# Country restrictions at YouTube



## Louigi Verona (Nov 19, 2008)

It seemed like a normal day, but when I followed the link which my USA friend sent me, I saw that the world had slightly changed - instead of the usual YouTube page, a pink strip with succinct text informed me that "this video is unavailable in your country". I sat there for a while, staring at it, not believing my eyes for a few seconds.

Huh?

Now, I was not stunned by the fact that I was blocked from watching this exact video - the YouTube block can quite easily be worked around. What struck me was the fact of its existence - that someone somewhere allowed himself to decide what several million people can and cannot watch.

More than that, when you see what videos were blocked, you understand that those are ordinary, normal videos. There is absolutely nothing in them that people of my or other countries shouldn't see and there seems to be no reason to block them. No reason but the desire to rub it in to every person using the Internet that it is not he who is making decisions. From now on someone's rough hand will hide one information and throw the other into our faces. Start getting used to the new order, people!

And actually, this is how it happens - by a series of these small humiliations, because humiliation is what you experience when you see "the video is unavailable in your country". Essentially what it says is: "you are not good enough to watch it".

But the most dangerous part is that people may start to get used to it and eventually consider it a norm - existing within their small rooms of allowed information and silently obeying what they are told by the invisible power. Look at the western world - mega corporations are winning there, having knocked into everybody's head that copying files is illegal. Try to even mention the word "mp3" on American forums - it scares the hell out of people.

Yet no matter how hard you press the plug, water will sooner or later burst out and just like sharing ideas cannot be forbidden, nor can the freedom to choose what to read, listen and watch. And how soon the water shoots up really depends on us, on each and every person.

I am against YouTube country restrictions. Are you?


----------



## marval (Oct 29, 2007)

Hi

I can't understand why there should be restictions. As you say it is not unsuitable material, because if it was it should not be viewed by anyone. Why some videos should be banned in different countries is a puzzle. I certainly don't think there should country restrictions, perhaps somebody could explain why.


Margaret


----------

