Posted on 05/22/2009 9:40:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The video-sharing site YouTube was loaded up with pornographic videos disguised as regular clips, many with kid-friendly tags like "Jonas Brothers," as part of an attack this week dubbed "Operation Porn Day."
Some explicit thumbnails were still expected to be visible on the site Friday, two days after the mass upload of pornographic videos by those who claimed responsibility for the attack, users of the 4chan website, a range of media outlets reported. The 4chan site is a popular online forum for sharing images, mainly manga, but also pornography.
The explicit videos uploaded to YouTube were typically disguised with about half a minute of non-pornographic content at the beginning.
Google-owned YouTube issued a statement Thursday saying it was aware of the issue and removed the videos as they were brought to its attention through its flagging system, "as we would any videos that violate our community guidelines.
"In addition, any account we discovered that was set up specifically to attack YouTube was also disabled."
According to YouTube's community guidelines page, videos flagged as inappropriate are not automatically taken down, but reviewed to determine whether they violate the site's terms of use.
Violations include contravening community guidelines that ban content such as pornography, graphic violence and copyrighted material.
Google spokesman Scott Rubin told the technology news website Ars Technica that the deleted videos were no longer viewable, but it could take a couple of days for video search results and thumbnail images to disappear from the site.
The Porn Day attack took place the same day YouTube announced on its official Canadian blog that 20 hours of video are now uploaded to YouTube every minute, up from six hours in mid-2007.
The 4chan site, started in 2003, has received media attention in the past for being the alleged birthplace of other internet phenomena, including pranks such as "Rickrolling." The 2008 prank involved posting links that appeared to direct the user to certain other websites, but actually brought up a music video of 1980s pop star Rick Astley.
The internet is a powerfull tool, and as Spidermans uncle noted, “With power comes responsibility”.
I do not know if Stan Lee came up with the slogan, reguardless, it is fitting and accurate.
Parents (Grand as well), aunties, uncles, FRiends, please educate and or monitor your kids.
There is too much trash out there to not care.
Why didn’t somebody TELL me?!
Anyone who posts porn disguised a normal videos should be vigorously prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Why didn't they have this when I was a kid?
Is he a one hit wonder, or has he done anything else?
They would use keywords in their meta tags like disney, pokemon, nintendo, etc.
I went to my kids school district administration office and explained what a danger the internet was to kids without filters. I had 5 administrators that laughed in my face and told me that I didn't trust the judgment of their staff and students, let alone my own child. A week later their band teacher was caught looking at porn on his school computer.
“Anyone who posts porn disguised a normal videos should be vigorously prosecuted to the full extent of the law”
What law(s) are they breaking?
LOL
Folks, nobody is making your children watch YouTube. If you let your child use the Internet unsupervised, it is your fault if they see inappropriate material. My kid doesn’t go online unless I’m physically in the room.
Rick Astley actually had several other Top 40 hits, including another #1 hit in the U.S. (”Together Forever”, Billboard #1 for the week of 18 June 1988).
How’d I guess it was 4chan
Offensive behaviour disguised as a prank.
I have been Rickrolled, and found it goofy the first time, and irritating about the third time.
If I went to a youtube video to see the Pope’s Angelus, or some guy bumpfiring a Saiga 12, and I got porn instead, I would be a bit more upset than if I had just been rickrolled. I’d be Holy Water/Gasoline eye wash upset.
Oh, and I’m sure they gave you a very nice apology.
No, unless you count having to suffer through his songs when they originally came out.
Oh, he had other hits. I would have paid money for him not to...
I'm sorry, but I had to turn my head away and walk so I wouldn't laugh...
Is it true that this was also the group that first posted messages from Sarah Palin's hacked e-mail account?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.