Under Pressure, YouTube Withdraws Muslim Cleric’s Videos

[Turborama]

Source: NYT

LONDON — Under pressure from American and British officials, YouTube on Wednesday removed from its site some of the hundreds of videos featuring calls to jihad by Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born, Yemen-based cleric who has played an increasingly public role in inspiring violence directed at the West.

Last week, a British official pressed for the videos to be removed and a New York legislator, Anthony Weiner, sent YouTube a letter listing hundreds of videos featuring the cleric. The requests took on greater urgency after two powerful bombs hidden in air cargo planes were intercepted en route from Yemen to Chicago on Friday, with the prime suspect being the Yemen-based group Mr. Awlaki is affiliated with, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

In an e-mail, Victoria Grand, a YouTube spokeswoman, said that the site had removed videos that violated the site’s guidelines prohibiting “dangerous or illegal activities such as bomb-making, hate speech, and incitement to commit violent acts,” or came from accounts “registered by a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization,” or used to promote such a group’s interests.

Ms. Grand said that Google, YouTube’s owner, sought to balance freedom of expression with averting calls to violence. “These are difficult issues,” she wrote, “and material that is brought to our attention is reviewed carefully. We will continue to remove all content that incites violence according to our policies. Material of a purely religious nature will remain on the site.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/world/04britain.html?ref=world

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YouTube yanks cleric's jihad sermon videos: NY Times

(AFP) – 45 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube has yanked videos featuring calls by Yemen-based radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi for a holy war, The New York Times reported.

The American-born Awlaqi has been cited as a catalyst for terrorist attacks and was charged Tuesday in absentia in Yemen with incitement to kill foreigners under the banner of Al-Qaeda. The move by Yemeni prosecutors came several days after parcel bombs destined for Chicago were traced to suspected jihadists in Yemen.

Removal of some of Awlaqi's hundreds of videos at YouTube follows complaints from American and British officials, according the Times.

US Congressman Anthony Weiner, a Democrat from New York, dubbed Awlaqi the "bin Laden of the Internet" in a letter sent last week demanding removal of the videos. "We are facilitating the recruitment of homegrown terror," Weiner said in a message posted at his website. There is no reason we should give killers like al-Awlaqi access to one of the world's largest bully pulpits so they can inspire more violent acts within our borders, or anywhere else in the world," he said.

Awlaqi, a citizen of both Yemen and the United States, has appeared in more than 700 YouTube videos that have logged a combined total of 3.5 million views, according to the congressman.

Full article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hl3MleZmBsq78bSAaDT9ikQ_OHtw?docId=CNG.b4492f600922f04f062f99cc1bbdbf2d.01

[Drale]

1. Really they should not allow any videos that call people to do violence

[joshcryer]

20. If you flag videos with hate speech they'll be taken down. Against TOS.

http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines

[rgbecker]

2. Just the start...with any luck.

With any luck, they'll take Glen Beck's down next. I don't mean to equivocate or anything, it just seems fair to me.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ananda]

4. Yeah, Obama is just like AT&T

Just wants to reach and out and touch someone,
but he always seems to choose people who do not
want to be touched.

[DeSwiss]

5. K&R

"......said that the site had removed videos that violated the site’s guidelines prohibiting “dangerous or illegal activities such as bomb-making, hate speech, and incitement to commit violent acts,” or came from accounts “registered by a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization,” or used to promote such a group’s interests."

- Interesting. I hope they're monitoring the Pope's Channel for hate speech. And all those other dangerous preachers as well.....

[Socal31]

6. Let me know when the pope calls on people to kill.

[DeSwiss]

7. He's killed enough already.

And he continues to do so. Every time he tells his followers its a sin to use a condom and that they'll burn in hell for all eternity if they do.

And then when they die from AIDS, who's responsible for that? (this is a rhetorical question as you can't possibly give a rational answer)

[Socal31]

8. Two people having intercourse without protection are both willing parties....

(Obviously not applicable during a rape situation) Walking into a civilian area and blowing yourself up is not quite the same.

I know this is tough to differentiate, but it is possible.

[DeSwiss]

9. Dead is dead. n/t

[Socal31]

10. Oh man....

I expect more than this here.

[No Elephants]

14. You know, no law says you have to let us keep disappointing you.

[DeSwiss]

19. Of course you do.

Anyone who willingly becomes an apologist for that morally-challenged asshole in the Vatican no doubt can convince themselves they deserve more, just like him.

I'm putting you on IGNORE now. Buh-bye.

[No Elephants]

13. Telling religious folk something is a sin does not affect their "willingness?"

[The Straight Story]

11. Can we ban Obama videos? He is killing people in Iraq/Afghan/Pakistan, more than the pope is (nt)

[Alamuti Lotus]

12. Not really a crackdown, I just found a couple dozen more with little effort

Sheikh Awlaki is prolific with his videos and internet articles, quite astutely managing use of the internet for their activities despite whatever crackdowns. And he is not the only one by far.

[No Elephants]

15. After that search, I'd leave extra early for the airport next time I need to travel by air.

And no jokes about violence or bombs or explosions in emails or on the phone.


But, that's probably just me.

[Turborama]

17. I'm not even going to do a search on YouTube to verify

I have flagged certain violent Jihadi channels and videos I stumbled across in the past, though, but they seemed to stay there. Hopefully that will change after this decision.

[Alamuti Lotus]

duplicate; double-tapped the 'Post' button in error

[Alamuti Lotus]

22. do not fear the National Security State..

I suspect the stamps on my passport would draw enough attention at the airport already: Iran, Lebanon, Palestinian Authority, Russia, Philippines, Indonesia... less interesting in current context, but there's also Greece, Cyprus, Venezuela, Cuba, and one I forget and can't make out now--probably Italy judging by the fading shape of the letters, but I don't remember ever going there. Briefly passed thru Sicily perhaps? Gah, this is going to bother me now.....

It can't also help that I have had clips of Fadlallah, Nasrallah, Basayev and other people I have met in my travels saved on my YouTube favourites list for years (curiously, also stuff like a million live videos of bands like Isis, Boris, The Melvins, etc.. cute Japanese yoga videos and some others of the sort, but that is all neither here nor there).

This has surely already done whatever damage YouTube or anything else can do;--which is to say, little if any. I rarely travel by anything else besides my pickup or train these days, but I receive nothing but friendly treatment at any airport or train station on the rare event it is necessary. I don't notice any undercover surveillance vans on my way to work. Perhaps if they knew any better, they would, but I guess that's the point I'm trying to make.

[liberalpragmatist]

23. No kidding

Same reason I'm not going to let my curiosity let me search. It's worse b/c I'm brown.

[Turborama]

16. Did you flag them? I'm sure it's going to be like whack-a-mole for them

And they'll probably appreciate any help they can get.

[xor]

18. I wonder if they'll do some automatic detection of such videos

I know they do it with some copyrighted material material...

[Alamuti Lotus]

21. Probably not, this is just public relations

"See? We're doing something! We're right on top of it!"..........right.