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You would think that the issue is not controversial. After
all, who among us can possibly favor revenge porn? Who among us would not like
to see those who share compromising photos of former loves be punished?
In truth, the major opponent of New York State’s revenge
porn bill was none other than Google? Perhaps it wanted to strike a blow for
gender equity. Perhaps it does not care about the young women who are public
humiliated by these photos?
When the NY state legislature readied itself to consider an
anti-revenge porn bill, Google stepped in and lobbied against it. On the
grounds that such laws would restrict its ability to monitor content. Of
course, revenge porn constitutes an assault, so we can only wonder how Google
made it a corporate freedom issue.
The Daily Beast explained:
New
York state’s revenge-porn bill—which would have made nonconsensual sharing of
sexual images punishable by jail time—died early Thursday morning following a
last-ditch campaign by Google. The state senate adjourned for the year and took
no action on the proposal, which was introduced in 2013 and recently taken up
again after a campaign by the New
York Post. The bill would have made it possible to give those found
guilty of the crime as much as a year in prison and would have helped victims
force internet hosts into removing the images. Google staged a late effort
against the bill, saying it was opposed to government oversight on how it
regulates content.
4 comments:
Of course. If Google accepts any standard, they lose their ability to allow Conservative viewpoints to be savaged, while giving A$$hats like Peter Fonda a pass.
Far better to do it all under the radar, while piously maintaining deniability.
I'm wondering if Facebook was or should have also been involved. However, it seems to me that both them and Google ought to restrict revenge porn on their sites.
I don't know about their motives in this case, but Google has taken steps in the past against revenge porn, so at least it is harder to find, like this 2015 decision.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/06/19/google_announces_plan_to_remove_revenge_porn_from_search_results.html
Here's the instruction page:
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/6302812?hl=en
Once again, lawmakers forget who they represent. While companies and corporations are allowed a say, so are voters. In this case, clearly the voters have the better case. Only political corruption could bring about a situation in which a corporation's lobbying is prioritized over the right of people to privacy.
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