Ever since I first started writing my ‘opinions’ back in 2006 (ish) I’ve ranted about the sheer lack of policing, the complete lack of moderation of content and the blatant pornification of the web. Too many people seem to think the lawless web is okay… That it’s okay to have porn accessible to kids and misleading content to rank number 1 on Google. That it’s fine and dandy to have fraudsters and scammers sharing their BS with no penalty whatsoever…
I don’t. And I make no secret about my opinions.
Is it possible that I’m not alone in my anti-pornification opinion?
Delicious has been acquired from Yahoo (who clearly didn’t have any plans for it when they bought it not so long ago) by the founders of YouTube, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. As creators of the world’s largest video site and they have a different view of what content should be shared. A view which I whole-heartedly applaud.
I’m left wondering if YouTube would be an entirely different animal had it remained in the hands of Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Would they have opted for a zero porn, scams, inaccurate and misleading content policy.
Here’s the big difference between the old Delicious and the Chad Hurley & Steve Chen (AVOS) version of the reborn Delicious:
Throughout the years of Delicious, users were free to link to, collect and post anything they wanted to share. This meant ANYTHING – no discretion, no limits. That in itself is (what I consider) the problem with the web as a whole.
The linked websites’ content, business practices and privacy policies are not under the control of Delicious, and Delicious is not responsible for the content of any linked website or any link contained in a linked website. (…) In accessing Delicious or following links to third-party websites you may be exposed to content that you consider offensive or inappropriate. You agree that your only recourse is to stop using Delicious.
Basically saying “if you don’t like what you see, you know where the door is…”
Fortunately Mr Hurley and Mr Chen see things differently. Freedom to post anything and link to anything without limits will no longer be the case – especially in when it comes to “offensive” content. I applaud that move!
The New AVOS-Delicious Terms of Use have new rules – rules that change Delicious in a POSITIVE way:
You agree not to do any of the following: post, upload, publish, submit or transmit any Content that: (…) violates, or encourages any conduct that would violate, any applicable law or regulation or would give rise to civil liability; (iii) is fraudulent, false, misleading or deceptive; (iv) is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, vulgar or offensive (…)
Punishment for posting links that violate the new Terms: AVOS-Delicious has the right to remove all your bookmarks/content at its discretion and without notice.
How anyone can say this is a bad move is beyond me!
I have read a few blog posts written by individuals who clearly don’t like the idea that linking to porn, misleading (ie: bad marketing advice and unproven systems), deceptive (ie: money making scams), fraudulent and completely false information should be moderated and restricted. They are probably the same people running scams, sharing indecent content that would be deemed illegal in any offline environment and who make their living from deception, frauds and cons.
One search "scrubbing the floor" - two completely different images...
There are people who prefer the image on the left and those who prefer the image on the right. Me…
The way I see it is that we have to think beyond the needs of a few perverts who have a need for centre-folds revealing all and think about the future.
Not on the ‘clean’ side of the fence?
Think how the volume of junk is going to render the web useless for future generations.
Think about how you would feel if your child came and asked “mummy, what is a scrubber?” or “Daaaad! What are they doing with his penis?” or “Muuummmy!!! What is spiderman doing to superman?”
How would you feel if your child’s college fund was stolen from their bank account because they got lured into a scam?
How would you feel if your Gran lost her home because she got roped into an investment fraud?
How would you feel about an unmoderated internet if your bank account was emptied, you were locked out of your Facebook account because someone has taken it over and changed the password, your mailbox is empty because all your emails were being diverted to some hacker who is stealing your identity?
Anyone who takes a stand against what is currently ruining the web is a top notch dude in my book.
Whether or not that was Hurley & Chen’s view of the web when they first developed YouTube or when they acquired Delicious, I will never know, but, to encourage myself to do the “happy dance” I’ll assume they are good people with good intentions.
Sadly though, a realistic view is required.
For every website or platform that makes a stand and sets a good example, there will be dozens, if not hundreds, that encourage and make it easy to create, distribute and share the kind of content that is ruining the internet…
