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Mormon University Lifts Three-Year YouTube Ban
Regardless of your spiritual or religious beliefs, it's impossible to contest that we live in the 21st Century, where we are constantly bombarded with information and multimedia. With that in mind, the conservative, morally minded Brigham Young University (BYU) Friday lifted a three-year ban on YouTube, the AP reports. The video-sharing network, according to university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins, has relevant educational applications and students are missing out.BYU, a Mormon school, requires that its students sign a moral code of conduct, pledging that they will stay committed to the ideals of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It also reserves the right to eliminate anything on campus that goes against the Church's tenets, including media that may feature 'unfit' or 'pornographic' imagery.
BYU, despite its strict standards and thorough porn- and inappropriate content-blocker, is actually a rather connected school. Students and groups are active on Twitter, and, in conjunction with the lifting of the YouTube ban, the university has launched its own Web site detailing proper Internet etiquette for the modern Mormon. Though it's a long time coming, enabling access to popular sites like YouTube, along with guidelines for appropriate use, is a great way to keep ethically concerned students safe from unwanted material. [From: AP/FOX News]
Banned Facebook Groups
Facebook is a great venue for humiliating oneself with ranting and raving, but, like most things, people can take things too far. Give someone a soapbox (or in this case, a Facebook group) and there are sure to be others crazy enough to follow them. Here are some examples of Facebook groups that crossed the line and were banned from the site.
Assasinate Evo Morales
Here's a good way to get your group banned -- call for the assassination of a political leader. Titled 'Global Collection to Hire a Sharpshooter to Liquidate Evo Morales' was taken down by Facebook since it bans threatening violence. No surprises here.
Getty Images
Surrey, BC Terrorist Group
A Facebook group supporting the International Sikh Youth Federation, a banned terrorist organization, was taken down by Canadian Police. Authorities were tipped off to the group because its page depicted a young person holding a prohibited gun, which was eventually traced back to 49-year old Bahadur Sandhur. Police seized it and two others when they investigated his home.
Dead Babies Group
Facebook took down a group called 'Dead Babies Make Me Laugh' after the UK Sun was flooded with outraged calls and emails. A running joke on campuses, the group included fake anecdotes about killing babies, but mothers weren't laughing even though the group was created and classified as being "just for fun."
I Need Sex Group
Laura Michaels of Bristol, England, created a Facebook group called 'I Need Sex.' According to the UK Sun, the group had more than 100 members after being up for only one hour. Michaels claims to have ended up sleeping with 50 of the group's members -- literally half of the group. Facebook opposes this type of personals-ad use, so the group was taken down.
KKK group
Facebook recently shut down a group called the 'Isle of Man KKK.' The group called for the elimination of newcomers from the UK island and featured a picture of a hooded Ku Klux Klan member. Thankfully, Facebook's terms of service prohibits content that is hateful or threatening.
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Comments
27
Subscribe to commentsmikeJun 29th 2009 7:02PM
Probably just found out that they can't block WIFI. Mormons....they should change the second M to an R.
clyde wardJun 29th 2009 8:52PM
High moral standards are refreshing-you don't need to take your clothes off or be vulgar to get a point across.
On the other hand, if you really have high moral standards, this "offensive" stuff shouldn't really bother you, should it? I mean, what are you afraid of? The level of temptation presented by Utube is really, pretty thin. The more repressed people are, the more they'll find innocuous things like Utube "tempting".
Moreover, Utube is a great source for all kinds of info.
For instance, if you want an idea of what insurgents really are, watch the vidoes they put out: that's their perveption of themselves, and you can read a lot of other stuff about them, between the lines-stuff you won't get any place else.
I also found several really good lectures on Chaos Theory, Thermodynamics and making vidoes on Utube, put out by some people who both knew their stuff and were good teachers, unlike most of my college profs.
Not to mention, all the people who post great, home made vidoes-creative, artful and well executed-and you'll never find it in a store.
Get off Utube's back, guys, and get on it. It's great. Yeah, there's some dumb stuff too, but hey-you can just surf away, right?
DustinJun 29th 2009 7:24PM
What is the point of having a block on a website like YouTube? A college like byu is basically saying go against the church you dont get the education your payng for. how is that right? ya christians may be ok with it but thats the problem w them they dont allow other ideas than those of the church. Christians become open minded. . . and help yourself.
BELLCORDJun 29th 2009 7:39PM
...................MEH!......................
rohrscheibcrohJun 29th 2009 7:39PM
sorry about the missing letter an corrections here morons not moons
Lawrence PhoenixJun 29th 2009 7:44PM
FORTUNATELY ACCESS TO 'WOMEN IN CHAINS TUBE, S&MTUBE AND FETISHTUBE REMAINS UNFETTERED IN THE DEAN'S OFFICE.......
granitelocalJun 29th 2009 8:39PM
I can't help but believe that a major reason for the Cult's reversal on its prohibition of YouTube at BYU is to unleash 30,000 Morgbots (Mormon cult robots) on the website. The Cult is getting slammed by videos and comments on the site and who else would be better to unleash on the public than returned missionaries and uninformed, indoctrinated, technophile cultists with plenty of time and a fascination for the web and computers? Their rebuttals are comical and uninformed, but they would inundate the nonbelievers with their cultist views and typical Mormon indignation.