Twitter's new censorship plan rouses global furor

[stockholmer]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TWITTER_CENSORSHIP?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-01-27-20-04-36

NEW YORK (AP) -- Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.

It was a stunning role reversal for a youthful company that prides itself in promoting unfettered expression, 140 characters at a time. Twitter insisted its commitment to free speech remains firm, and sought to explain the nuances of its policy, while critics - in a barrage of tweets - proposed a Twitter boycott and demanded that the censorship initiative be scrapped.

"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" San Francisco-based Twitter, founded in 2006, depicted the new system as a step forward. Previously, when Twitter erased a tweet, it vanished throughout the world. Under the new policy, a tweet breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.

snip

-------------------------------------------------------
For yet another new attack on the web see also:

Now Opens A New Front: Copyright Industry Calls For Broad Search Engine Censorship

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002232289

[MADem]

1. Twitter was so important to the demonstrations in Iran a while back.

I think all of these attempts to "control" what people say to one another will end badly...

People will either find a way around these restrictions, or eschew the "Twitter product" for something that isn't so restrictive.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Twitter was just bought by Saudi Prince Alwaleed

I wonder if that influenced the change in Twitter??????

In December he bought $300 million dollars of stock in it.


http://gigaom.com/2011/12/19/twitter-saudi-arabia-its-not-easy-being-a-media-entity/

[TroubleMan]

5. That's the first thing I thought of when he did that.

I called it right here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=5741

Wow - it was only a month ago. I thought they would give it at least 3 months.

[Javaman]

3. twitter will now die and be replaced by something else. nt

[snooper2]

4. Isn't this kind of like protesting at Ford

And everybody driving up in an Explorer LOL

[Ohio Joe]

6. Not a big deal since there is a simple work around

Twitter did something to make countries that wanted to censor happy, then put in an easy work around and leaked it.

http://www.slashgear.com/twitter-censorship-workaround-fails-to-silence-critics-27211024/

But... everyone wants to be outraged... So they are.