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Travis, Hannibal --- "YouTube from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: Tyrannize Locally, Censor Globally" [2012] ELECD 691; in Pager, A. Sean; Candeub, Adam (eds), "Transnational Culture in the Internet Age" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Transnational Culture in the Internet Age

Editor(s): Pager, A. Sean; Candeub, Adam

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857931337

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: YouTube from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: Tyrannize Locally, Censor Globally

Author(s): Travis, Hannibal

Number of pages: 31

Extract:

4. YouTube from Afghanistan to
Zimbabwe: tyrannize locally, censor
globally
Hannibal Travis

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter attempts to map global patterns by which local tyrannies
become sources of potentially global infringements on freedom of expres-
sion, particularly but not exclusively on the YouTube website. It illustrates
certain parallels between the efforts to force copyright filters on YouTube
and the Web in the West, and to harden the Great Firewalls of China,
Arabia, and Persia in the East.


4.2 YOUTUBE AS SUPERNODE OF GLOBAL
ONLINE FREEDOM

YouTube has transformed the nature and quality of the flow of informa-
tion across the globe.1 No longer is a subscription to CNN or Al Jazeera
required to keep up to date on foreign elections, wars, or singing competi-
tions. Incredibly varied videos and stories are available on YouTube, from


1 See, e.g. Jim Macnamara, The 21st Century Media (R)Evolution:

Emergent Communication Practices 163 (2010); Craig Allen Smith,
Presidential Campaign Communication: The Quest for the White
House 164 (2010); Ryan Lizza, The YouTube Election, N.Y. Times, Aug
20, 2006, at pg. 1 www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/weekinreview/20lizza.html;
Jessica Ramirez, The Big Picture, The Daily Beast, Nov 10, 2008, www.
thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/11/09/the-big-picture.html; Ian Ward,
Labor's Pitch to Generation YouTube, 27 Soc. Alternatives 11 (2010);
Lindsay Zimmerman, 2008 US Presidential Election: Persuasive YouTube
Interactions About War, Health Care, and the Economy, Georgia State
University Digital Archive (2009), http:// ...