Lorelle has posted the following article: WordPress.com Banned Again: Why Arenโt You Concerned?
Lots of blogs are hosted for free through WordPress.com and I’m not specifically sure of the EULA for services like WordPress.com, Blogger, YouTube, Flickr and such. But it would seem to me that using one of these services includes some limits to your free speech.
So, if you are going to post things that aren’t nice to other humans, you may want to have your own paid account with a paid hosting company.
I believe that the laws people live within have more controls over free speech than blog hosting services. And self-hosting services also have their EULA and TOS that may also restrict the topics they will allow on their service. So such a sweeping assumption puts blame in the wrong place.
Currently, WordPress.com has NOT responded to change their methodology nor close any blog on their free blog hosting service due to court action on any issue deemed restrictive of free speech, which is why WordPress.com was banned for almost eight months in Turkey because they didn’t give in nor comply with the court edict to remove a blogger the Turkey governments and courts decided was a political nightmare. Other blog services might have capitulated in the same situation.
In many people’s eyes, this makes having your blog on WordPress.com safer than elsewhere, because the company believes first in freedom of speech in such situations.
Posting things that aren’t nice to other humans isn’t the issue. Posting things that governments don’t like gets you in more trouble. ๐
I believe that the laws people live within have more controls over free speech than blog hosting services. And self-hosting services also have their EULA and TOS that may also restrict the topics they will allow on their service. So such a sweeping assumption puts blame in the wrong place.
Currently, WordPress.com has NOT responded to change their methodology nor close any blog on their free blog hosting service due to court action on any issue deemed restrictive of free speech, which is why WordPress.com was banned for almost eight months in Turkey because they didn’t give in nor comply with the court edict to remove a blogger the Turkey governments and courts decided was a political nightmare. Other blog services might have capitulated in the same situation.
In many people’s eyes, this makes having your blog on WordPress.com safer than elsewhere, because the company believes first in freedom of speech in such situations.
Posting things that aren’t nice to other humans isn’t the issue. Posting things that governments don’t like gets you in more trouble. ๐
I certainly do like your point; it is a hard balance. I hate to see all of WP blocked because of one person. It’s a shame our world even has to have this conversation. Open communication is a good thing, but scary for large institutions that want to try to control conversations.
I certainly do like your point; it is a hard balance. I hate to see all of WP blocked because of one person. It’s a shame our world even has to have this conversation. Open communication is a good thing, but scary for large institutions that want to try to control conversations.