Google Backs Down On Porn Ban

Via the Guardian:

Google has backtracked on plans to ban sexually explicit images from its blogging platform Blogger, in the face of widespread opposition from users. The company had initially announced a ban on “sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video”, with just a few exceptions for content which offered “a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts”. It planned to enforce the ban from 23 March, when any user with offending material still on their blog would be forced to turn it into a private site. Now, the company has backed down. Jessica Pelegio, a social product support manager at Google, wrote: “We’ve had a ton of feedback, in particular about the introduction of a retroactive change (some people have had accounts for 10+ years), but also about the negative impact on individuals who post sexually explicit content to express their identities. “So rather than implement this change, we’ve decided to step up enforcement around our existing policy prohibiting commercial porn.”

(Tipped by JMG reader Eddie)

Google Bans Porn From Blogger

Via CNN Money:

In an announcement that was sent out to bloggers who use the company's blogging website, Google said people will no longer be able to "publicly share images and video that are sexually explicit or show graphic nudity" on Blogger as of March 23. Google said those Blogger sites that continue to host pornography after March 23 will be made "private." That means the content will be allowed to remain up, but it will only be accessible to the site's owner and the people who the user directly shared the blog with.

Google noted that it isn't completely banning nudity from being shown publicly on Blogger. The site will allow nudity "if the content offers a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts." But it also puts Google in the position of deciding what is art and what is pornography -- a decision that Instagram and other sites have struggled with. Blogger previously allowed adult content on its sites, but it required users to mark their blogs as "adult." Those Blogger sites came with an "adult content" warning that would appear before a visitor could enter the site.

Two years ago Yahoo made a similar move with Tumblr, but reinstated porn blogs after a social media backlash.

Change For Overseas JMG Readers

Google has made a change in the way Blogger-hosted sites resolve their URLs in some foreign countries. Instead of ending in dot-com, some of you now see URLs that end in your country code. This change is playing havoc with the comment system for some folks. While we figure out a solution that works everywhere, you might try using an IP-blocking browser add-on. That seems to work for the short term. (I do own JoeMyGod.com, but that address will just redirect you to Blogger.)

RELATED: As I've mentioned here in the past, JMG remains on Blogger (for now) due to persistent hacking attempts by our enemies. Such attacks have brought down other well-known gay/progressive sites, but I'm told that to get to JMG on Blogger, the entire service would have to come down.

Blogger Outage Update

Some of yesterday's posts have magically reappeared, but sadly your incisive and thoughtful comments have not. Boo, hiss and all that jazz.

Did You Miss Me?

Hello, is this thing on?

Blogger Has The Monday Blahs

It looks like all of Blogger is running slow today, so you may be experiencing slowly loading pages. Gmail appears to be affected as well. Sorry, folks!

Boomtown Rats

Hmm, something went screwy with the dozen posts I considerately wrote a day early for you so you'd have something to look at while I was sleeping off Remember The Party 2009. Vanished! Annoying! While I figure out what the deal is, here's two ladies fighting on a San Francisco bus.

Tinkers To Evers To Chance

What a weird last few days on teh interwebs, a regular triple play of nonsense. First Haloscan crashes, then Google locked thousands of bloggers out of their accounts, then on Friday afternoon any site with the Sitemeter script on it would no longer open in IE, affecting many thousands of sites.

We got a heads-up from the CEO of JS-Kit, the new owner of Haloscan, who let us know that they are installing new features and better stability. Over at the Blogger, the always devious spammers had hacked their CAPTCHA program, forcing them to change their spam algorithm, causing the lockout. And Sitemeter's issue was actually related to a bug in IE. Bah humbug. Looks like everything is back to normal at the moment, but I thank the many JMG readers who sent puzzled emails. PS: Use Firefox!