16 March 2006
After Rupert Murdoch acuqired MySpace, those using the portal encountered some severe censorship: for instance, articles criticizing Murdoch are alleged to have been removed, certain links are alleged to be impossible to even enter on the site. While I can not testify to the truthfullness of the former charge, I can indeed testify to the validity of the latter.
See the text below for more.
Here's what Paul Joseph Watson and Alex Jones of Prison Planet.com had to say about a popular blog and exchange site
MySpace:
Since Rupert Murdoch's $580 Million acquisition of MySpace in July 2005, it has come from total obscurity to now being the 8th most visited website in the world, receiving half as many page hits as Google, despite the fact that on first appearance it looks like a 5-year-old's picture scrap and scribble book.
MySpace is the new mobile phone. If you don't have a MySpace account then you belong to some kind of culturally shunned underclass.
What most of the trendy wendy's remain blissfully unaware of is the fact that MySpace is Rupert Murdoch's battle axe for shaping a future Internet environment whereby electronic dissent, whether it be against corporations or government, will not tolerated and freedom of e-speech will cease to exist.
MySpace has been caught shutting down blogs critical of itself and other Murdoch owned companies. They even had the audacity to censor links to completely different websites when clicking through for MySpace. When 600 MySpace users complained, MySpace deleted the blog forum that the complaints were posted on. Taking their inspiration from Communist China, MySpace regularly uses blanket censorship to block out words like 'God'.
Earlier this week Rupert Murdoch sounded the death knell for conventional forms of media in stating that the media elite were losing their monopoly to the rapid and free spread of new communication technologies. Murdoch stressed the need to regain control of these outlets in order to prevent the establishment media empire from crumbling.
MySpace Is The Trojan Horse Of Internet Censorship, March 16, 2006
It would certainly make complete sense for Mr Murdoch aware that his influence in the media is slated to dwindle to try and set up his own hub of sorts for users who can then be channeled to other Interenet services of his choosing. And in this context it would seem the best way to deal with criticism is by silencing the critics.
But Watson and Jones go a bit further and suggest that his actions here are just a part of a bigger effort to suppress the freedom of Internet expression:
MySpace is Rupert Murdoch's trojan horse for destroying free speech on the Internet. It is a foundational keystone of the first wave of the state's backlash to the damage that a free and open Internet has done to their organs of propaganda. By firstly making it cool, trendy and culturally elite for millions to flock to establishment controlled Internet backbones like MySpace, Murdoch is preparing the groundwork for the day when it will stop being voluntary and become mandatory to use government and corporate monopoly controlled Internet hubs.
The end game is a system similar to or worse than China, whereby no websites even mildly critical of the government will be authorized.
...
Rupert Murdoch's MySpace and its ceaseless promotion by the establishment media as the best thing since sliced bread is part of this movement. In saying all this we do encourage everyone to set up a MySpace account, but only if you're going to use it to bash MySpace, Rupert Murdoch and copy and paste this article right at the top of the page! See how long it is before your account is terminated.
While what they have to say about MySpace is quite disturbing in its own right their dire predictions for the future seem to mostly be speculation. It is, however, a realistic possibility, a scenario that is not to be taken lightly, especially given the experience of the last several years here in the US.
Be that as it may I just opened a MySpace account and conducted the test suggested above. Strangely enough, I was not able to even insert the link to the original Prison Planet.com publication. Stay tuned for results and if you notice that the link to my post on MySpace is not working please inform me.