This is an article from the BBC touting how YouTube has pulled a great deal of videos that glorify Columbine from their site. I thought to myself this is great, in theory. So I went to YouTube to check things out for myself. Nope, there is still a metric assload of Columbine videos on YouTube. Then I realized the person that the BBC interviewed was from Google UK. So I then thought that they must have pulled all the Columbine videos from the UK. No such luck there either. The very first video I clicked on was from Great Britain.
And again YouTube gives the same excuse that they depend on their users to flag inappropriate content. And again I say that’s flawed reasoning because the people who go to YouTube to see some funny cat video aren’t looking for Columbine videos and those that are aren’t going to flag the content.
Google can censor the entire country of China but can’t screen YouTube. Makes you wonder doesn’t it?
Actually I already talked about their MySpaces here.
Now I’m going to talk about the YouTube pages of racist scumbags and cowards Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman. You know them. The two white power trash idiots who allegedly plotted to kill Barack Obama among others.
As you can guess their YouTube videos are filled with the racist rants of ignorant dumbasses. I wonder if this is the free speech that Chad Hurley is so fond of protecting.
As of the time I am writing this (10/29/08 11:00 AM) the pages are still up. Let’s see how long it takes for someone to actually flag the pages. I’ll check again when I get home and let you know how it goes.
Update: 12 hours later and they’re still up. How’s that user policing working YouTube?
YouTube founder and CEO Chad Hurley says that instituting a rating system on YouTube violates the basic tenets of free speech.
“I”m not sure it is our job to solve the world’’s problems,” Wired News quoted him as saying.
“I”m not trying to hide from responsibility but we also have to respect freedom of speech,” he added.
He said: “I have two small children as well; we have clear policies and clear guidelines, and we have given tools to the community so they can flag or notify inappropriate content.
First off someone has a sense of overinflated worth about his website and for once it’s not me. Secondly having users flag the content is idiotic. I mean look at how well it’s worked for carigslist. Again that’s like letting the inmates run the asylum. I call YouTube the short bus of the internet because its average user could care less about flagging content. Pekka Eric Auvinen didn’t have his videos flagged, neither did Matti Saari.
When Hurley says that he’s not trying to hide from responsibility I disagree. I think that’s exactly what he’s trying to do. He could care less about free speech. he’s more worried about pissing of YouTube’s window licking user base.
In a related story, YouTube is calling on it’s users to flag videos that contain “youth violence”.
Good luck with that. Let me know how that works out.
28-year-old Sandor Ferenci of England was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail for his antics on a motorcycle.
He was recorded speeding at 130mph and doing various stunts so he could post it on YouTube. However that’s not how he was caught. A witness had noticed him and called police. When police approached him he said, “Is this about the YouTube video?”
21-year-old Scott James of England was acquitted on a dangerous driving charge. Allegedly he recorded the speedometer of his car’s speedometer at 143mph then posted the video to YouTube.
The reason that James was cleared of the charges was because no one could actually prove it was him that was driving.
I wonder if this stroke of luck will keep Mr. James from his alleged excessive speeding or will it take a flaming wreck to make him stop.
Police in Sweden arrested a 15-year-old boy for posting threats on YouTube. The teen posted comments on YouTube where he threatened to recreate last week’s deadly shootings at the Kauhajoki School in Finland.
Police were tipped off by a Florida boy who saw the comments.
Matti Saari had posted threatening videos on YouTube as did his friend Pekka-Eric Auvinen who was the Jokela gunman.
And people doubt my posts that these school shooting worshiping morons actually exist.
USF student to plead guilty:
26-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was picked up when him and a cohort were caught near a South Carolina military base with explosives. He was facing life in prison but the plea that he is going to cut wll reduce hiis sentence to 15 years.
Documents Mohamed signed today include an admission he created a video showing Muslim suicide bombers how to rig up a remote control car to detonate a charge. Mohamed later posted that video on the video sharing website Youtube.com
He said he did this so “martyrdoms” and suiciders” could “save themselves so they could continue to fight the invaders.”
The paperwork Mohamed signed Friday also says he considers members of the U.S. military in Arab countries to be invaders.
So what does that make him? Anyway I’m not too thrilled that the federal government is making deals with basement terrorists. I call them that because it’s pretty obvious they live in mom’s basement.
I also wonder how long his video stayed up on YouTube.
Halifax cops arrest two teens in videotaped beating:
I had this nasty post about the Halifax Regional Police all ready to go because of this article. I had a great ending tagline and everything. Then they had to go and do their job and ruin a post for me. Oh well. The result is better than my post anyway.
