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Mohammad Cartoons, Redux

February 12, 2007, 3:57 pm

Google is a private company and can have whatever rules it wants for taking down videos at YouTube.  However, I finally watched the banned "anti-Muslim" video and boy was it a letdown, more so even than finally seeing the Mohammad cartoons.  It's literally a 9-1/2 minute video of music playing over text quotes from the Koran.  Period.  No voice over, no criticism.  Just the Koran in its own words, so to speak.  As I said, Google can do as it pleases with its posting policies, but it really looks like an ass for banning a user over this.  Particularly if it is true that similar videos profiling other religions in similar ways did not trigger a ban.

I would like to help Google by suggesting terms of use that are consistent and easily understandable and appear to reflect their current policies:

No video may be posted on YouTube that might result in a Middle Eastern man showing up at our headquarters building with a couple of pounds of C-4 strapped to his chest.

Tags:
Category: Media and the Press
  • http://thelibertypapers.org/ Brad Warbiany

    I don't know if you've followed any of the spat over John Edwards' new campaign bloggers... But they said some really nasty things before getting their job, and bloggers like me decided to highlight some of their direct quotes.

    Apparently-- according to their defenders, anyway-- quoting someone directly becomes a "smear job". Even when you provide complete links to context/etc to show that it's not just pulling their statements out of a hat.

  • markm

    It's been suggested that after several warnings, Google/Youtube banned him over copyright infringement (the background music, which I think is the theme from The Matrix), not the contents. They could be liable for damages if they keep hosting things they've been told are infringing. However, his piece on the Bible (very similar to the Koran piece) was still up on Sunday, and it's also got copyrighted background music.

  • Craig

    Youtube has a history of this from before the Google purchase. While they remove anti-jihad videos from their site, pro-jihad videos can be found throughout.