Brazilian ISPs Told To Block YouTube Until Google Shuts It Down

from the proxy-servers,-anyone? dept

Following the Brazilian court order last week demanding Google shut down YouTube because of a racy video involving a well-known model having sex on the beach, a Brazilian ISP has stepped up to block all access to YouTube. The judge's order did note that ISPs should block the site until Google either takes it down or can guarantee that the video in question will no longer be available -- but so far it appears that only this one ISP has complied. This whole thing seems particularly pointless. All of the legal wrangling over the video has only made it much more popular around the world -- and there are plenty of other sites showing it, and for every site that the Brazilian government decides to shut down or that a Brazilian ISP tries to block, plenty of others will show up. Trying to ban it completely only gives it that much more attention and guarantees that many more people will see it. In the meantime, all the customers of this particular ISP (Brasil Telecom) will get pissed off that their ISP is blocking all of the perfectly legitimate videos on YouTube on the chance that someone might upload yet another copy of the sex video (which YouTube has quickly been removing every time it's been added). This ruling doesn't protect anyone, guarantees more people will see the video and annoys plenty of legitimate users. It's hard to see how that makes any sense for anyone.