No more terrorism on YouTube, dammit!
Or so says Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is demanding that YouTube and its rivals delete any videos produced by al-Qaida, other Islamic terrorist groups, and any suspected sympathizers.
Not that there is any U.S. law requiring anyone delete terrorist-produced web content per say, but ol’ Joe wants ‘em gone anyways.
And who can blame him? Have you seen the production value of these al-Qaida videos? Terrible! Even Vinnie Vincent made better videos (see above).
But on Monday, Lieberman, the chairman of the U.S. Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, suggested in a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt that the company wasn't doing enough to remove videos that are violent or could be used by terrorist groups to enlist followers.
"By taking action to curtail the use of YouTube to disseminate the goals and methods of those who wish to kill innocent civilians, Google will make a singularly important contribution to this important national effort," Lieberman wrote.
Google says its YouTube administrators had reviewed videos flagged by Lieberman's staff last week and pulled down an unspecified number, but only if they contained violence or hate speech.
"While we respect and understand his views, YouTube encourages free speech and defends everyone's right to express unpopular points of view," the company said on its official blog. "We believe that YouTube is a richer and more relevant platform for users precisely because it hosts a diverse range of views, and rather than stifle debate we allow our users to view all acceptable content and make up their own minds."
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