YouTube has become a well-documented force for offending politicians and powers-that-be around the globe, with courts and regimes going so far as to block the site when the video sharing giant is the source of politically damning or mocking videos. This week a new YouTube flare-up occurred in Thailand when someone posted a slide-show enhanced by crude graphics that depicted military-backed King King Bhumibol Adulyadej with pictures of feet over his head, a serious insult in Thailand given that feet are considered to be dirty and offensive.
YouTube’s owner Google refused to honor the government’s request to remove the video and access to YouTube in Thailand was then promptly blocked by authorities. Now, however, Google is apparently working with the government to teach it how to block access to only the offensive content without blocking the entire site.
I’m not sure if this willingness by Google to help the Thai government learn how to block access to specific content is a good or bad thing. On the one hand, YouTube will be up and running (albeit in a censored fashion) in the country in a few days as a consequence of this compromise measure. On the other hand, Google is actually teaching governments how to censor content, giving a tutorial, so to speak, in how to limit free speech.
In any event, the Thai government and Google could be fighting an uphill battle. Two more videos mocking the monarch appeared on YouTube following the ban and following the take-down of the original video by its creator.
Yet another country that felt moved to block YouTube is back in the news. A Turkish court last month banned YouTube and ordered the national phone carrier to block the service following the appearance of videos that purportedly mocked the founding father of Turkey and maligned “Turkishness,” two types of speech that are against the law in that nation.
Although the ban was lifted a few days after it was imposed, a Turkish parliamentary commission yesterday approved a proposal to block websites that are deemed insulting to Ataturk, modern Turkey’s founder. Members of that commission even debated whether to extend the proposal to blocking access to any sites that question the principles of the Turkish secular system or the unity of the Turkish state — the goal of those prohibitions was to silence Kurdish rebels.
Now it’s up to the full Parliament to vote of the commission’s recommendation. No date for a vote has been scheduled.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 2:40 PM | Print | Comments (1)
(Back after a mini-spring break) It’s almost the end of the world as Vonage knew it — today U.S. District Court Judge Claude Hilton issued an injunction against the VoIP pioneer that bars the company from gaining any new subscribers, a compromise ruling that falls short of ordering Vonage to stop service altogether but one that nonetheless effectively dooms Vonage to death.
The judge’s decision follows a March jury verdict that found Vonage to be in violation of Verizon’s patents and ordered the competitive voice provider to pay the giant telco $58 million plus future royalties of 5.5% on revenue obtained through the use of the infringed patents. Judge Hilton took that verdict even further by issuing a permanent injunction barring Vonage from further use of the patent, a decision that could have shut off service to Vonage’s 2.2 million customers.
Vonage appealed that ruling and the decision today, while not effectively ending all Vonage operations, basically promises to kill the company slowly. Or as Vonage lawyer Roger Warin said “It’s the difference of cutting off oxygen as opposed to the bullet in the head.”
And he’s right. Vonage was already struggling to gain customers even before the jury’s decision and now it can absolutely gain no more customers. Its existing customer base will flee fast given this ruling and Vonage will be dead in a matter of months, if not weeks.
One tiny glimmer of hope: Vonage plans to appeal this latest decision and you never know what will happen. But the future doesn’t look bright for the one-time VoIP star.
Update: Vonage won late today a temporary stay of Judge Hilton’s injunction, meaning that until the appeals court hears Vonage’s appeal for a permanent stay, the company can continue adding new customers.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 11:44 AM | Print | Comments (2)
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