COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Google Rocks — Refuses to Remove Police Brutality Videos from YouTube Well, I’ve been a pretty big fan of Google for awhile — it’s a clear climate change and clean energy leader; I love its services; and that whole “do no evil” thing is pretty cool. So, when I just read that it has denied a request by the police (unknown agency) to remove videos containing police brutality from YouTube, I was pretty happy (though, not surprised). Seriously, though, if they police don’t want tons of videos showing police brutality on the internet, guess what?.. They shouldn’t be brutalizing peaceful protesters! Anyway, here’s how Google has responded: We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove. Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not comply with those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests. Of course. But, seriously, even they were removed from YouTube, do you think they wouldn’t make it to millions of people’s eyes through some other service? Crazy cops. Clean up the crap, don’t try to hide it under some newspaper! I imagine one of these agencies was the Oakland police force, given the fact that they just fractured a marine veteran’s skull while he was peacefully protesting, landing him in critical condition in a local hospital. Any guess on the second agency? (San Francisco? New York?) h/t Red, Green, and B Source: Planetsave (http://s.tt/13DYL)