Yesterday and in an earlier post I reported on claims that MySpace was blocking its users’ access to online video service YouTube, and also censoring blog posts complaining about this blocking. According to the latest post by MySpace user and blogger Salvor, “MySpace censorship continues.”
It seems that censorship of videoclips on Myspace is very unpredictable. It seem it has nothing to do with p*rnography but seem to be because of business interests. Is the following statement true? “At a Citigroup investor conference, Rupert Murdoch…outlined future plans for MySpace.com. He said the company plans to add a video download feature where users can post and share videos”. If it is true it explains the censorship of videoclips but makes the situation much worse than I thought.
Salvor cites “a comment someone wrote on [his] flickr photo” that suggests MySpace may be blocking access to Revver.com which, like YouTube, is an online video posting service.
Anytime I post videos in comments or even just on my page the links come up as broken. Even if I just write revver>.com<…it comes up blank…Its full censorship of any media that is not affiliated with MyspaceFOX. Write Myspace and tell them you want your video and music files back
Salvor goes on to say that he tested out this claim and confirmed that “You can not write revver.com or link to videoclips on revver on Myspace.”
While some of these problems could be technical glitches or “simple misunderstandings,” it also seems quite possible that NewsCorp/MySpace is experimenting with selective blocking of “competing” services to gauge the likely impacts of doing it on a larger scale. If using this form of Walled Garden construction only generates a handful of complaints (600 complaints is a pretty small number compared to 47 million members), then such blocking may be viewed as a smart business move by News Corp. management.
And the way the MySpace’s response was reported by the Independent suggests the blocking may very well have been intentional:
A spokesman for MySpace said it would not explain how the blocking of YouTube came about, nor how it was resolved, nor whether in future it would continue to block links to rival websites or censor messages between MySpace customers.
And there are other sounds of garden wall construction at News Corp. For example, Cynthia yesterday reported here and here that News Corp.’s U.S. satellite company, DirecTV, appears to be on the verge of an investment providing it with access to a WiMAX wireless broadband network, which would provide the media giant with a bypass network to support its own alternative to the Two Tiered Internet being built by telcos and cable operators.
The reported MySpace blocking incidents, the News Corp. WiMAX investment and the ongoing discussion of DRM and other “wall-building” tools, brings me back to this comment by Observer Online editor Rafael Behr.
The News Corp strategy can be simply pieced together: take possession of the web allotments that all but the most hardened geeks depend on to pitch their blogging tents, then rent them out; sweeten the deal with privileged access to music and movies. The goal must be to marshal the energy that bloggers currently expend on creating their own content into the consumption of industry-manufactured, pay-per-view content. Big Media want to retain the marketable frisson of Citizen Media and weed out the current culture of activism. The way to achieve this is by monopolising not only the copyright material that web users like to play with, but the tools that make it so easy for them to play.
I still believe there will continue to be space (though maybe not at MySpace) for content & service gardens to bloom free of walls and user-unfriendly toll-booths. And, to some extent, the more Walled Gardens that exist, the more competition there will be among them, which means some may adopt more open and user-friendly strategies.
But I also believe that we as citizens, and the public officials we elect, should pay close attention to where and how Walled Gardens are being built, and to consider and discuss what that means for our society, and whether the greater public good would ultimately be best served by something akin to cyberspace zoning rules, or some other forms of government action. To borrow a famous phrase: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
Mitch Shapiro at 3:36 PM|Comments(2)
2/25/2007. Universal Music Group subsidiary Verve Records dealt a serious death blow to Nico and The Velvet Underground by hijacking its website on Myspace on February 25, 2007. The band's Myspace page was deleted on February 24, 2007 and replaced by the folk band Velvet Underground
Compare the origianal Nico and the Velvet Underground myspace website at:
with Universal Music Group's Hijacked version of The Velvet Underground: (http://www.myspace.com/nicoandthevelvetunderground)
Spokeswoman Anna Astley is concerned about these recent developments and commented on the censorship fiasco. “Myspace.com and Fox News made no warning that the band’s account was being cancelled. Canceling Nico and The Velvet Undergrounds’ Myspace.com account is tantamount to censorship and a violation of their First Amendment rights.”
Amidst the controversy and swirling allegations, Nico and The Velvet Underground had accumulated thousands of fans, with hundreds of thousands projected for 2008-2010. PR spokeswoman Anna Astley also spoke of Nico and The Velvet Underground’s projected lost revenues from the XM and Sirius Satellite Radio MTV tributes scheduled for 2007-2008. Fox News’ censorship of Nico and The Velvet Underground will likely threaten their efforts for their much-anticipated Video iPod syndication in the EU, American, and Asian markets.
New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has accused Myspace.com of false advertising and deceptive business practices. Within the last year, Myspace was fingered for spyware attacks to redirect members to its search engine.
Intermix Media agreed to settle for 7.9M, having admitted no wrongdoing.
Anna Astley refused to comment regarding any future legal action against Universal Music Group subsidiary Verve Records, News Corporation, Fox News, and/or Myspace.com regarding Nico and The Velvet Underground’s First Amendment rights. Nico could not be reached for comment.
In 2005 and 2006, Myspace.com’s censored Nico and The Velvet Underground's artistic use of Cindy Sherman’s 1992 Untitled #256, Courtesy Sammlung Goetz, München. In the most recent spat with Rupert Murdoch’s baby, Nico and The Velvet Underground were kicked off Myspace.com on Monday 19, 2005. The Chicago outfit has been censored off Myspace nearly 14 times. In this latest attack of dark sleuthery, Verve Records has challenged Nico and The Velvet Underground's message of gender equality, including artists like Andy Warhol, Annette Messager, Louise Bourgeois, Barbara Kruger, the Guerrilla Girls and the Vienna Aktionists,
Anna Astley suggests that everyone reflect on Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson’s 1943 opinion that “The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.” - West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
Posted by: ANNA at March 4, 2007 2:00 PM
Fox News Corp Censors Myspace.com
Nico and The Velvet Underground were kicked off Myspace.com on February 13, 2006. This is the 8th time the band has been censored by Rupert Murdoch's popular yet controversial site. Even as the shadow of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer looms over Myspace, and U2 and Madonna build a web presence, Nico and The Velvet Underground enter 2006 as the most censored band on Myspace.com.
According to the Associated Press, "Complaints also have been directed at News Corp.'s purchase, including accusations of censorship as MySpace occasionally blocked video stored elsewhere and embedded in profiles, just as MySpace was readying its own video-sharing service. " (Social Networking Site MySpace Is Latest Online Darling Monday, February 13, 2006: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,184607,00.html).
With Myspace.com as an attractive buy, News Corp. earned $1.08 billion up to December, a significant jump from last year's $386 million gain. Media giant Rupert Murdoch, who is the majority shareholder of News Corporation, recently bought out Intermix Media, owner of Myspace.com for 580 Million.
With legal problems mounting against News Corp and Rupert Murdoch, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has accused Myspace.com of false advertising and deceptive business practices. Within the last year, Myspace was fingered for spyware attacks to redirect members to its search engine.
Intermix Media agreed to settle for 7.9M, having admitted no wrongdoing.
Anna Astley refused to comment regarding any future legal action against News Corporation, Fox News, and/or Myspace.com regarding Nico and The Velvet Underground's First Amendment rights. "We cannot make a statement at this time," stated Astley. The investigation will result in an announcement in early summertime.
No word if the band intends on releasing the album just yet. Stay tuned for breaking details.
Posted by: Anna Astley at February 13, 2006 4:46 PM
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