Dear Commons Community,

Twitter announced that upon request, it would block certain messages in countries where they were deemed illegal. The move immediately prompted outcry, argument and even calls for a boycott from some users.

Twitter in turn sought to explain that this was the best way to comply with the laws of different countries. And the whole episode, swiftly amplified worldwide through Twitter itself, offered a telling glimpse into what happens when a scrappy Internet start-up tries to become a multinational business.

The New York Times is reporting:

“Twitter, like other Internet companies, has always had to remove content that is illegal in one country or another, whether it is a copyright violation, child pornography or something else. What is different about Twitter’s announcement is that it plans to redact messages only in those countries where they are illegal, and only if the authorities there make a valid request.”

Seems like censorship coming to the Internet!

Tony

Dear Commons Community.

The Huffington Post is reporting that the criminal investigation into British tabloid skullduggery turned full force on a second Rupert Murdoch publication Saturday, with the arrest of four current and former journalists from The Sun on suspicion of bribing police.  A serving police officer was also held, and authorities searched the newspaper’s offices as part of an investigation into illegal payments for information.  The investigation into whether reporters illegally paid police for information is running parallel to a police inquiry into phone hacking by Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World.

The phone hacking scandal disgraced Rupert Murdoch, his  News Corporation empire (Fox News)  and members of his senior staff when it was reported that days after the disappearance of 13-year old Milly Dowler, News of the World began intercepting Dowler’s voicemail messages. The paper deleted old messages to make room for new ones, leading some to speculate that she was alive.  The Guardian reported: “The Dowler family then granted an exclusive interview to the News of the World in which they talked about their hope, quite unaware that it had been falsely kindled by the newspaper’s own intervention”

For a timeline of the evolution of the News Corporation and the hacking scandal, check out The Anatomy of a Phone Hacking Scandal provided by the New York Times.

Tony