YouTube Censorship

People seem surprised when they are censored, have accounts deleted and generally get their asses kicked off web 2.0 properties. They shouldn't be. Recently, Nick Gisburne gained the attention of YouTube staffers for the wrong reason. YouTube claims that Gisburne had had too many videos flagged as inappropriate, and wasn't stopping his uploads, so they deleted his account, all his videos and the community that had been subscribing to his work. What Gisburne uploaded and why YouTube found it offensive is one point here, and I'll get to it in a bit -- first however, people, Gisburne included, continue to feel they have ownership of the community they've created on top of the YouTube -- or any other web 2.0 -- platform. The truth couldn't be further from this supposition. The communities created by user generated content doesn't actually belong to the content creators, and can very quickly dissipate in an interpretation of the terms of use policy. YouTube, like other companies, include a caveat that specifically warns that terms of use could be violated if a submission contains

• falsehoods or misrepresentations that could damage YouTube or any third party;
• material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or is otherwise inappropriate.

That pretty much shuts the door to any content other than the carefully scripted, banal fodder that is fed to the comatose patrons of television land. Have you visited YouTube lately? Much of what is there is shit. Gisburne learned this hard way, twice.

Whatever his intentions, Gisburne's video posts definitely conspire to evoke a response -- perhaps even [gasp] a dialogue. What Gisburne is guilty of is posting videos of select Bible and Qu'ran quotes -- some of the more gory and violent aspects of the holy books. The result has been remarkable. Apparently, YouTube repeatedly removes and deletes accounts where quotes from the Qu'ran are used -- but, they leave the Bible equivalent, online. Obviously, YouTube believes it will take some heat for allowing the Qu'ran videos from Islamic fundamentalists -- but feel that they can handle the Christian right. So what's with the double-standard YouTube? Other than the standard line of inappropriateness, YouTube has not publicly responded to the charges.

The Qu'ran verses.
(This video may not work for long.)


The Bible verses.