Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Who decides?



I am aghast at the latest censorship moves from the gnomes of Google:
"Starting March 23, 2015, you won't be able to publicly share images and video that are sexually explicit or show graphic nudity on Blogger.

Note: We’ll still allow nudity if the content offers a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts.

Changes you’ll see to your existing blogs

If your existing blog doesn’t have any sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video on it, you won’t notice any changes.

If your existing blog does have sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video, your blog will be made private after March 23, 2015. No content will be deleted, but private content can only be seen by the owner or admins of the blog and the people who the owner has shared the blog with.

Settings you can update for existing blogs

If your blog was created before March 23, 2015, and contains content that violates our new policy, you have a few options for changing your blog before the new policy starts:

- Remove sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video from your blog
- Mark your blog as private

If you’d rather take your blog down altogether, you can export your blog as a .xml file or archive your blog's text and images using Google Takeout.

Effect on new blogs

For any blogs created after March 23, 2015, we may remove the blog or take other action if it includes content that is sexually explicit or shows graphic nudity as explained in our content policy."
So, for all you "grown-ups" out there, Blogger has overnight forbidden you to be "grown up".

I despair at what is happening in this world. As does Amanda Palmer - in her magnificent retort to the reprehensible Daily Mail coverage of her left breast:


Say no to censorship!

20 comments:

  1. I got the same message. I'm trying to decide between Tumblr and Wordpress.

    I already have one of the stupid "Mature Content" warnings on my blog. How much more do they want?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blood, dear. And the eternal infantilism of the masses. And definitely no freedom. That would be too, too much for our glorious World leaders... Jx

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  2. It's a world of double standards. The Daily Mail being one of the worst offenders.
    Sx

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  3. What a troubling development. I have some vintage atomic-era cheesecake and beefcake (relatively softcore) nudie cutie imagery scattered throughout my blog. Does 60-year old porn count?! BTW: Liza Minnelli's nipples are clearly erect above.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These are my thoughts exactly - what dark gathering of assorted retired Major-Generals, nuns, rabid neo-con ideologues, moralists and nosey-parkers will now be trampling across almost eight years of my carefully-curated ramblings looking for "that bulge", "that nipple" or "that arse-crack"? Cunts, the lot of 'em. Peenee's already gone over to the dark and unwieldy world of WordPress, and I dare say he won't be the last.

      If it weren't for the logistical nightmare of moving all this (again! - I already manually transferred three years' worth of blogs here from the now-languishing MySpace back in 2010), and for the fact that WordPress is near-incomprehensible to use, I'd be tempted to join him... Jx

      Delete
  4. I'm surprised by the people instantly abandoning their lovingly maintained blogs already. I would say *don't* do anything rash and see how this fiasco plays out. Check out the blogger help forum - it's exploding with complaints and questions that Google can't begin to resolve! This is a major news story in the media - and the coverage ain't reflecting well on Google. Apparently they are admitting this is a "fuzzy" area (what's porn, what's artistic erotica, etc) and that things aren't going to change over night and also, bloggers will have the right to appeal. Grim times! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the immortal words of Avenue Q - "The Internet is for Porn!" (as I featured, ironically, in a another rant about censorship back in 2008)... Jx

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  5. My innate laziness and procrastination hopes that this will all blow over so I won't have to do anything about learning to save my blog and move elsewhere. However, I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to have to forgo the thousand gins I'm suddenly desperate for and do some research instead. Sigh...
    I really hope bitter69uk is right.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tumblr did indeed give in to the pressure of its own contributors, but conversely the mass migration of users from MySpace (myself included) killed the beast - which option to take? Oh, calamity... Jx

      Delete
  6. Just thinking aloud: So Blogger gets rid of all the "porn" images. What about the actual written content - I imagine that's FAR worse!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sshhhh... thankfully Google hasn't learnt to read yet, and still doesn't understand innuendo.
      Sx

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  7. Are they trying to completely kill their business???
    Grrrr

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are trying to exercise the very clamp-down on individual freedom that they themselves vowed to defend against... Jx

      Delete
  8. Actually, moving wasn't too bad. There's an export function in Blogger and an import one in WordPress.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Pack all your clothes away
    Your rubber hose away
    Your old day-glos away
    You're moving out today

    Pack up your dirty looks
    Your songs that have no hooks
    Your stacks of Modern Screen
    Your portrait of the Queen

    Your mangy cat away
    Your baby fat away
    You're headed that-a-way
    You're moving out today"


    Jx

    ReplyDelete
  10. Always said it: keep blogs on your own serverspace!
    mine is on www.queerlog.nl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A host site that is great for genuine smut, no doubt, but I am not sure an ordinary collection of ramblings such as my own blog would be a satisfactory "fit". Thanks for the info, though - it may be useful to others! Jx

      Delete
  11. Oh dear - we are living in a world were nothing is left to chance anymore. Not radio, not TV, not films, not even the internet. Everything needs to be "safe" and "friendly" - yet the things that happen on Snapchat and similar things should be more of a worry than some nude pics on adult blogs. *Sigh* At least Tumblr remains free from censorship - for now...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Creeping censorship is the sign of an unhealthy society in my ,opinion - even if Google has apparently now backed-down from its original announcement, it still leaves a rather unsavoury taste in the mouth that a mega-corporation such as this, or F***book, Tumblr and the rest can exercise such power over freedom of speech and thought... Jx

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