Twitter Can Now Block Tweets In Specific Countries 151
itwbennett writes "In a blog post on Thursday, Twitter announced that it can now block individual Tweets in specific countries, while leaving them visible in other countries. 'We try to keep content up whenever and wherever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't,' the blog said. Twitter will publish requests it receives to block content through its partnership with Chilling Effects."
About Respecting Sovereignty (Score:2, Interesting)
This has nothing to do with censorship. It's about a company respecting other countries laws and their sovereignty. A lot of other countries do not hold the same western values of free speech as the rest of us. Why can't some people respect that?
Their countries, their laws. If companies want to do business there or not be blocked, they should respect them. I applaud Twitter on taking this step.
Shocking!! money? (Score:5, Interesting)
Colour me shocked.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/saudi-prince-invests-300-million-in-twitter/ [nytimes.com]
Why would twitter (Score:4, Interesting)
Why would twitter even, work to create such a functionality? Is this in reaction to SOPA, were they afraid they'd end up getting shut down in the USA if it passed and they don't want to be caught with their pants down?
Even so if this was the case why advertise it? How long before some draconian government demands that twitter use this to censor it's site 'for' its citizens.
Re:tongue in cheek (Score:2, Interesting)
Don't be a dick vencs, (short for "Venkat"? lame)
Google's statement was about not doing it in real-time and against filtering before publishing - think about it. Twitter has also NOT said it will be filtering in real-time. There will obviously be some time period between when a tweet is published, deemed "offensive", and then censored in a particular country.
Twitter has NOT agreed to do something that Google previously didn't agree to.
Re:Proxy. (Score:2, Interesting)
Agreed.
No matter what anyone says. Today Twitter looks far more evil than Google.
Re:Lovely (Score:5, Interesting)
This isn't for Egypt, Saudi Arabia or third world countries. They just outright block Twitter, Facebook, whatever and everybody knows it.
This is for North America, Europe and Asia [China/Japan], so their governments/industry partners can silently kill specific things without people readily knowing about it. So you still have the appearance of free speech, without actually having it.
Re:Lovely (Score:0, Interesting)
Guns, Germs and Steel gave a convincing account of this disparity. In brief, Africa has neither the domesticated grains nor the farmland nor the domesticable animals that Europe enjoyed. Given the minute genetic differences between the two cultures, the only sensible conclusion is that Europe was more advantageous for humans to settle in, as I'm sure you would agree even today. Africa is a piece of shit, Africans just have to live there.
But you only look for confirming evidence for your bigotry. I hope you get assraped by a thick black cock.
Where did it go? (Score:5, Interesting)
Where are you?
Guess they were sacrificed in the name of global business interests. When I was a child my father taught me that America was a great country because censorship (in most forms) was completely absent from the the public mind. Hell, I remember reading about the days when leaflets were dropped by American bombers. We shoved our norm of "Freedom of Speech" in everyone faces. We laughed in the face of Communism and censorship. Those were the days...
In this country, any man could stand on a street corner and say what is on his mind. The soapbox on the street is no different from 140 character blurbs shouted out online, but for whatever reason 'people' (i.e. companies and governments) seem to think otherwise. You give an inch, and they'll take a foot. You give a foot, and apparently you end up with companies giving up to foreign regimes like prom girls. Moreover, you have our own legislatures supporting legislation like SOPA and PIPA. I'm guessing the next laws that are passed will form some brand of domestic secret police that's out to stop online piracy, and oh yeah, track down individuals who make defaming comments that "hurt the feelings" of some regime or foreign leader with less than a primary school education. We'll get our act together once our extradition treaties start being used to ship expats away to their country of origin for their ideas and comments said here.
At this rate the very idea of freedom of speech will be gone within our generation.