Google refuses Canada's request to clamp down on urination video
In a case highlighted by Google as good fodder for a debate about freedom of expression, the Canadian government asked the Internet search empire last year to block public access to a YouTube video showing a man urinating on his Canadian passport.But Google, judging the video an exercise in free speech, turned down the censorship request from Passport Canada, according to the U.S.-based company's latest "transparency report."
The report, the fifth to be issued since Google began the project in 2009, summarizes the company's responses to requests received from governments to remove links to web content alleged to be illegal, hateful, terrorism-promoting, or offensive.
The company said that between July and December 2011, it complied with 65 per cent of court orders to remove content — but with only 47 per cent of some 1,000 non-court requests from government agencies around the world; Google rejected 53 per cent of those, including the Passport Canada request.
"We received a request from the Passport Canada office to remove a YouTube video of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and flushing it down the toilet," stated the Google report, which disclosed details about the Canadian case as one of the highlights in its semi-annual summary for the last half of 2011, released Sunday. "We did not comply with this request."
The Canadian example was cited by Google, along with a handful of other requests from various countries — including Pakistan, Thailand and Poland — as representing a "troubling" pattern in which the search portal is being asked to suppress political speech.
"Unfortunately, what we've seen over the past couple years has been troubling, and today is no different," said senior Google policy analyst Dorothy Chou said in a statement. "We noticed that government agencies from different countries would sometimes ask us to remove political content that our users had posted on our services. We hoped this was an aberration. But now we know it's not."
Noting that the number of such requests from governments increased significantly in the latest six-month reporting period, Chou added: "It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect — Western democracies not typically associated with censorship."
For the first time in its latest report, Google also provided a summary of requests from corporations and reporting organizations regarding alleged copyright infringements. Computer software giant Microsoft Corp. made the most requests.
Among the other content-removal requests from government highlighted by Google were these:
- "We received a request from the Government of Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology to remove six YouTube videos that satirized the Pakistan Army and senior politicians. We did not comply with this request."
- "We received four requests from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 149 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy in violation of Thailand's lese-majeste law. We restricted 70 per cent of these videos from view in Thailand in accordance with local law."
- "We received a request from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development to remove a search result that criticized the agency as well as eight more that linked to it. We did not comply with this request."
- "We received 14 requests from the Spanish Data Protection Authority to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and sites referencing individuals and public figures. The Spanish Data Protection Authority also ordered the removal of three blogs published on Blogger and three videos hosted on YouTube. We did not comply with these requests."
Google's 2009 report also highlighted another Canadian case: the company "received a request from a Canadian politician to remove a blog criticizing his policies. We declined to remove the blog because it did not violate our policies."
In releasing the report, Google said it chose to highlight certain government requests in order to "be helpful in discussions about the appropriate scope and authority of government requests."
In her statement, Chou added that: "We realize that the numbers we share can only provide a small window into what's happening on the Web at large. But we do hope that by being transparent about these government requests, we can continue to contribute to the public debate about how government behaviours are shaping our Web."
The company added that its "observations on content removal requests highlight some trends that we've seen in the data during each reporting period, and are by no means exhaustive."
With its latest release, Google stated that, "like other technology and communications companies," it "regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to remove content from our services."
Google acknowledged that governments "ask companies to remove content for many different reasons," noting that allegations of defamation, hate speech and child pornography sometimes trigger prompt compliance with a government request for content removal.
"Laws surrounding these issues vary by country, and the requests reflect the legal context of a given jurisdiction," the company said.
If it's still posted on YouTube, the video showing a Canadian man urinating on his passport couldn't immediately be located on Monday.
But the popular Internet portal for posting video footage does show a minute-long clip from a well-known incident in November 2000 in which the late Canadian environmental activist Tooker Gomberg burns his Canadian passport in Netherlands — a protest against the then-Liberal federal government's record on combating climate change.
Gomberg, a cycling advocate and former Edmonton city councillor who died in 2004, decried Canada in the 2000 video as "the worst" country attending an international environmental conference in The Hague.
"I've carried a passport all my adult life — proud of my country. Tonight, I'm ashamed," Gomberg shouted to a phalanx of television cameras before setting his Canadian passport on fire. "The Canadian delegation should go home, get on the next plane and get out of here. Because you're not helping the climate and you're not helping the planet."
Gomberg remained in the Netherlands following the passport burning and was arrested several months later, along with several other activists, in connection with a trespassing incident at a Dutch military site.