In response to the videotaped beating in Dartmouth the HRP have arrested a 16 and a 17-year-old involved in the beating. Because of Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act the names of the suspects can not be released.
The article also mentions that the man who took the footage of the beating was put off by some of the racist comments that were made about the video. I guess he never read YouTube comments before.
Marine sacked for YouTube puppy horror:
A few months ago a story was circulating about a US Marine serving in Iraq who threw a puppy off of a cliff and posted the video to YouTube. I didn’t post the story here because I wanted to know if it was a hoax or not before posting anything about it. Like most of you I completely forgot about the story and I saw this headline. Unfortunately it was not a hoax.
Lance Corporal David Motari, I guess he was the puppy flinger, has been booted from the corps. Sergeant Crismarvin Banez Encarnacion, who I’m guessing was the cameraman, received non-judicial punishment, which I hope means cleaning out latrines for the rest of his term.
I am not going to post the video because I found it too disturbing but if you’re one of those freaks that really needs to see it you can find it here.
Court Makes Pranksters Apologize On YouTube As Punishment:
I’m sure by now you’ve all heard the story of the Florida dumbasses who got caught playing ‘Fire in the Hole. FITH is basically throeing a full drink at the cashier at a drive thru window. These two dimwits did it and posted it to YouTube which of course led to their arrest.
As part of their sentencing a judge ordered them to make a new video in order to discourage other dumbasses from doing this. Here is that video.
Does that look like punishment to you? Does it even remotely look like it would discourage anyone from doing anything?
If they really wanted to discourage kids from doing this they’d post a video of the two suspects being repeatedly pelted with 64oz. cups filled with ice cubes and grape soda.
A group of busybodies in Vacaville, California are videotaping customers of the Secrets Lingerie Boutique with the threat of posting the videos to YouTube. The group is being led by a youth pastor by the name of Jim White. The article doesn’t say what church or religion he is affiliated with. Secrets sells lingerie and adult videos. That’s it. No sleazy booths, no peep shows, no people cruising . Just underwear and porn. However Pastor White makes it out to be some Times Square type sleaze palace.
Youth pastor Jim White said the protesters gather to film shoppers entering the store because they think Secrets “is a shop that is profiting from pornography and other materials that we feel are degrading to people and exploitative.”
He makes it sound like they’re doing human trafficking from this store. City council disagrees…
The Vacaville City Council passed a law last week that bans adult businesses. According to a city representative, Secrets is not breaking any laws.
Personally this sounds like some stuck up folks with a NIMBY problem more concerned with their property values rather than family values. If I shopped there I would walk right up to their cameras and dare them to put me on YouTube.
Also notice that they’re picking on a lingerie store and not a crackhouse. Basically all they’re doing is giving Secrets free publicity.
Girls caught after YouTube bashing video:
Three teen girls, 13,15, and 16, and a 36-year-old mother, all from Australia, have been tracked down by police after a video of them fighting appeared on YouTube.
The 36-year-old was more of a victim in the fight but according to the article she could be facing charges along with the teens.
The girls have admitted to their part in the fight.
No word on why the 36-year-old woman is also facing charges.
The fight was brought to the attention of police by NEWS.com.au. I can almost guarantee you that this video was never flagged and therefore escaped YouTube’s attention.
His defense is that he was trying to make an Al-Qaeda style video for YouTube to draw attention to what he thinks are problems with the UK’s foreign policy. He says that suicide attacks are actually against Islam.
“We also thought we should make threats and demands. Basically we wanted to get the message across that British foreign policy is not in the interests of the people of Afghanistan and Iraq and not in the interests of the British people.
“Only Tony Blair is now making millions of pounds and the people with the oil.”
Mr Ali said the idea was to copy the style of Islamic terrorists.
He said the “martyrdom videos” made by six of the accused including Ali, were really “propaganda videos.”
“In the style of al-Qa’eda militants we wanted to put the blame on foreign policy and make demands that they have to change foreign policy.
“People only seem to get involved if you affect them in some way.”
He said the “documentary” would also include clips of deaths in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine along with statements by politicians and would be edited together by a friend on his computer.
The men wanted to attract “mass media attention” by putting the documentary on Youtube, he said.
Before everyone gets their panties in a wad he also admits to wanting to set off a “non-lethal” bomb inside Parliament.
He said the bombs would be small enough to cause a “large bang and some smoke” and added: “We never did intend to murder or injure anyone.
Even a non-lethal bomb could have cause considerable loss of life and limb in teh ensuing chaos. Terrorist? Maybe not. Dumbass? You betcha.
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