We all know by now whats going on with the world governments wanting to censor the Internet. We have had SOPA and PIPA and H.R. 1981 and now the world treaty of ACTA. FBI shutting down Megaupload illegally and other similar site blocking their services to America or deleting content.
Up next is Twitter, the popular social site we all most likely use in one way or another. They came out Friday stating that they would allow country specific censorship that might break local laws.
Activists all over the world are up in arms because twitter is commonly used to share what is really going one within countries that ban and outlaw any dissent such as Egypt and China.
"This is very bad news," tweeted Egyptian activist Mahmoud Salem, who operates under the name Sandmonkey. Later, he wrote, "Is it safe to say that (hash)Twitter is selling us out?"
In China, where activists have embraced Twitter even though it's blocked inside the country, artist and activist Ai Weiwei tweeted in response to the news: "If Twitter censors, I'll stop tweeting."
One often-relayed tweet bore the headline of a Forbes magazine technology blog item: "Twitter Commits Social Suicide"
However Twitter states that the old method was to outright delete the tweet on a global scale while this new method will only block the tweet withing the country but keep it visible to other countries where its allowed. Many opponents to this state that you can easily bypass the censorship by changing your "country" setting.
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Well guys what do you think? Good or bad?
Important:
ACTA - Worse then SOPA/PIPAHow to bypass Internet Censorship SOPA/ACTA
Do not like this, I always though of Twitter as a pretty chill company but this is not okay.
ReplyDeletetwitter just lost 10 respect points...
ReplyDeleteThis sucks, something seriously need to be done. We can't allow governments to censor the internet.
ReplyDeleteThere goes free speech
ReplyDeletetwitter sold out a small minority in hopes to keep their large majority
ReplyDeletethey cannabalized on their loyal and returning members, this type of action should not be tolerated by any individuals.
individuals need to recognize this is twitter eating your cake and having it too
I know you can't expect every big company to act all 'heroic,' but I did actually expect more from twitter.
ReplyDeleteGM x
it's really insane to me how drastic the turn south has been for the internet just over the last month
ReplyDeleteF*ck Twitter.
ReplyDeleteRidiculous, Twitter is a bunch of sellouts.
ReplyDeleteIf they keep this up, everyone will just move on to a different service that doesn't censor its users.
ReplyDeleteI saw this on the front page of the local paper. This is a bad move for those who live in countries with truly evil governments.
ReplyDeleteI think ANY form of censorship is awful. Wasn't Twitter one of the website fighting against SOPA?? Wasn't twitpic on blackout during the protest day? A little hypocritical... So censorship is ok, just as long as it's on their terms I guess.
ReplyDelete"Once you permit those who are convinced of their own superior rightness to censor and silence and suppress those who hold contrary opinions, just at that moment the citadel has been surrendered." Archibald Macleish - (1892-1982) Poet, playwright, Librarian of Congress, & Assistant Secretary of State under Franklin Roosevelt - Source: Saturday Review, 12 May 1979
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck is happening to the internet?
ReplyDeleteI hated twitter ever since the beginning, and now I hated them even more.
ReplyDelete