Updated! Youtube gives Gov't agents 'super flagging' status to remove vids and channels (with video)

[rangerrebew]

Updated! YouTube Gives Gov’t Agents ‘Super Flagging’ Status To Remove Vids And Channels (Video)

Saturday, March 22, 2014 13:46

(Before It's News)

By Susan Duclos

 

[UPDATE] Mark Dice YouTube Channel Restored After Major Backlash Against Censorship

 

Via his backup video channel, Mark Dice comes out with a hard hitting response to his YouTube channel’s termination after 7 years of producing videos, and reveals that this happened just days after an announcement that YouTube was enlisting “Trusted Flaggers.”

 

Via Wall Street Journal, we see that Dice is correct in calling some of these “flaggers” government agents:

 

Google has given roughly 200 people and organizations, including a British police unit, the ability to “flag” up to 20 YouTube videos at once to be reviewed for violating the site’s guidelines.

 

The Financial Times last week reported that the U.K. Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit has been using its “super flagger” authority to seek reviews – and removal – of videos it considers extremist.

 

Looks like YouTube aka Google has decided to do the government’s bidding now using censorship to stifle the free speech of users.

 

While YouTube denies that it allows these government flaggers to dictate what is and is not removed, the last paragraph of the WSJ article pretty much tells the story and it contradicts their assertions.

 

More than 90% of the videos identified by super flaggers are either removed for violating guidelines, or restricted as not appropriate for younger users, the person familiar with the program said. That’s a far higher percentage than regular users who occasionally flag dubious content, the person said.

 

[Update] Should Dice’s backup channel be terminated, this video below is saved and will be uploaded to Liveleak and replaced.

 

[Updated] YouTube contact page found here.

 

[UPDATE] YouTube aka Google terminated Dice’s backup channel also, so as promised I uploaded it to LiveLeak and it is embedded below the video now missing due to YouTube’s censorship!

http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2014/03/youtube-gives-govt-agents-super-flagging-status-to-remove-vids-and-channels-video-2607412.html

[Gazoo]

Via Wall Street Journal, we see that Dice is correct in calling some of these “flaggers” government agents:

Hw far off are we from this?

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http://weaselzippers.us/180438-fullcommunism-carton-of-eggs-in-venezuela-now-23-60-u-s/

[mountaineer]

Wall St. Journal:

Mar 17, 2014
YouTube Enlists ‘Trusted Flaggers’ to Police Videos
By  Alistair Barr and  Lisa Fleisher

Google has given roughly 200 people and organizations, including a British police unit, the ability to “flag” up to 20 YouTube videos at once to be reviewed for violating the site’s guidelines.

The Financial Times last week reported that the U.K. Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit has been using its “super flagger” authority to seek reviews – and removal – of videos it considers extremist.

The news sparked concern that Google lets the U.K. government censor videos that it doesn’t like, and prompted Google to disclose more details about the program. Any user can ask for a video to reviewed. Participants in the super flagger program, begun as a pilot in 2012, can seek reviews of 20 videos at once.

A person familiar with the program said the vast majority of the 200 participants in the super flagger program are individuals who spend a lot of time flagging videos that may violate YouTube’s community guidelines. Fewer than 10 participants are government agencies or non-governmental organizations such as anti-hate and child-safety groups, the person added.

In either case, Google said it decides which videos are removed from YouTube. “Any suggestion that a government or any other group can use these flagging tools to remove YouTube content themselves is wrong,” a Google spokesman said.

Google’s guidelines prohibit videos that incite people to commit violence, or that show animal abuse, drug abuse, under-age drinking or bomb making, among other topics. Google maintains a separate system to monitor for copyright infringement.

The news about the super flagger program comes as some governments pressure social-media sites that they blame for civil unrest. In Turkey, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan threatened this month to ban Facebook and YouTube because they “encourage every kind of immorality and espionage for their own ends.”

British officials say they use the program to refer videos to YouTube that they believe have violated the U.K.’s Terrorism Act. These are then prioritized by YouTube, according to Sarah Buxton, a spokeswoman at the U.K. Home Office.

“YouTube may choose to remove legal extremist content if it breaches their terms and conditions,” she added.

Google was not pressured to let the U.K.’s counter-terrorism unit into the program, the person familiar with the program explained. Instead, the government agency showed an interest in YouTube’s guidelines and spotted videos that violated the rules, the person added.

More than 90% of the videos identified by super flaggers are either removed for violating guidelines, or restricted as not appropriate for younger users, the person familiar with the program said. That’s a far higher percentage than regular users who occasionally flag dubious content, the person said.