He was deported to Canada soon afterwards.
In a case highlighted by Google as good fodder for a debate about freedom of expression, the Canadian government asked the Internet search empire last year to block public access to a YouTube video showing a man urinating on his Canadian passport.But Google, judging the video an exercise in free speech, turned down the censorship request from Passport Canada, according to the U.S.-based company's latest "transparency report."
The report, the fifth to be issued since Google began the project in 2009, summarizes the company's responses to requests received from governments to remove links to web content alleged to be illegal, hateful, terrorism-promoting, or offensive.
The company said that between July and December 2011, it complied with 65 per cent of court orders to remove content — but with only 47 per cent of some 1,000 non-court requests from government agencies around the world; Google rejected 53 per cent of those, including the Passport Canada request.
"We received a request from the Passport Canada office to remove a YouTube video of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and flushing it down the toilet," stated the Google report, which disclosed details about the Canadian case as one of the highlights in its semi-annual summary for the last half of 2011, released Sunday. "We did not comply with this request."
The Canadian example was cited by Google, along with a handful of other requests from various countries — including Pakistan, Thailand and Poland — as representing a "troubling" pattern in which the search portal is being asked to suppress political speech.
"Unfortunately, what we've seen over the past couple years has been troubling, and today is no different," said senior Google policy analyst Dorothy Chou said in a statement. "We noticed that government agencies from different countries would sometimes ask us to remove political content that our users had posted on our services. We hoped this was an aberration. But now we know it's not."
Noting that the number of such requests from governments increased significantly in the latest six-month reporting period, Chou added: "It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect — Western democracies not typically associated with censorship."
For the first time in its latest report, Google also provided a summary of requests from corporations and reporting organizations regarding alleged copyright infringements. Computer software giant Microsoft Corp. made the most requests.
Among the other content-removal requests from government highlighted by Google were these:
- "We received a request from the Government of Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology to remove six YouTube videos that satirized the Pakistan Army and senior politicians. We did not comply with this request."
- "We received four requests from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 149 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy in violation of Thailand's lese-majeste law. We restricted 70 per cent of these videos from view in Thailand in accordance with local law."
- "We received a request from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development to remove a search result that criticized the agency as well as eight more that linked to it. We did not comply with this request."
- "We received 14 requests from the Spanish Data Protection Authority to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and sites referencing individuals and public figures. The Spanish Data Protection Authority also ordered the removal of three blogs published on Blogger and three videos hosted on YouTube. We did not comply with these requests."
Google's 2009 report also highlighted another Canadian case: the company "received a request from a Canadian politician to remove a blog criticizing his policies. We declined to remove the blog because it did not violate our policies."
In releasing the report, Google said it chose to highlight certain government requests in order to "be helpful in discussions about the appropriate scope and authority of government requests."
In her statement, Chou added that: "We realize that the numbers we share can only provide a small window into what's happening on the Web at large. But we do hope that by being transparent about these government requests, we can continue to contribute to the public debate about how government behaviours are shaping our Web."
The company added that its "observations on content removal requests highlight some trends that we've seen in the data during each reporting period, and are by no means exhaustive."
With its latest release, Google stated that, "like other technology and communications companies," it "regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to remove content from our services."
Google acknowledged that governments "ask companies to remove content for many different reasons," noting that allegations of defamation, hate speech and child pornography sometimes trigger prompt compliance with a government request for content removal.
"Laws surrounding these issues vary by country, and the requests reflect the legal context of a given jurisdiction," the company said.
If it's still posted on YouTube, the video showing a Canadian man urinating on his passport couldn't immediately be located on Monday.
But the popular Internet portal for posting video footage does show a minute-long clip from a well-known incident in November 2000 in which the late Canadian environmental activist Tooker Gomberg burns his Canadian passport in Netherlands — a protest against the then-Liberal federal government's record on combating climate change.
Gomberg, a cycling advocate and former Edmonton city councillor who died in 2004, decried Canada in the 2000 video as "the worst" country attending an international environmental conference in The Hague.
"I've carried a passport all my adult life — proud of my country. Tonight, I'm ashamed," Gomberg shouted to a phalanx of television cameras before setting his Canadian passport on fire. "The Canadian delegation should go home, get on the next plane and get out of here. Because you're not helping the climate and you're not helping the planet."
Gomberg remained in the Netherlands following the passport burning and was arrested several months later, along with several other activists, in connection with a trespassing incident at a Dutch military site.
He was deported to Canada soon afterwards.
