Someone Please Explain To The Iranian Government That Anyone Can Upload Videos To Google Video

from the here's-how-it-works,-you-see... dept

A bunch of folks have been submitting the story about how Iran is pissed off at Google over a video suggesting that an Iranian town is actually in Azerbaijan, with government officials suggesting that Iranian people flood Google with complaints. Unfortunately, the article isn’t entirely clear, leading some of the blogs discussing this issue to miss the point entirely. This actually has nothing to do with Google (some blogs say that Google maps places the town in the wrong country, but that’s not the case). It’s actually just a tourist video that someone uploaded with their own description, saying the town is in Azerbaijan. Google has absolutely nothing to do with this, other than being the platform on which the video is hosted. They didn’t write the description. They didn’t approve the description. Frankly, it seems likely that they couldn’t care any less about the description. However, it doesn’t seem like the Iranian officials understand that at all, suggesting that this is a case of Google’s “interference in the affairs of another country,” while a newspaper claims that this is a “dubious” act by Google. Perhaps before they bash Google so hard they should actually understand how the system works and that Google has absolutely nothing to do with the content or description of the video. Of course, that’s not nearly as simple as just blaming Google.


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Comments on “Someone Please Explain To The Iranian Government That Anyone Can Upload Videos To Google Video”

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37 Comments
dorpus says:

Re: Re: Conversely

the answer is, no, americans wouldn’t stand still – but they’d go after the Iranians and not the service that played the video.

Really? So if the video had been uploaded to Google, Americans wouldn’t complain to Google, Google wouldn’t quickly take down the video, and there wouldn’t be a double standard?

yes, no one would care, even if the government prodded us too- but you knew that

So would Google tolerate an anti-semitic video uploaded by an Iranian, showing Jews drinking baby blood? Or does “freedom of speech” in America apply only against Muslims and less powerful minorities?

John says:

Re: Re: Re: Conversely

A jewish civil rights group might ASK Google to take it down, once it had been brought to their attention but wouldn’t blame Google for it.

I don’t know if Google would even comply..but I’m sure a Jewish civil rights group would TRY to get it taken down.

Regardless.. American government, American People and Civil Rights groups would condemn GOOGLE.

If Iran asked Google to take it down, now that it has been brought to their attention..that’s fine. But they shouldn’t get all pissy about it.

Phlatus the Elder says:

Google maps

Well, Google has one small town I know of off in some farmer’s pasture, about 5 miles SW of where it really is. (Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t cartographers usually use the location of the main post office when they state a town’s map coordinates?)

Simple error, or a map maker’s booby trap for catching copyright violators?

Blop says:

Preseminal Fluid

The (76 IQ point, fox-watching, right wing, bush-supporting, fatass, reality-tv watching, uninformed, and simply idiotic) americans would care only when their local news channel runs out of violent crimes to report and decides to give something like what you described its 15 minutes of fame, then americans would go on blowing the next thing out of proportion.

On another note, don’t you find it funny and ironic that these are the same people who started rioting, fighting, and burning shit because they disagreed with the pope calling their beliefs violent? I mean, was I the only one who got the irony here? Oh and what about Hamas calling for a war against America when Israel broke the truce?

Not to discriminate or over-generalize, I know there is a whole other rational side to muslim people (because it’s really not just muslims we’re talking about when it comes to the middle east – and america’s actions over there have much less honor behind them than the ‘terrorists’ we’re fighting), I was born in a country where they are the majority of the population so I’d know a bit from experience, but every little prick in the middle east seems to try their best to find an excuse to yell jihad against america/any other religion/culture.

AJ says:

Somone think of the children!

If somone uploaded a video to google, and it doesnt violate any laws or google’s terms of service or whatever, why should they take it down? Why should they be blamed? Hell, almost everything is illegal somwhere, if we used that type of thinking (if it pisses someone off, then remove it)the internet would be a very boring place….. or we could all just move to china and be “protected” from these types of things……..

Free Azeri says:

Racist Iranian Government is Cracking Down on Azer

The racist Persian dominated Iranian government is trying to suppress any free expression by ethnic and religious minorities.

The Azeri make up 25 percent of Iran and yet are economically deprived and disavantaged, oppressed and brutalized and discriminated against. South Azerbajian continues to remain under Iranian occupation.

Read more here

http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=21507

BigEd says:

No mOrE iRan

Ok Google, open the maps and make Iran disappear forever.
The big delete function. A reverse jihad with no American loss of life. And because if it’s not found on google it doesn’t exist…Right?

Beside’s, who in their right mind even cares what Iran has to say. Aren’t they under some type of restrictions, embargo’s or what ever they call it now. Shouldn’t this include Internet
access also?

Dale says:

Lost Tourist

OK . I look at the site and then end up reading the comments and you people are still talking about nothing but bull. The tourist was lost so he made a mistake of were he was ,Duuh big suprise.Then you people start argueing about bull. You call each other names and eveyone gets off track of the Google concern. It was a video not a map and yes some mappers do put mistakes like roads that are fictitious, like a watermark or thumbprint. Personally I think many of you are as lost as the tourist was.

Dale says:

The Story

The sooner the so called elected officials of some of the countries in this world, learn to control their emotions and think before they shot the messenger, Google would not be a target for someones rage. When is Iran not mad at someone. Another tourist is lost and Iran is pissed at someone, yep its nice to know somethings never change. LOL

feroz says:

Well, I’m a muslim…well, maybe not. I am, sorta. I’m agnostic really, but yes, coming to the point…
Iran was named on of the enemies of the internet just a while back – I can’t place the link, but google it and you should find it. I think this is one reason why. It’s disappointing to see that a whole government doesn’t understand simple concepts that many 15 year olds do.

dorpus says:

Re: Re:

How many Iranians will put freedom to good use anyway? Iranians have enjoyed using the internet to gamble their savings away on backgammon, sending perverted sex messages to women, buying and selling underage sex slaves, trading alcohol, inciting racial hatred against Sunnis or other minorities. It’s understandable if some countries prefer to opt out of the vulgar hedonism of “free” countries. Are free countries really free, or are they enslaved by a tyranny of the lowest-common-denominator culture?

feroz says:

Re: Re: Re:

I’m not arguing that some people will misuse the freedom. I’ve lived for most of my life in Saudi Arabia, and I am well aware of the PATHETIC state of internet connections over there. Here, in India, I’m able to have a broadband connection with no uld/dwnld limit for half the price of a 100 hour dialup connection over there. I’m not saying that people don’t misuse the internet, but the saudis are missing out on a LOT. YouTube, P2P, podcasts, just make no sense in Saudi Arabia, because the common man doesn’t have the fast connection.

StratDad says:

bold analogy

I’ll make a bold analogy here…

A drug pusher does not generate a product, but mearly distributes it for profit. Now, it may be that the drug pusher sells legal drugs as well, but that has no relevance to his sales of illegal drugs.

We have a concept of common carrier laws that absolves carriers from liability for the content they carry. We apply this concept to any company that supplies a portal to user generated content. I may or may not like it, but that is the way it works in the US.

On what basis can you assume that every culture buys into this notion that the company making a buck off distribution is not responsible for content? That an entertainment pusher has no responsibility for distributing culturally offensive material?

We are building a real wall to keep Mexican people from crossing into the US, primarily because we don’t want to deal with the effects of their presence. Since it is virtually impossible to build a wall that keeps out the Internet’s ‘undersirable’ content (just ask the Chineese and their disappointment with walls), shouldn’t the distributers should be held accountable to the local cultures that they influence? What natural law/fundament right protects the distribution company, morally speaking? It isn’t sufficient to say it is just how the Internet operates. For now, at least, the Internet is subordinate to real communities.

Did Iran overreact? Yes. Was this an isolated insult? Certainly not.

Voice of Reason says:

Get with the program

Ok … all of you people need to get a life. One person says something stupid, and now there’s so much verbal hostility. For what? What is it going to accomplish? Don’t you people have families and jobs to attend to? Don’t you have elections to worry about? Don’t you have the education of your children to worry about? Don’t you have crime in our local streets to worry about? Get your heads out off your rear-ends and wake up. If you paid as much attention to our internal problems as you do with the problems of other people, then there may not be so much crime, illiteracy, drug use and poverty in this “great county of ours”.

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