Facebook Blocking Stories About Richard O'Dwyer's Fight Against Extradition To The US

from the sad dept

Thu, Apr 19th 2012 9:06am — Mike Masnick

Well, this is unfortunate, though Facebook does have a history of somewhat arbitrarily deciding what you can and can't talk about. A few years ago, we noted that it had blocked any link to The Pirate Bay -- even if it had nothing to do with infringing material. A year later, we discovered an even more unfortunate situation, in that it wouldn't allow any mention of Power.com -- a company it was in a legal dispute with. However, it keeps getting worse. We've written multiple times about Richard O'Dwyer's fight to prevent being extradited to the US for running a site, TVshack.net, which links to TV shows -- some of which were infringing. As we noted, there are all sorts of important questions being discussed around this case, both about copyright law and the US's influence over UK courts.

Apparently, Facebook doesn't want you discussing any of that.

The Guardian's James Ball wrote an interesting article about how some UK politicians are fighting to stop the extradition. It's a good article. But, you won't find out about it on Facebook apparently. The story details how Tim Farron, president of the LibDems, in the UK has called the extradition approval "ludicrous" and has asked the government to reconsider.

However, as James Losey discovered, Facebook won't let you post about it -- calling the article "spammy or unsafe." Specifically, it appears that (as with TPB) Facebook is blocking any and all mention of TVShack.net. However, Facebook's spam implementation is so stupidly programmed that it can't figure out that this is a story about TVShack.net in the well-respected Guardian newspaper, and not a direct link to TVShack.net. And, of course, merely linking to TVShack.net isn't against the law, so it's bizarre, obnoxious and stupid for Facebook to be blocking all such links in the first place. Finally, since the US government seized TVshack.net nearly two years ago, I don't think the site is really that unsafe any more, unless you don't trust the government to keep its server clean (which, actually, might be reasonable).

Either way, shame on Facebook for hamfisted "filtering" which blocks important and legitimate discussions. Update: Facebook has fixed this particular issue, and now lets people post that story, but it's unclear what the overall rules are.

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Filed Under: extradition, filtering, richard o'dwyer, tvshack, uk

33 Comments

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Mike C. (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 8:49am

Updated: Non-story - it works now.
Apparently, someone at FB or Websense saw the complaints and now allow it to be shared. The issue was the third-party Websense filter that FB implements, not FB itself.
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- fogbugzd (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 11:20am
  
  Re: Updated: Non-story - it works now.
  The link is working now. I put it on my FB page. A little Streisand Effect in action.
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Skeptical Cynic (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:13am

The New Orwellian Paradigm
Your results based on filters. Check the video about Filter Bubbles on TED.

http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html

Facebook and others define our information access just like the Editors of the bye-bye information brokers of old.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:20am
  
  Re: The New Orwellian Paradigm
  Somewhat related link: http://dontbubble.us/
  
  It's from DuckDuckGo, so season with salt to your liking.
  
  I, personally, have had it with Google, and use DuckDuckGo almost exclusively. Yes, it has rough edges, but for what I do in life (programming) it suits me just fine.
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  - GMacGuffin (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 10:41am
    
    Re: Re: The New Orwellian Paradigm
    It's totally related. Same graphics as the TED vid.
    
    Thanks for the heads-up on DuckDuckGo. I need to escape the bubble for work purposes more often than not.
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silverscarcat (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:14am

All the more reason...
Not to use Facebook.

Glad I closed my account years ago.
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- Zakida Paul (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:23am
  
  Re: All the more reason...
  Agreed, deleting my Facebook account was the best thing I ever did.
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  - Zakida Paul (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:23am
    
    Re: Re: All the more reason...
    Online, that is.
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  - PRMan, 19 Apr 2012 @ 11:12am
    
    Re: Re: All the more reason...
    As long as you understand that your deletion only kept YOU from seeing it, not Facebook, their advertisers or hackers.
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- Baldaur Regis (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:41am
  
  Re: All the more reason...
  ...time to scoop up that name 'silverscarcat'...soon I shall have ALL the cool names on Facebook and then, let the bidding begin....mwahahahahaha!!!!
  
  wait, did I say that out loud?
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- Skeptical Cynic (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 10:08am
  
  Re: All the more reason...
  I have had a Facebook account since 2003. I have exactly 17 posts. Why? Because I have no desire to broadcast every detail of my less-than-cool life to people. And I value privacy.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - :Lobo Santo (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 10:12am
    
