Gene Policinski speaks on the Twitter censorship

Twitter had earlier announced their new policy to withhold publication of messages, containing illegal and offensive thoughts, in certain countries and restricted their freedom of expression.

"As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the limits of freedom of expression." The social network revealed their policy in a short note.

The document cites the example of countries "like France or Germany" where Nazi propaganda is banned.

The case illustrates the ethical and legal complications that technology companies are facing in the world, especially to operate in countries like China, where the government has imposed restrictions on sites like Facebook, Google or
Twitter.

However, thousands of users along with anonymous have protested against the recent policy during this Saturday.

"This is another dilemma on freedom of expression created by new technologies, users have reason to be concerned. The statement arouses fear of promoting democracy and to express views," said Gene Policinski, vice president of
the First Amendment Centre, based in Washington.

He added: “In America we are fortunate to have the First Amendment, which prevents the regular government to restrict our freedom of speech, but that does not happen in other countries,"

One of the founders of Twitter, Biz Stone, and the company’s legal counsel wrote on February 28 that their goal is "to immediately connect people around the world with what is most important to them. For this to happen, freedom
of expression is essential”.

But Twitter now claims that the open exchange of information could have a positive or a negative global impact. Most countries agree that freedom of expression is a human right. However, several other countries believe that freedom
of expression carries with it certain responsibilities, and also has its limits.

To carry out the process, the company of San Francisco (California) has announced its alliance with Chilling Effects, a collaborative project between the Electronic Freedom Foundation, the Universities of Harvard, Stanford and
Berkeley, among others.

The page chillingeffects.org will publish all complaints the company receives from governments and authorities to remove messages from users.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10981

Posted by Farasat Ali on Jan 29 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry