Let's have some tin-foil-hat anti-Google banter, shall we?
Google wants to keep copies of your files on their servers if you use the new Google Desktop.
A video on Google Video that is censored to the American public. Can you see the video? How about a screenshot of it?
Google is becoming bigger and more powerful than anyone has anticipated. For those of us who warned of this kind of thing, we've all been labeled as paranoid, yadda yadda yadda. I'll take my apology on a silver platter, please.
This is just the beginning. Google's market audience is a captive audience. They're all using Google because of the special services, fancy features, and stuffed purple unicorn (okay, I made that one up). These are all features that other search engines don't provide.
So why else wouldn't someone point their browser to http://www.google.com/?
Good question.
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Taken from BoingBoing.net:
"Video uploaders, using Google Video's 'Advanced Options' feature, can choose to blacklist countries. In this case the uploader blacklisted the US and only the US. When uploading the video the content owner set a preference not to show this content to users in the US."
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I used various proxies from other countries and still received the same message. It may be purely propaganda, but still. Allowing such a thing to take place falls under the topic of censorship.
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I can see it, no problem :)
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Why would I want to see a video of a detonation?
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"Why would I want to seee a video of a detonation?"
The point isn't whether or not you would want to watch a video of an improvised explosive device being detonated; the point is that nobody has the right to say that you, a legal adult, are not allowed to see it or are not mentally and emotionally capable of handling it.
There is a story (perhaps it's an urban legend) of a highschool professor who, during class one day, finely details the process of manufacturing a high explosive compound on the board at the front of the classroom. He tells his students to copy it word for word and then says something to the effect of, "You have every right to know how to make a bomb. You have no right to use that information to inflict harm on others, but you have the right to know how."
It's as simple as that, take it or leave it. Freedom of speech, by nature, cannot be pick-and-choose, as disallowing even one little, seemingly insignificant thing can have a huge impact and set a precedent for disallowing many more little, insignificant things in the future. And then before you know it, they're not so little, and not so insignificant.
You then eventually end up where we are today; ultra politically correct America, regardless of whether you sway to the right or to the left. A near-police state where your own thoughts and opinions can land you in jail. Thought crimes.
But then, it's ONLY a video. Or is it?
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last i checked, it wasnt illegal to have a copy of the anarchy cookbook
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"last i checked, it wasnt illegal to have a copy of the anarchy cookbook"
No, but it will more than likely put you on a list of people that the FBI/NSA will keep tabs on, just in case you happen to use the knowledge you gain from it. Does "Catcher in the Rye" strike any memories for you?
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"Does "Catcher in the Rye" strike any memories for you?"
am i really gonna go around shooting john lennon?
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I don't know. Are you?