News "Cleansing" - coming soon to a "democracy" near you.

[TalkingDog]

http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/new-japan-law-cleanses-bad-nuclear-news/article13589.html

Since March 11, 2011 it has been reported that YouTube videos containing footage or comments unfavorable to Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) or the Japanese government have been removed within several hours of their posting. Examples of offending YouTube videos include excerpts of TV shows with controversial comments like footage showing smoke emitted from the nuclear reactors, and an ex-TEPCO employee speaking on his Fukushima experiences. Likewise, Twitter accounts with too much content regarding nuclear power and radiation issues have been disrupted.

On June 17, 2011 the Japanese Parliament passed “The Computer Network Monitoring Law” . Prof. Ibusuki of Seijo Univ. Law Dept. comments that “The Computer Network Monitoring Law will enable the police to monitor anyone’s internet activity without restriction.” Although this appears, on the surface, to be beneficial when targeting cyber-attacks, some Japanese commentators are suggesting that the law is un-Constitutional.

[bananas]

1. k&r nt

[Shandris]

2. I remember the first time I saw the IBM commercial on tv...

...describing its new (at the time) tagline: "The Business Internet". I remarked to a friend how disgusting that was, and also how I figured it would become prophetic.

It is becoming moreso every day, and stories like this exemplify why.

[AndyTiedye]

3. How Fascist Will Japan Become to Protect TEPCO?

[TheWraith]

4. "It has been reported." Where, and by who?

By someone credible, or by random no-name bloggers?

More orwellian than purging the news? Accusing the other guy of purging the news.

[TalkingDog]

6. why don't you write them and ask.

Or try to look up videos with smoke coming out of fukushima and see if they have been removed.

There is usually notification of removal and for what reasons.

Or Google YouTube Video Fukushima have been removed.


Have fun.

[saras]

5. Unfortunately, Japan isn't big enough to hold Tepco up. It will drag Japan down instead.

[Chan790]

7. There is a simple elegant solution for that...

find people offshore to mirror that content.

Maybe the YouTube videos would be problematic, but there are other video-hosting services out there. Hosts in the Netherlands in particular are renown for refusing to cooperate with corporate requests.

There is little or nothing Japan can do to disrupt the twitter accounts of Americans or Britons, especially if broad networks were deployed to fast re-post content in order to make disruption difficult before information spread beyond any viable containment. Once it's outside of containment, it's simple for those inside Japan following those accounts to repost the content internally or direct others to it.