Italy forces Youtube to moderate sexual and violent content
The Italian government recently announced that a new decree would require that all Internet video sites to monitor the videos that are uploaded. The decree targets major Internet video sites such as Youtube and Daily Motion.
According to Yahoo News, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has taken it upon himself to seize control of Italy’s Internet video sites. The government has drafted a decree that would require companies such as Google to filter videos on Youtube that consist of pornographic or violent content.
This decree will apply to all sites that require users to upload videos onto the site. Google and freedom watchdogs have been pushing the Italian government to make changes to the draft before the decree takes effect Feb. 4. According to those against the decision to have all videos filtered, this decree would hurt the freedom of expression that exists on the Web today. Also, the task of ensuring that all uploaded content is moderated is apparently impossible to enforce.
The foundation of sites such as Youtube is built on user generated content that can be easily uploaded. If each and every video were to be moderated this concept could fall apart quickly. This decree may have been sparked by an incident where a video showing an autistic teen being abused was uploaded onto Youtube. Even though the video was quickly yanked off Youtube, Google executives have been charged with defamation and violating privacy by the Italian government.
There are some that agree with this decree such as Carlo Carnevale Maffe, an Internet economist at Milan. According to Maffe, the Internet must be regulated like other economic areas or companies may become monopolistic.
Despite some of the pitfalls with Youtube, historically the site has been good at taking down pornographic and violent material. The problem of course arises when the content in not taken down immediately causing some to view inappropriate material on the site. Unlike text, video content cannot be automatically screened hence the difficulty in complying with Italy’s demand.
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January 25th, 2010
Anyone who thinks that YouTube is full of violent and sexual content is talking nonsense and has not looked at other areas of the Internet where there are far worse problems. YouTube does not want this type of material and will remove it without government intervention.