    Re: Re: All the more reason...
    There's nothing wrong with a person delighting in shoving their banal boring life details in everybody's face--it just means they're inconsiderate.
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    - PRMan, 19 Apr 2012 @ 11:13am
      
      Re: Re: Re: All the more reason...
      There's nothing wrong with a person being inconsiderate?
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  - Bengie, 19 Apr 2012 @ 10:14am
    
    Re: Re: All the more reason...
    I use G+ like a news site, posting articles that interest me. As for stuff that actually relates to me, I have very little(almost none).
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Skeptical Cynic (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 10:17am
      
      Re: Re: Re: All the more reason...
      G+ and FB are nothing more than my way to share my view. NOT MY WORLD.
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  - Mike Masnick (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 11:22am
    
    Re: Re: All the more reason...
    I have had a Facebook account since 2003.
    
    Considering Facebook didn't exist until 2004, your dates may be slightly off... :) But, otherwise, your point is valid.
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    - Skeptical Cynic (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 11:40am
      
      Re: Re: Re: All the more reason...
      I agree the original was Facemash (Late 2003), but I was invited by an early adopter and did nothing but sign in. So technically my "Facebook" account is not valid until later. I only had access because of the person that was able to get access.
      
      So Mike you are correct my Facebook account is from 2004.
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Markus Hopkins (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:21am

They just don't like Mike
I think it's worth noting that this may have been in the course of being resolved by the time Mike posted, since in the screenshot above there are 3 "shares" on facebook already. I agree it should not have happened in the first place, but at least in this instance facebook was responsive, even if it wasn't an instant fix.
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- Micaela (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 12:51pm
  
  Re: They just don't like Mike
  There were 6 shares when I tried yesterday and it was still blocking me, so i posted the Facebook warning instead together with the website address and the title of the article in question.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:21am

seems to me that Facebook is losing the plot more and more. about time Zuckerberg got a grip on reality, sorted out the 'filter software' and stopped trying to dictate what is and isn't illegal.

but then why the hell people keep worrying about CISPA is beyond me. just carry on using Facebook. that will leak even more of a persons info
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:31am

Techdirt does the same
Anytime I try to mention Mike *******'s night of ******* where ****** ** ******** *** ****** **** and ****** **** ****** cheeseburger **** ***** *** **** and a honeycomb, I find my post censored. Don't deny it!
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- Niall (profile), 20 Apr 2012 @ 2:44am
  
  Re: Techdirt does the same
  Damn, I want some nights like this... do I?
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terry (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 9:34am

YAXFB
I too am Yet Another eX-FaceBooker.

From the comments here it kind of looks like its trending the way of Myspace.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2012 @ 10:10am

I love Suckerberg. Make the most widely used platform in the world, claim it to be open and for the people, then censor and data mine the hell out of it. Chaching.

I wish I thought of it first.
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- Skeptical Cynic (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 10:43am
  
  Re:
  Zuckerberg says this: The more info you share the more I make money. Your privacy is of no concern to me. I am amazed by the amount of information you share for my companies benefit.
  
  Really that is true. Paraphrased but still true.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2012 @ 10:42am

Hmmm LOL work filtering/firewall caught one of the links too:
Restricted Category: Proxy Avoidance
URL attempted: http://jameslosey.com/post/21345118902/when-spam-filters-go-too-far
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Julia O'Dwyer, 19 Apr 2012 @ 11:29am

Richard O'Dwyer Guardian piece
Amazing Facebook blocking a website belonging to the US DOJ or ICE or whoever. You think they would want to get behind a future entrepreneur!
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2012 @ 11:49am

Pretty funny that spammer Mark Zuckerberg...
...would label anything as "spammy".
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Digitari, 19 Apr 2012 @ 2:30pm

RE
with my face, there is No Way in Hell I would Join "facebook"
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- Digitari, 19 Apr 2012 @ 2:34pm
  
  Re: RE
  wife said I should start "radiobook" (TM)�
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Bergman (profile), 19 Apr 2012 @ 8:10pm

Companies claim that because they don't exert editorial control over what their users post, that the company therefore is not responsible for what their users say.

Fair enough.

But when a company starts exerting editorial control over posts, particularly posts that are about news or politics, at what point does the company lose that legal protection against being sued for slander/libel for what a user posted?
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P Smout, 21 Apr 2012 @ 1:22pm

Facebook blocking content
All this from 'The Land Of the Free'! Amazing how restrictive free can be these days!
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2012 @ 1:36pm

One more reason to ignore Facebook.
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