Google Rejects Australian Censorship Proposal

Xiroth writes "Google has rejected overtures from the Australian government to censor YouTube clips that had been given an RC rating by Australian classification authority, the OFLC. According to a Google spokesperson: 'YouTube has clear policies about what content is not allowed, for example hate speech and pornography, and we enforce these, but we can't give any assurances that we would voluntarily remove all Refused Classification content from YouTube. The scope of RC is simply too broad and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information. RC includes the grey realms of material instructing in any crime from [painting] graffiti to politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia, and exposing these topics to public debate is vital for democracy.'"

Comments

sigh

[the3stars]

America should start sending their idiot conservatives like Palin and Limbaugh to Australia. This worldwide surge of stupid "won't someone think of the children and our values (while padding our bank accounts)" is washing up on too many shores lately.

Re:What is hate speech?

[swb]

It's a nonsense term dreamed up by the left to politically marginalize and in some cases criminalize political speech they are opposed to. In the US, anyway, it is closely related to "hate crimes" which are structured in a way such that the only victims are non-whites and the only perpetrators are white males.

It is the byproduct of Western leftist political thinking on the concept of racism that generally holds only whites (usually males) culpable for racism and discrimination, despite ample evidence for non-white racism domestically in the U.S. (eg, Hispanics and Blacks) and globally (Arabs v. Black Africans, ethnic Indians versus non-Indian races, ethnic Asians versus others).

Taking the concept of "hate speech" and/or "hate crimes" at face value, most fundamentalist religious leaders (of all religions) should fit, yet religion seems to escape scrutiny, as do quite a few shocking black-on-white and black-on-other-race crimes despite overwhelming evidence that victims were targeted because of their race.