My sentiments toward Facebook were never very strong (I even scheduled permanent erasing of the page associated to my blog). However there is no denying that it is a source of info for many people. But also a source of grief.
Some of you might remember La Gringa in Honduras, a US resident there that holds a blog which was courageously supporting the guys that ousted Zelaya, and who now is criticizing the violence in Honduras and the drug trafficking (something that the guys in charge do not seem that concerned with as they are more interested in getting back on the summitry circuit). In other words she is doing her conscientious blogger job, telling it as she sees it, may her chips fall wherever they please. Well, it seems that some people are already trying to shut her up and managed to have Facebook shut her page because she does not want to reveal her identity to them, even if that woudl put her at risk. Bloggers and twitterers have found death in Northern Mexico and that thing is creeping down south, maybe reaching Venezuela any time soon.
I must thus plead with you to sign this petition that is addressed to Facebook so they are not these ass-holes that they seem to become more and more. Bloggers and their readers UNITE!. Note: La Gringa assures me that she is not even the one who started that petition but one of her readers.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
8 comments:
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I am sure most people in Venezuela have no clue as to what Chavez was trying to do in Honduras with Zelaya. (I actually heard of you via La Gringa-you did an interview with her..)I was involved on behalf of the Honduran people.Mr. Micheletti is a hero.Had relatives, have friends in Honduras. US Secretary of State, Ambassador-got all messed up there. They were wrong.Still are.
ReplyDeleteDo you know Ulf Erlingsson?
Anyway, I will always support
La Gringa-all the best wishes to her and for all of her hard work
for truth.
According to the film, the owner of Facebook is himself an *ssh*le.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate, however facebook does not allow pseudonyms, and companies reserve the right to establish their own policies just as bloggers do.I don't think it makes them evil...
ReplyDeleteGoogle + however will be supporting pseudonyms.
If it were me, even if I had a good reason to ban pseudonyms I would make exceptions in important cases.I despise rules and laws that are blind.
Good luck to this brave lady!
This is a problem even in the US. If your a working journalist using your real name requires you to maintain the same editorial standards and policies that your employer uses.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is more conserned about sextual predators than anything else. BTW I sure miss Katey at CC!
To make this clearer here is a page from the Reuters Handbook http://handbook.reuters.com/index.php/Reporting_from_the_internet
ReplyDeleteOther pages have great info too.
I have family members who will not talk on the phone with me,several years ago-hung up the phone and told me not to mentionChavez's name again-for example. And,Ihave no blog, no large business, not famous..They are paranoid, but, sometimes I think-maybe "they ARE listening".I do not want to endanger my family and when I was younger I did not fear for myself.
ReplyDeleteA society dragged into this strange
violent period with a nutleader who nobody knows what he will dream up next-everyone and everything is in danger.
Chavez has talked about war and violence more than anyone-he even stated over and over-he is fatalistic..
Thanks for posting this, Daniel. When I signed up for Facebook in 2007, I did it on a whim, just because you can't see what it is all about without registering. Like most of us do when signing up on websites, I'll admit that I didn't read the terms of service. Guilty as charged. I used my pseudonym that I use on all of my online activities. Even my close friends know me as "La Gringa".
ReplyDeleteBut I think that the real point is that I had a FB accountvand very actively used it to disseminate info for more than four years! I didn't spam, abuse, troll, or use vulgar language, and I accumulated 1,200 "friends" who wanted to know more about Honduras.
It was only when I posted three articles about crime and narcotrafficking in Honduras, that apparently ONE person flagged my account and it was immediately disabled without question or notification, despite my long history and active use of FB. Later I received a notification of FB's objection to my "fake name" with a request for a goverment issued photo ID.
Links to my blog were blocked by FB during the Zelaya fiasco in 2009 and 2010 as well, in the same manner. Someone didn't like the info I was reporting, so it's a cinch to get someone censored on FB -- and ironically, though my blog links had been flagged as "abusive or spam", FB seemed to have no problem with my name at that time. I couldn't even post an ice cream recipe posted on my blog! Eventually FB began allowing the links again.
It's just way too easy to silence someone on Facebook if you don't like what they are reporting.
I won't be sending Facebook or Google+ a government photo ID as requested! I value my head too much for that.
La Gringa
ReplyDeleteAnd yet facebook has less qualms to support stuff in the Middle East. Go figure.......