Online "Public" Spaces Don't Guarantee Rights

mikesd81 recommends an AP piece covering a lot of examples of the ways free speech and other rights don't exist on the private Web. One case featured was that of Dutch photographer Maarten Dors, who had this picture deleted by flickr. Without prior notice, Yahoo deleted the photo on grounds it violated an unwritten ban on depicting children smoking. While Dors eventually got the photo restored, after the second time it was deleted, the case highlights the consequence of having online commons controlled by private corporations. "Rules aren't always clear, enforcement is inconsistent, and users can find content removed or accounts terminated without a hearing. Appeals are solely at the service provider's discretion. Users get caught in the crossfire as hundreds of individual service representatives apply their own interpretations of corporate policies, sometimes imposing personal agendas or misreading guidelines. First Amendment protections generally do not extend to private property in the physical world, allowing a shopping mall to legally kick out a customer wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a smoking child." Reason.com has some more analysis on the issues brought up by the AP story.

Comments

Good news

[Anonymous Coward]

/ All your rights \
| Are belong to   |
\      US        /
     \
      \
       \     ____
        \   / __ \
         \  O|  |O|
            ||  | |
            ||  | |
            ||    |
             |___/
--
cpu0: Microsoft Clippium ("GenuineClippy" ChromedMetal-Class). Paperbinding, lockpicking, fish-hook-hack support.
template greedily stolen from this guy: http://slashdot.org/~ClippySay

Re:No Shit?

[CowboyNealOption]

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Just hop the fence and come right in.

Re:Let's correct this flawed analogy.

[veganboyjosh]

Just a really weird lease.

I once was going over a potential lease to see what I would be signing up for, and in the part where it talks about what the landlord is not responsible for (telephone bills, cable, garbage pickup, etc) there was a sentence on its own. "Tenant is solely responsible for any and all pizza delivery charges." I like to think about the misunderstanding that must have occurred to get that phrase into subsequent versions of that landlord's lease.

Re:If you want a job done right,

[TubeSteak]

...you gotta do it yourself, (and host it on your own servers)

And hope that /. or [large website] never links to you.

Could your webhosting handle a /.'ing?

Re:Flickr Dichtomies

[Cathoderoytube]

I posted a picture of a penis monster saying 'Hi I'm Muhammad' with a caption that said 'I'm pretty sure this is what Muhammad probably looked like' on my flickr account and it hasn't been taken down. I'm not that familiar with Flickr but I was 100% sure that pic would have been taken down. I guess the lesson here is, in Flickr's eyes a photo of a child with a cigarette is more objectionable than openly insulting somebody's religion. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2143/2214325041_4e6ed4516b_o.jpg