Senator Wants YouTube Terrorism Videos Removed

May 20th, 2008 | Category: Tech Talk

Homeland defense and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) has called on Google to remove Net video composition produced by terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda from YouTube.

The videos show assassinations, deaths of U.S. soldiers and civilians, weapons training, incendiary speeches by al-Qaeda leadership, and other material intended to energize violence against the West, according to Lieberman.

“Islamist terrorist organizations use YouTube to disseminate their propaganda, enlist followers, and supply weapons training,” the senator said Monday in an open letter to Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. “YouTube additionally, unwittingly, permits Islamist terrorist groups to maintain an active, pervasive, and amplified voice, despite military setbacks or successful operations by the law-enforcement and intelligence communities.”

Branded Videos

The videos are branded with al-Qaeda logos — a practice detailed in a recent committee staff report entitled Violent Islamist Extremism, the Web, and the Homegrown Terrorist Threat.

These logos are easily recognizable, according to Lieberman, making it easy for Google to

remove them. Lieberman called on Google to enforce its own community standards against videos that show gratuitous violence or public getting “hurt, attacked or humiliated.”

“Protecting our citizens from terrorist attacks is a top priority for our government. The private sector can help us do that,” he continued. “By taking action to curtail the use of YouTube to disseminate the goals and methods of those who wish to kill harmless civilians, Google will manufacture a singularly urgent contribution to that fundamental national effort.”

Do the Videos Breed Vigilance?

Paul Davis, author of God vs. Religion, has a different take. From the perspective of Homeland safety measure, he said, such terrorist videos serve to further inform law enforcement of future al-Qaeda operatives. Terrorists, he added, cut their own throats and minimize their effectiveness by unveiling their plans and evil deeds to the world by video.

“Such evildoers and fanatics, by reason of…

Orginal post by Computer blog from technology-blog.com

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.