The recent revelation that YouTube.com has given a platform to do-it-yourself bomb makers to show how to construct pipe bombs and remote-control car explosives has raised questions among Internet ethics experts whether restricting the site’s user-generated content is a violation of civil liberties.
Mohamed Ahmed, a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of South Florida, was arrested last week after uploading a video of himself detailing instructions for creating a bomb detonator from a remote-control toy, according to media reports. Later that week, a Massachusetts boy suffered second-degree burns when he attempted to mix potassium nitrate and sugar in an aluminium pan on his stove after viewing a how-to video on creating smoke bombs on YouTube, the Associated Press reported.
“YouTube is a private company,” said Electronic Frontier Foundation spokeswoman Rebecca Jeschke. “They have the right to decide [what is inappropriate].”
Still, the website’s community guidelines outline several types of content defined as inappropriate, including bomb-making, animal abuse and any video “showing dangerous or illegal acts.”
Though searching “how to make a smoke bomb” on the site immediately yields pages of related results, YouTube has been adamant about removing videos that violate copyright infringement laws.
One of the few controls on the Internet, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act extends copyright infringement enforcement to the web. One part of the act allows DMCA to send takedown notices to companies suspected of hosting copyrighted content, which has been criticized on websites like Anti-DMCA.org.
“Because [online-service providers] have such a strong incentive to simply comply with takedown notices, courts get fewer chances to decide the underlying copyright questions,” said Electronic Frontier Foundation senior intellectual property attorney Fred von Lohmann. “Things stay murky.”
YouTube has received DMCA-compliant takedown notices from companies like Viacom, which ordered the removal of more than 200,000 videos and recently sued the website, Viacom owner Sumner Redstone said in a speech to Boston University Law students last month.
“There is no question that YouTube and Google are continuing to take the fruit of our efforts without permission and destroying enormous value in the process,” Redstone said.
According to YouTube’s and Google’s community guidelines, the companies say they make every effort to comply with copyright law.
“Please take these rules seriously and take them to heart,” the YouTube page reads.
Some BU students say any regulation would be an infringement on users’ right to free speech.
“I think it’s a great thing,” said College of Communication sophomore Della Stuart. “People should be allowed to publish what they want without government interference.”
YouTube did not return several requests for comment.
