New York Times blocks UK visitors to terrorism article
The New York Times’ Web site is blocking British readers from a news article detailing the investigation into the recent airline terror plot, turning its Internet ad-targeting technology into a means of complying with U.K. laws.
- Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer via Newsvine.com
So here we finally have it. The proof that those “personalised, geo-targeted”-ads are but a slippery slope to internet facism. There never was a doubt in my mind.
This is but a sign of the Internet’s oncoming deglobalization. The United States losing control of it was but the first step (as unlikely as that sounds). The website is based in America, it’s servers probably are too. Then why should British law be applicable to them? Does this also mean that a British person visiting America couldn’t buy the paper this article was printed in? Of course not. But it’s the same thing as a British person visting an American website, with the exception that it’s easier and cheaper.
Now the article mentions some other examples of sites blocking content to foreign visitors:
For example, the British Broadcasting Corp. has been testing online access to landmark television reports of major world events from the past half-century. But it said it cannot make the video available for free outside of Britain because it is funded through an annual levy on British TV owners.
The BBC and other organizations also have blocked audio and video of Olympics competition because they bought licenses only for specific geographic regions.
Yet somehow these don’t even remotely feel the same as the New York Times’ actions. These both were business deals and those have a precedent for excluding certain people. But denying people information just because of a law in a different country?
Bullshit.