[governance] About Facebook blocked and content removed in Brazil
Lee W McKnight
lmcknigh at syr.edu
Tue Jun 5 11:37:09 EDT 2012
But Marilia, Facebook only has ~ 1bn users.
Meaning <20% market share, if we count every person on the planet as the relevant market.
So, they're not even in a dominant position, and far from a monopoly. ; ) And hence no need for public policy concern.
(Hope you see I am joking).
Lee
________________________________
From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] on behalf of Marilia Maciel [mariliamaciel at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 10:59 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org
Subject: Re: [governance] About Facebook blocked and content removed in Brazil
On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 7:56 AM, Jacqueline Morris <jam at jacquelinemorris.com<mailto:jam at jacquelinemorris.com>> wrote:
Facebook isn't public. It's a private site with terms and conditions to which one agrees before joining.
The double standard that applies to platforms such as FB and Twitter is very interesting. When they are used in contexts such as the arab spring or the iranian revolution as platforms to fight and overthrown governments that we (the West) do not appreciate, then western governments, the media and civil society start to emphasize the public role of these private platforms, as enablers of free expression and political rights. When Obama called Twitter to postpone the maintenance of their website, so that protesters were not deprived of the platform on a crucial moment of the revolution, everybody seemed to be ok with the intrusion of the political interests of a particular government in the work methods of a private company.
Out of these specific contexts above, the dominant rethoric implies that FB is a simple private platform, as "innocent" and unimportant to world politics as if it were still merely a collection of "faces" and "book of contacts" of one's best friends. The platform is more than that. The fact that it is becoming so important to interpersonal communication, expression, and political mobilization in a cross-border fashion makes it a private-owned platform of public interest and it must be treated accordingly. Zuckerberg and his best friends should not be entitled to make crucial decisions all alone and to enforce regulation that touches upon privacy and FoE, to name a few, as they do, across-borders. There should be mechanisms of accountability. FB grew in importance and owners' bank accounts grew in zeros. This success comes with a price: higher standards of transparency and accountability. As was said on the other thread, the more the platform becomes widely used for worldwide communication, the narrower should be the freedom of FB board to do whatever they like without democratic ways of discussion.
When it comes to unilateral contracts, free will to negotiate is hampered. And when it comes to platforms of strong monopolistic tendency, such as FB, accepting these unilateral contracts (terms of use) can be far from being an option, but a pre-rquisite to fully engage on communication in the public sphere.
Marília
On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 4:44 AM, Rui Correia <correia.rui at gmail.com<mailto:correia.rui at gmail.com>> wrote:
I tried to go through the posts, but found very little of any use.
Perhaps most people are gogetting that Facebook is a public place,
with children of all ages participating everyday.
If you watch tv, whatever you watch comes with an age rating and an
advisory block to the parent/ adult about language, nudity, violence,
sex, etc. That person can then act accordingly. Subscription channels
come with parental controI mechanismc. In a cinema, you will not be
allowed in with your 7-year-old in tow to watch an adult/ R-rated/
X-rated movie.
And as someone has been trying to point out all along, FB is viewed
around the world.
I am against censorship of all sorts, but we seem to be forgetting the
basic test of 'shouting "FIRE" in a crowded theatre'.
So, for all of you shouting sensorship, how do you suggest that
Facebook protect a young child from images that HIS PARENTS would not
want him/ her to see?
The last image below says "I am a slut" (in the context of the
translation of "Slut Walk"/ Marcha das Vadias"). It is perfecty fine
as an instrument of protest - but I doubt that woman in picture would
show it to her own young children.
A few examples from the "Marchas das Vadias".
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juperestrelo/7288652922/
http://www.bluebus.com.br/afotos/marcha_das_vadias_censurada_facebook.jpg
http://latuffcartoons.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/marcha-das-vadias1.gif
http://blogay.blogfolha.uol.com.br/files/2012/05/151836-970x600-1.jpg
On 30 May 2012 17:32, Marilia Maciel <mariliamaciel at gmail.com<mailto:mariliamaciel at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Last weekend a feminist march took place in several cities in Brazil. It is
> called "March of Bitches" (Marcha das Vadias) and it is an international
> movement that was born in Canada. Some women decided to March wearing
> lingerie or with naked breasts as a way to call attention to violence
> against women, women's liberty and sexual rights and they posted their own
> pictures in Facebook. Their pictures were removed and their profile was
> blocked.
>
> So, let me get this right: Brazilian media publishes the pictures from the
> protest, in a sign that this would not at all hurt the average citizen. But
> Facebook (the platform where most of the use of the Internet is,
> unfortunately, converging to) gets to decide what people can or cannot show
> in their albums; what is pornography, and where to draw the line of
> morality. It has been reported in Brazil that Facebook is also blocking old
> pictures from well known artists that display naked people, and pictures
> from little girls aged 3-4 posted by their parents, because they were not
> wearing shirts.
>
> This seems a very undemocratic, opaque and potentially dangerous way of
> conducting Internet governance. The news (in Portuguese) and one of the
> controversial pictures can be accessed
> here: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/tec/1097488-facebook-bloqueia-usuarias-que-aparecem-seminuas-em-fotos-da-marcha-das-vadias.shtml
>
> Marília
>
>
> --
> Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade
> FGV Direito Rio
>
> Center for Technology and Society
> Getulio Vargas Foundation
> Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
> governance at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org>
> To be removed from the list, visit:
> http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing
>
> For all other list information and functions, see:
> http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
> To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
> http://www.igcaucus.org/
>
> Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
>
--
_________________________
Mobile Number in Angola +244 92 148 6391<tel:%2B244%2092%20148%206391>
Número de Telemóvel em Angola +244 92 148 6391<tel:%2B244%2092%20148%206391>
Rui Correia
_______________
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
governance at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org>
To be removed from the list, visit:
http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing
For all other list information and functions, see:
http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
http://www.igcaucus.org/
Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
governance at lists.igcaucus.org<mailto:governance at lists.igcaucus.org>
To be removed from the list, visit:
http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing
For all other list information and functions, see:
http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
http://www.igcaucus.org/
Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
--
Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade
FGV Direito Rio
Center for Technology and Society
Getulio Vargas Foundation
Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20120605/704b0f00/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing
For all other list information and functions, see:
http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
http://www.igcaucus.org/
Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
More information about the Governance
mailing list