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)

REMINDER: Add "/ncr" For Comments

We're still waiting for the fix on Google's new redirect on Blogspot, which makes JMG readers outside of the United States unable to see comments. For now the work-around is very simple, just add /ncr to the end of the URL for this or any site on Blogspot. Details are here.

Another Google Change At JMG

A couple of months ago, Google began redirecting some readers to Blogspot addresses that ended in the country code of the user. Last night they added Canada, France, and several others to that list.

Google explains:

Q: Why is this happening?
A: We are doing this to provide more support for managing content locally. If we receive a removal request that violates local law, that content may no longer be available to readers on local domains where those laws apply. This update is in line with our approach to free expression and controversial content, which hasn’t changed.

Most readers will see no change, but for those of us using non-Google add-ons such as the comment provider we use at JMG, comments may not be available in the countries affected by the change. There is a work-around for that.

Q. Can users outside of the United States still access the service’s .com domains?
A. Yes, we allow anyone to view the .com version of a Blogger blog by typing: http://[blogname].blogspot.com/ncr – which always goes to the .com version of the blog. The “no country redirect” (ncr) will temporarily prevent Blogger from redirecting readers to the local version of the blog.

For now, I recommend that those affected add "/ncr" to the JMG URL and save that new address in your bookmarks. We should have a more permanent fix shortly.

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 and destroyed their archives, but I'm told that to get to JMG on Blogger, the entire service would have to come down.

Aaaaand We're Back

I think. Blogger had one its semi-annual meltdowns this morning. At least the outages are shorter and farther apart than in years past. I understand the occasional glitch, that happens to everybody, I just wish Blogger hosted their status page somewhere that doesn't go down when the rest of the service does. And Blogger outages make Shelley sad.