law enforcement agencies.

www.bbc.com...

What do you think about this? At this stage most people will think this is pretty harmless. YouTube is simply deleting 'harmful' content, and many requests have been rejected. However, I am worried about what kind of precedent this sets for the future.

I think we can expect to see more and more internet censorship in the years to come. The internet is a great weapon for the masses to use against the elite, and I think that really p####es them off.

Here's a VERY interesting quote from the news story:

Google's senior policy analyst, Dorothy Chou, said the company was concerned by the amount of requests that had been linked to political speech.

"It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect - Western democracies not typically associated with censorship," she said.

I'm not surprised. In the infancy of the internet, one of the most common downloads was "The Anarchist's Cookbook" and variations thereof. The internet has always been the most efficient tool for government, and also its biggest threat.

Google is a private company and can do whatever the hell they want. I am all for removing terrorist promo videos. One of the few instances where censorship doesn't bother me. Doesn't strike me as a slippery slope, and again, Google can do as they please. If you want to watch terrorist propaganda go find it somewhere else. Like porn or snuff films.

There is so much garbage on the net that no sane person would want to see....so i see reason with the policing of the net.

I am a firm believer in "profiling", gets you quickly to those who intend harm. Any video promoting terrorism should be removed. Freedom has its limits and responsibilities, if you allow such things then you are promoting the downfall of freedom.

reply to post by Domo1

I am all for removing terrorist promo videos

yes but it a slippery slope. In the 90s I use to go on environmental protests.. Well we where all put on the a terrorist watch list just because we did not agree with the norm so our peaceful protests where considered illegal.. How about the occupy movement how long unitll they get labeled terrorists or Anon for that matter...

Soz I am strongly inclined to disagree with your statement... Let the internet remain free and if you dont like it. Dont watch it...

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

I can see removing videos if they say for instance "Here is how to make a bomb." or " Here is where we will stage prior to attacking the hotel full of dignitaries." or "This is the route the President's motorcade will travel." That information can clearly be used to cause harm and mayhem.

I cannot see removing videos simply because they are critical of government.

What alarms me is just because someone says it is terroristic google removes it. What happened to due process....
oh but I forgot google is a "private" company.

They don't need "due process". They are a private company as you said. They have the right to deny service to anyone they desire. Just like any other private business.

US PResidents have issued letters to shut down "gripe" web sites for years.

Don't even have to be "terror" related. How many letters has Barrack issued to shut down websites?

Likely more than Bush.

Originally posted by SubSea
I am a firm believer in "profiling", gets you quickly to those who intend harm. Any video promoting terrorism should be removed. Freedom has its limits and responsibilities, if you allow such things then you are promoting the downfall of freedom.

It is this type of thinking that is very alarming to me. The term "Terrorism" and "Terrorist" are used far to loosely these days. Pretty soon anyone not directly in line with the status quo will be labelled a terrorist. This is where we are headed and if you cannot see that, then your head is already so far in the sand you will never see it coming until it includes you.

Originally posted by Domo1
Google is a private company and can do whatever the hell they want. I am all for removing terrorist promo videos. One of the few instances where censorship doesn't bother me. Doesn't strike me as a slippery slope, and again, Google can do as they please. If you want to watch terrorist propaganda go find it somewhere else. Like porn or snuff films.

But what is terrorism promo videos?? They want to pretty much define anyone who is against government as terrorists. With that logic they could easily ban videos from conspiracy theorists like alex jones and label those as terrorist videos.

I can't imagine that you would expect that Google or ANY company, internet or washing machine manufacturer would believe that they could operate entirely upon their own whims, and credos. The world of governments doesn't work that way. Their nature of governments is to control. Give them half a reason and they will create a law, regulation, statute, restriction or advisory to stop doing something they find irritating to their desires.

So these days, the government looks down on internet companies and washing machine manufacturers and says we are thinking about providing you with some official regulations and more oversight of your doings. But barring that, here is our guidelines on what we would like you to do....or else we shall probably make it official.

Most of you have no idea about how some industries, such as the manufacturers of washing machines, have been strongly influenced by governmental action both official and "advistory." Yes, these things, interned and washing machines, seem to work pretty much as always, but not entirely according to what they, alone, would have. Google is merely toeing the line of what is expected of them.

Start downloading the videos you think are important. Don't want the good ones to be lost!

reply to post by chemistry


I have no probleme with less extreme vieos like people hurting themselves due to sheer stupidity, fails, stunts even porn. But when it comes to dismemberments and torture... Yeah I think it needs to be off of there,

(CNN) -- Western governments, including the United States, appear to be stepping up efforts to censor Internet search results and YouTube videos, according to a "transparency report" released by Google.

"It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect -- Western democracies not typically associated with censorship," Dorothy Chou, a senior policy analyst at Google, wrote in a blog post on Sunday night.

"For example, in the second half of last year, Spanish regulators asked us to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing individuals and public figures, including mayors and public prosecutors. In Poland, we received a request from a public institution to remove links to a site that criticized it. We didn't comply with either of these requests."

In the last half of 2011, U.S. agencies asked Google to remove 6,192 individual pieces of content from its search results, blog posts or archives of online videos, according to the report. That's up 718% compared with the 757 such items that U.S. agencies asked Google to remove in the six months prior.

More - www.cnn.com...

Or people could realize youtube isnt the only video website out there.

Originally posted by Domo1
Google is a private company and can do whatever the hell they want. I am all for removing terrorist promo videos. One of the few instances where censorship doesn't bother me. Doesn't strike me as a slippery slope, and again, Google can do as they please. If you want to watch terrorist propaganda go find it somewhere else. Like porn or snuff films.

Porn and snuff films have nothing to do with terrorism, that has more to do with personal preference and sexual fetish. And yes you are correct, they can take down whatever they please.....just like if they outlawed EMO kid from uploading videos because watching them has been known to cause seizures.

Besides, a terrorist trying to recruit off of youtube or promoting an agenda on youtube or google doesnt make them very credible....now if it was shown on CNN then maybe you should be afraid of them.

Yet if they are to take them down, maybe they should replace them with more porn and snuff films......you know to fill the gap left behind.

reply to post by Domo1


Basically all they have to do is label something a "terrorist recruitment video" and they can pull it. No one cares that this is being done when it's "foreign Islamic" videos that are being pulled (which has anyone seen the videos to attest to the fact that they are INDEED terrorist recruitment videos, or are we just taking their word for it?), but what happens when that starts happening HERE? What happens when any video that is made that is, for instance, anti-government or anti-Illuminati gets labelled "terrorist recruitment videos"?

This is indeed a slippery slope and can easily be abused by TPTB just like renditions, torture, etc. So many Americans endorse these things but what happens when they are being used on the general population? What happens when Americans (and not Muslim ones) are abducted in the middle of the night and taken to foreign countries to be tortured? It's sad how people can get behind crap like this, especially when all it takes is someone coming out and using propaganda and fear words like "terrorism." Too much trust. Way too much trust.

Originally posted by SubSea
I am a firm believer in "profiling", gets you quickly to those who intend harm.

Good to see that you buy into the propaganda.

Originally posted by SubSea
Any video promoting terrorism should be removed.

And who decides that?