Social Networks Censor Teen Sex [Whooda Thunk?]

The luridly titled Midwest Teen Sex Show is a podcast aimed at young adults with the intent to educate.  While the title may be salacious, the content is more or less tame, or at least as tame as can be expected from a non FCC-regulated sex-education program run by occasionally foul-tongued creators.

According to a report from Tilzy today, though, the show has been on the receiving end of a disproportionate amount of takedowns from the likes of MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook.

The ‘Fetishes‘ episode of MTSS was deleted on 12.28.08 by YouTube. KoldCast emailed YouTube and the company’s only response was a form letter that said the video was in violation of YouTube’s Community Guidelines. YouTube ignored additional inquiry.

Earlier last year, the same Fetishes’ episode was removed from MySpace after being viewed over 33,000 times. MySpace unilaterally deleted the video and provided no explanation as to why. Meanwhile, faux pornographer James Gunn and actual pornographersJenna Haze and Sasha Grey have active profiles.

The episode in question:

The controversial Midwest Teen Sex Show episode of "Fetishes."

Even more puzzling was the removal of the 2,000+ member fan group on Facebook for the show.

On the one hand, the material is hard to monetize (even the show’s official site lists one of their sponsors as “brave”), and it’s understandable that large social networks might be reticent to host the content.

But the show is clearly well-intentioned as well as very clearly segmented in terms of the audience demographics. The deletions expose a fault in maintaining these large social networking destinations – most of the censorship is handled by algorithms, and as such they’re unable to make proper judgments that are obvious to humans, but confusing to machines.

There isn’t an easy answer here on how to solve the problem.  It’s obviously not limited to one particular social network, and it’s doubtful it’s a conspiracy against the show itself.

It is, however, a weakness common to more than one destination social network, and something that ought to have rendered to it some thought on it’s solution.

The Register Spreads FUD Over The Pirate Bay Partner

For some reason, the Register’s Andrew Orlowski has seen fit to attempt to tie a message of racism and Nazi connections into their coverage of The Pirate Bay’s trial this morning. I generally enjoy the unique tone their publication has. It’s pretty difficult to make IT news interesting at all, and they tend to do an excellent job at taking dry topics and putting an attractive, if not generally snarky spin on them.

The headline reads this morning, though: “Pirate Bay's neo-Nazi sugar daddy.” The post goes to great lengths not only to call into question the quality of reporting that Wired is doing on the trial, but the supposed latent anti-Semitism felt by any and all folks who may have used a file sharing network over the course of their lifetime:

One is that anti-copyright activists like to think of themselves as thoroughly decent, forward-thinking progressive people - because the internet is a new democracy, they're reflecting a fairer world. They like to contrast the hygenic efficiency of the technology with the old (and implicitly corrupt) copyright businesses. It's almost a badge of moral superiority.

But like the Futurists a hundred years ago - the original Freetards - they don't mind jumping into bed with neo-Nazis when it suits them. In this case, that's so long as the free music and movies keep flowing.

Look – I’m no stranger to being called a racist for asking simple questions. At this point, I’m generally unfazed by the accusation.

I do feel compelled, however, to simply inquire: “What does being a ‘neo-nazi’ have to do with file sharing?”

Is there some hidden racist agenda behind copyright protest? Does Radiohead have ties to the Klan? Does Captain Jack Sparrow hate Jewish people?

Yes, they’re ridiculous questions, but it’s no more ridiculous than complaining about Wired’s court reporter on The Pirate Bay’s trial not doing an investigative report on one of the company’s founder’s political beliefs, particularly since it isn’t the subject of the trial.

So is the 40% stakeholder in The Pirate Bay a racist?  Yeah, it sorta looks like that from what the Register is saying. Does it affect the outcome of this trial or the functions of the torrent search engine?

Not at all.

To Abandon Twitter, You’d Have to Actually Use It [Presidential Tweets]

Paul Boutin seems to have landed a gig over at the New York Times writing for their blog GadgetWise. I may have known this already, or this might be the first time I’ve learned it (I thought he went to Wired after Valleywag? Guess not!).

At any rate, seeing his byline there is about as surprising as is that someone as plugged in as him is actually asking the question with a straight face: “Mr. president [sic], why have you left us twisting in the wind on Twitter?”

President Obama never used Twitter.  Certainly, his campaign staffers used it.  Not the President, though. 

Similarly, President Obama never wrote a blog post until long after the primaries, and if memory serves only wrote a handful of updates in the period from the primaries to the general election.

Somehow, though, he gets the credit for being the Web 2.0 president, as Paul put it.

It’s late, and I’m tired, so I’m not going to dig up the article in the Mashable archives that’s springing to mind, but I distinctly remember right after it was official that Obama was the Democratic nominee - saying something like “He used social media as a great fundraising tool, but never to engage.”

I was roasted roundly for my statement, but I still stand by it. Time after time, the President has shown he’s mostly interested in interfacing with sycophantic members of the press, be they New Media or Old. He hasn’t used an online campaign tool or governance tool as of yet to act as anything other than a megaphone. The whole bait and switch maneuver he pulled with announcing Biden so as to get people’s mobile numbers just further supports his interest in technology only as a fundraising tool.

