By now, whether through a news broadcast or as part of a guilty obsessions, we have all seen videos of beatings posted on the Internet. The latest one involved a Florida teenage girl, Victoria Lindsay, being pummeled by 8 "Mean Girls" in one of the girls' home. The video-taped beat-down was delivered because Lindsay allegedly was talking trash on MySpace. "Sweet lil' suburban girls" acting like mobsters is another topic in itself. The taping never made it onto major online sites, but the fact that the pugilists planned on posting the "fight" video on YouTube make me wonder if/how YouTube and MySpace can survive the negative attention of such violent postings.
I'm not blaming the Internet for the bad behavior of these girl-thugs. But, aren't advertisers worried about the negative press? Will the government or pseudo-government agencies intervene or pressure video-posting companies to screen and/or block videos showing violence where children are involved? Why aren't the screaming parent and child advocacy groups burning Ethernet cards?
In a statement, Google, owner of YouTube, did not comment on the teen beating video but said it is its general policy to remove videos of people getting hurt. Um, have the Google guys actually watched YouTube? Search "fight" or "brawl" in YouTube's content search window and see what pops up. I dare you.
A provision in the 1996 anti-pornography law says Internet service providers, such as YouTube, are exempt from prosecution and can not be legally held responsible for the video because the firm is simply re-transmitting posting from users.
So, technically, YouTube and MySpace, which also has violent video postings, are not doing anything illegal. But will they be prosecuted in the court of public opinion? I'm not aware of the numbers, but I'm sure every time a video such as the Florida beating gets press, parents yank kids of the Internet (or at least restrict their Internet usage) and ad buyers get nervous.
Will YouTube and MySpace monitor the video postings closer? Who knows? Since this is not the first time a brutal beating was posted, it appears that both firms are such behemoths that they can absorb any kind of blow from the media. And as long as they stand strong, ad revenue will flow in. I do, however, suspect that both firms will soon develop or release statements on new filtering/screening policies.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/10/girl.fights/
2 comments:
I sincerely hope My Space and You Tube will take this seriously. Showing these videos and making teens think they are going to be famous is like adding fuel to a fire. I am totally digusted at what they allow to be shown and as such I have blocked use of these websites from my computer. I encourage all parents to take steps to hold these "crime scene outlets" responsible for their content. We need to STOP THE VIOLENCE! These teens are our future leaders.
Thank You
Shela Watts
This violence is everywhere in every school. As long as parents keep on providing cell phones with cameras to their children this will keep on happening. In fact they instigate it just to get the video. The telephone companies need to fine all the people with accounts that do such things and the telephone companies need to come after the parent if they are in charge of the bill. Parents are not disciplining their children. In fact they tell them, "if you get beat up you better give them a good beating because if not I will beat you myself". Then they film the video and pass it to every one who has a cell phone in the same classroom, or school. This was not inspired by the Florida beating, this has been happening for a long while. The security guards at some schools were gang members (are they checked for tatoos) themselves and just look the other way or don't show up until after the fact. Parents instead of volunteering in elementary where the child follows instruction, volunteer in the Middle Schools and High Schools where you are needed.
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