NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Web Attempts to Delete History in Wake of Holocaust Memorial Attack
Web Attempts to Delete History in Wake of Holocaust Memorial Attack
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000584.html
Greetings. The Washington Post is reporting that in the wake of the
horrific attack and murder at the Washington D.C. Holocaust Memorial
Museum earlier this week, Web sites around the Net have been
attempting to "rewrite history" by removing materials related to the
shooter, and other associated pages. Reportedly included in this
category of "Web revisionists" is Wikipedia ( http://bit.ly/Cm33i ).
It's impossible not to draw immediate comparisons with Orwell's
"1984" -- where history was routinely deleted and modified to fit
the sensibilities of the current day.
But the real takeaway point from the article is that the original
materials continue to be available through any number of archival
points, so any attempts to remove them merely draw attention to the
retroactive self-censorship, and don't seriously impact the
availability of the materials themselves. In fact, the deletions may
serve only to draw more attention to those materials in their
alternate locations.
While it's understandable that some sites may feel embarrassed by
various of the related writings and wish to somehow "purge"
themselves, the reality is, as I've said many times before, that it's
impossible to effectively censor the Internet, and that trying to
remove access to materials that have ever received public attention is
a fool's errand.
Interestingly, it appears that even some of the most well known sites
on the Internet still haven't learned these basic facts.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein