[governance] About Facebook blocked and content removed in Brazil

Tue Jun 5 10:59:08 EDT 2012

On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 7:56 AM, Jacqueline Morris
<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> 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> 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
>> >
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>>
>>
>> --
>> _________________________
>> Mobile Number in Angola +244 92 148 6391
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>>
>> Rui Correia
>>
>>
>> _______________
>>
>>
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>
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-- 
Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade
FGV Direito Rio

Center for Technology and Society
Getulio Vargas Foundation
Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
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