Reid to Be Quizzed Over Website Laws
THE Home Secretary is to be asked whether those responsible for posting the Hillsborough video have committed a criminal offence.
Wavertree Labour MP Jane Kennedy said: “I will be seeking talks with John Reid as a matter of urgency.
“The way the internet is regulated is a matter for concern and I will be speaking to him about that.
“The fact that this video has caused such distress also suggests to me that it could be a criminal act under the hate crimes law and I will be seeking guidance from John Reid on that.”
Riverside Labour MP Louise Ellman believes this is evidence that the situation has got out of hand.
She said: “The lack of control on websites is a matter for concern.
“We need to look urgently at ways of some sort of control being exercised on sites like these.”
YouTube is a popular free video sharing website which lets users upload, view, and share video clips.
The service was founded in February 2005 by three ex-employees of internet paying system PayPal.
They sold it in October last year to internet giants Google for pounds 855m.
A spokeswoman for YouTube said today: “We have 100,000 videos uploaded every day, so we rely on the community to flag up inappropriate clips.
“We have a clear policy on what content we consider inappropriate, whether that be racist or hate material.
“This clip has not been brought to out attention, but we would ask users to flag it up, using a tool on the site, if they feel it is inappropriate.
“Once we are alerted to the video, our review team can look at it. All inappropriate clips are taken down.
“We don’t have the capacity to stop offensive clips being put on the site.”
You Tube has a condition which states: “If your video shows someone getting hurt, attacked, or humiliated, don’t (post it) – You Tube is not a shock site.
“Don’t post gross-out videos of accidents, dead bodies and stuff like that.”
Despite clearly being in breach of this, the Hillsborough shock video has been displayed on YouTube for more than a week and has been viewed by almost 2,000 people.
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