Sure, it’s easy to say that now he’s the president, he’s got more important things to worry about.  But what about that decade long election process (alright, it may not have been a decade, but it felt like it).  Couldn’t he have used the Internet as a communications tool rather than a megaphone?

Only people who bought the hype are now surprised that they’ve been “pumped and dumped.”

Social media pariahs like me have been saying this all along, though.

Wizzard Automates their Ads with Ando

Podcasting News reports today that Wizzard Media has joined forces with Ando Media in an effort automate the placement of advertisements in their audio podcasts.

The audio ads seem to be a mix of remnant ads and brand advertisement. The first advertising campaign is for Cisco’s Webex product, but since the technology already existed as a part of the Libsyn system, I imagine that Ando will assist in helping fill other inventory not already being monetized by existing campaigns.

This will likely give Wizzard a good shot in the arm, one that they probably need.  Wizzard has continued to have growing revenues and has crept ever closer towards operation in the black since they initially went public.  The down market since September has likely hampered their internal sales efforts, and a partnership with a like-minded organization as Ando will definitely help them continue their progressive march.

Worm Alert: ViddyHo [Phishing]

I know most of my readers are smart enough not to get caught in this one, but there’s a worm going around via a number of different IM networks right now by the name of ViddyHo.

The site’s been marked as a phishing site by Google now, so chances are in whatever browser you use won’t let you easily get to the website.

Users are greeted with a sign-in screen for Google Talk (or whatever instant message protocol they received the message from), asking for their username and password to see the video.

Bottom line – don’t do it.  It shouldn’t have to be said, but given that it’s hit the pages of Valleywag today, I guess it does.

Joost Halts Some Remote Embeds; Anime Steps Back Half a Version

In October of 2007, I wrote a pretty well received treatment of the Anime industry and their attitudes towards social media and online video. I meandered and reminisced a bit in the piece, but the thrust of it was the question asked in the title: “Can Anime Reach Version 2.0?”

The Anime community at large was dealing with a backlash from the publishing side directed at the fansubbing community, where they were cracking down on them and lambasting them as a drain on the system.

Setting aside the various problems with that statement, I tried to address the many ways that the Anime publishers could thrive in the new social media ecology, as did Mike Masnick and Anime News Network’s Justin Sevakis.

For a time, it looked like they did.  Not long after the article came out, I was apprised of a number of niche social networks that worked hand in hand with the Anime publishers as well as new distribution routes that were opened up for Japanese animation such as Joost.

It would appear, though, that the Japanese are now having a change of heart.  Viz Media, the producers of the highly popular series Naruto and Bleach, have mandated that Joost no longer allow remote embeds of their online episodes.

Earlier today, we removed the ability to embed shows from VIZ Media - Naruto Shippuden, Naruto, Bleach and Death Note. Many of you may have watched these shows on Anime News Network or NarutoWire, and you'll notice that they're not available on those sites now, either.

We know this may upset you, and we're sorry - we want to offer the best web video experience possible, and we know this falls short. We hope to be able to allow you to embed and watch these shows on other sites again soon. In the meantime, we need to respect the requests of our content partners so that we can continue to offer the variety and quality of programming you've come to expect on Joost.

You can still watch these shows on Joost - like the most recent episode of Naruto Shippuden - and we have no plans to change that. In the meantime, please continue to send your feedback to us at feedback@joost.com.

It’s a very bizarre move, and one that seems to mirror the moves made earlier this week at Hulu, but can’t imaginably be for similar motivations.

As you probably heard, TV.com and Boxee were both forbidden from using content sourced from Hulu in their products and services.  Clearly both of these decisions were made by Hulu’s puppetmasters at the major networks to build up the destination portal of Hulu while cutting off at the knees any potential competition (to either Old Tee Vee or their preferred new version).

VIZ, on the other hand, has no such stake in Joost, and no vested interest in making it a more highly trafficked entity.

My friend, Sean P. Aune, has a sideline business (aside from being listmaster-in-chief at Mashable) in which he deals in comics and anime products.  As such, I imagined he might have some insight as to the mind of the Japanese on this matter, so I asked him what his theory would be.

“If Viz is answering to Japanese bosses, their minds move in mysterious ways,” said Sean. “Even for all of their technological advances, they still aren't quite sure how to handle Internet ventures.”

It’s a position that seemed sadly consistent with what I learned in 2007: aloof and uneducated in how the social sphere works on the Internet.

Tremor Media Shakes Out $18 Million

Tremor Media, an ad network I’ve been following for quite a while, has raised an astounding $18 million (particularly in this very negative business climate). The round is their Series C, and is from Canaan Partners, Masthead Venture Partners, and European Founders Fund.

Seeking funding overseas was described as a ‘strategic move’ in an interview Beet.tv’s Andy Plesser did with Tremor’s CEO Jason Glickman.

The goal is, apparently, to partner up with savvy partners in the EU to get a better grasp on the market there and build up their presence as well as they have in the US.