British MPs Seek Improved Vetting of Video Websites

LONDON, July 31: A group
of MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport committee wants video sites like YouTube
to do a better job of protecting young visitors from inappropriate content.

Citing an incident earlier
this year, when video of an alleged gang rape was uploaded to YouTube and
viewed a reported 600 times before being removed, the committee noted that
without proper protections, pornography and images of violence can easily be
seen by young web surfers.

"To plead that the
volume of traffic prevents screening of content is clearly not correct,"
the report says. "Providers such as MySpace have not been deterred from
reviewing material posted on their sites. Pro-active review of contents should
be standard practice for sites hosting user-generated content."

The committee is calling
for better self-regulation in the Internet content market. Committee Chairman
John Whittingdale said: "The Internet…is overwhelmingly a force for
good. However, there is a dark side and many parents are rightly anxious about
the dangers to their children."

According to published
reports, YouTube responded to the report, noting that most material flagged as
inappropriate is reviewed within an hour. "Given the volume of content
uploaded on our site, we think this is by far the most effective way to make
sure that the tiny minority of videos that break the rules come down
quickly."

—By Mansha Daswani