Google bans "graphic nudity" from hosted blogs, will decide if your art is porn (UPDATE: decision reversed)

Rob Beschizza 6:48 am Tue Feb 24, 2015

Google is to ban pornography and "graphic nudity" at Blogger, the publishing platform that used to host Boing Boing before we got our own servers.

Google said those Blogger sites that continue to host pornography after March 23 will be made "private." That means the content will be allowed to remain up, but it will only be accessible to the site's owner and the people who the user directly shared the blog with.

Google noted that it isn't completely banning nudity from being shown publicly on Blogger. The site will allow nudity "if the content offers a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts." But it also puts Google in the position of deciding what is art and what is pornography — a decision that Instagram and other sites have struggled with.

It's not news to say that the internet has mostly disappeared into serious culture's well-stretched arsehole, but it's always useful to remember that the googly eye now peering out from it is Eric Schmidt's.

Adult content policy on Blogger

[Blogger]

UPDATE, FEB. 27: "The Web giant on Friday announced that it has changed its mind and will not crack down on adult content on its blogging platform, after all," reports PC Mag.

Venture capitalists launch Future, an "optimistic" tech site

Future is a new online magazine from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz offering "optimistic" coverage of tech to counter everyone else's growing discomfort with it. Here's Sonal Chokshi, Editor in Chief: We are pro-tech, pro-future, pro-change. But we are also "informed optimists", not freewheeling futurists making predictions without any skin in the game. So even… READ THE REST
Crooks collared for using FBI's fake encrypted messaging platform learn the dangers of proprietary software

For years, people involved in organized crime have been using ANOM, a messaging platform boasting total secrecy for whatever you might be doing with it. Unfortunately for them, ANOM was created by the FBI, and 800 of them just got collared. Drugs, weapons, luxury vehicles and cash were also seized in the operation, which was… READ THE REST
Staring at our own faces on Zoom has created a bumper year for cosmetic surgeons

The pandemic resulted in many of having to look at our own faces for hours in teleconferencing meetings, and the resulting dissatisfaction is sending us in droves to cosmetic surgeons. Many cosmetic surgeons had expected the pandemic to hammer business. Instead the industry is enjoying a Zoom-boom. The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive… READ THE REST
Get a Sam's Club membership for only $20 this weekend only

You may not have heard about it, but earlier this month, America took another important step toward restoring life to normalcy in our post-COVID world: Sam's Club announced samples were back. Look, it might not seem like a huge milestone, but nobody can deny that noshing on a bite of a new cold cut variety… READ THE REST
17 apps, software, streaming services, and more on sale for this weekend only

For all their everything-ness, there are still some areas where even the great and powerful Amazon isn't all that. Sure, you can find just about any physical item being sold in the depths of Amazon product pages somewhere, but when it comes to software and apps, well, that's an area where the eCommerce giant mostly steers… READ THE REST
Amazon can't beat the prices on these killer portable monitors

There's only so much squinting you can do at a tiny smartphone screen before you start wondering why we ever thought it was a good idea to build devices so small in the first place. Sure, portability is a plus, but when you're trying to watch videos on your phone, that itty-bitty baby screen won't… READ THE REST