Kaizenlog

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| Online “Public” Spaces Don’t Guarantee Rights                      |
|   from the swatting-at-mosquitos dept.                             |
|   posted by kdawson on Tuesday July 08, @17:41 (Censorship)        |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/08/2050229 |
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[0]mikesd81 recommends an AP piece covering a lot of examples of the ways
[1]free speech and other rights don’t exist on the private Web. One case
featured was that of Dutch photographer Maarten Dors, who had [2]this
picture deleted by flickr. Without prior notice, Yahoo deleted the photo
on grounds it violated an unwritten ban on depicting children smoking.
While Dors eventually got the photo restored, after the second time it
was deleted, the case highlights the consequence of having online commons
controlled by private corporations. “Rules aren’t always clear,
enforcement is inconsistent, and users can find content removed or
accounts terminated without a hearing. Appeals are solely at the service
provider’s discretion. Users get caught in the crossfire as hundreds of
individual service representatives apply their own interpretations of
corporate policies, sometimes imposing personal agendas or misreading
guidelines. First Amendment protections generally do not extend to
private property in the physical world, allowing a shopping mall to
legally kick out a customer wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a smoking
child.” Reason.com has some [3]more analysis on the issues brought up by
the AP story.

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/07/08/2050229

Links:
0. mailto:mikesd@ [Email address: mikesd #AT# - replace #AT# with @ ]@@ptd…net
1. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iAfAuNiWBtS8vWv-VsrfPMLAcUUgD91P0N980
2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/maartend/1429385268/in/set-72157601325432416/
3. http://reason.com/blog/show/127444.html