PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities say actor Jason London has been arrested on suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct after an Arizona bar fight.
Scottsdale police say London allegedly sneezed on a man who then asked him to apologize, but London refused and instead hit the man in the face.
The Arizona Republic (http://bit.ly/VoULau ) says the two men were escorted out of the bar, but London began pushing and cursing at firefighters trying to treat him and appeared extremely drunk. He was arrested early Monday.
London's Twitter account says "some guy thought I was hitting on his girl" and that several large bouncers beat him, breaking bones in his face. London added, "the truth will win" and "I hate Arizona."
London is best known for the 1993 movie "Dazed and Confused."
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Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com
Coach Jim Harbaugh arranged his 49ers for a Super Bowl photo at the Super Dome.
NEW ORLEANS — It has become a staple of Super Bowl week, as much a part of the pregame to the N.F.L.’s biggest event as the annual media day: a discussion of how football is being affected by head injuries and the mounting evidence that long-term brain damage can be linked to injuries sustained on the field.
Years ago, players rarely spoke about the issue and league officials dismissed suggestions that on-field injuries could lead to life-altering health problems. Now, however, the league is facing lawsuits from thousands of former players, rules are being instituted in an attempt to diminish injuries on the field and even President Obama has said that the way football is played will have to change. This week, Bernard Pollard, a hard-hitting safety for the Baltimore Ravens, created a stir by saying that the N.F.L. would not exist in 30 years because of the rules changes designed with safety in mind, but that he also believed there would be a death on the field at some point.
At media day Tuesday, players reacted to the comments made by Pollard and Obama, with some agreeing with Pollard that recent rules changes would change the sport to such an extent that it would be less entertaining and lead to a loss of popularity. Pollard stood by his comments. He added, however, that while he was comfortable with the physical risk he was taking by playing football, he was not sure he would want future generations, including his 4-year-old son, to follow his example.
“My whole stance right now is that I don’t want him to play football,” Pollard said. “Football has been good to me. It has been my outlet. God has blessed me with a tremendous talent to be able to play this game. But we want our kids to have things better than us.”
He said he did not want his son to go through the aches and pains caused by the physicality of the game.
“You keep playing football, you’re going to have your injuries, no one is exempt from that,” he said. “You’re going to have concussions. You’re going to have broken bones. That’s going to happen. But I think for the most part, we know what we signed up for.”
The sentiment was echoed by Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco. “I play the game and I understand that I’m going to get hit,” Flacco said. “Just because they fine the guys is not going to stop them from hitting me. I find it tough to fine people who are doing their job.”
In a recent interview with The New Republic, Obama expressed concern about on-field injuries, though he added that N.F.L. players were grown men who are “well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies.”
The president added: “I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence. In some cases, that may make it a little bit less exciting, but it will be a whole lot better for the players, and those of us who are fans maybe won’t have to examine our consciences quite as much.”
While many current players seem focused on rules changes and how they will affect the nature of the game, more than 4,000 former N.F.L. players have filed a lawsuit against the league, contending that it knew hits to the head could lead to long-term brain damage but did not share that information with players. The judge in the case said Tuesday that she would hear oral arguments April 9 regarding the league’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The family of Junior Seau, a former star linebacker who shot and killed himself last year, has also sued the N.F.L., claiming it failed to inform players about the risks of brain injury.
Pollard’s counterparts on the San Francisco 49ers, safeties Dashon Goldson and Donte Whitner, considered one of the hardest-hitting tandems in the N.F.L., thought the key was not removing big hits, but making sure the hits that are delivered are legal.
“You can be vicious and you can hit people hard, but do it the right way,” Whitner said. “For the most part, you know what you can and cannot do. Do you want to go out there and do the right things or do you want to make that big hit to gain a big name? That’s what it comes down to.”
Ravens guard Marshal Yanda said he thought the topic was so personal for Pollard because of the unique nature of being a hard-hitting defensive back, one of the positions most affected by the league’s attempts to increase player safety.
“I think Bernard is frustrated because he plays a tough position where it’s a bang-bang play and he’s getting fined,” Yanda said. “That’s a tough deal as far as him playing football his whole life knowing how to play one way and then all of a sudden you have to change.”
One of the few people to disagree entirely with Pollard’s view that skewing the rules to protect offensive players would harm the league was Warren Sapp, a retired defensive tackle who at one point went by the Twitter handle @QBKilla. He said a desire for points would always result in defenses being limited.
“They like points,” Sapp said. “I like it too. You’re going to have to make some key stops here and there but it’s an offensive game, no doubt about it.”
Amazon.com Inc. saw big sales during the holiday season, reporting Tuesday that fourth-quarter revenue rose 22% to $21.27 billion from a year earlier.
But the Internet retail giant's sales and earnings missed Wall Street's estimates. Profit for the three months that ended Dec. 31 declined 45% to $97 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $177 million, or 38 cents, in the same quarter of 2011.
Analysts had expected the e-commerce company to post revenue of $22.26 billion and earnings of 27 cents a share.
Nonetheless, Amazon's stock surged in after-hours trading, rising more than 9% on signs the company's operating margins were improving. During regular trading before earnings were released, shares closed down $15.69, or 5.7%, at $260.35.
Operating income was a highlight of the company's quarterly results, increasing 56% to $405 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $260 million a year earlier.
For the current quarter, Amazon expects sales of $15 billion to $16.6 billion, a 14% to 26% growth from the first quarter of 2012.
It was a good Christmas for Amazon's Kindle family. The company said that for the second year in a row, its tablet was the most popular item for customers, with the Kindle Fire HD the "No. 1 bestselling, most gifted and most wished-for product" across the company's merchandise lineup.
"At year-end, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle held the top four spots on the Amazon worldwide bestseller charts since launch," the company said.
As is typical for Amazon, it did not break out sales figures for its tablets and e-readers.
Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon, said the company had seen huge growth in its electronic book business as consumers shift to digital texts.
"We're now seeing the transition we've been expecting," he said in a statement. "After five years, eBooks is a multibillion-dollar category for us and growing fast — up approximately 70% last year. In contrast, our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5%. We're excited and very grateful to our customers for their response to Kindle."
Amazon also said its digital media selection grew to more 23 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, books, audio books, apps and games in 2012, an increase from 19 million at the end of 2011.
During his nearly 40 years as a columnist for this newspaper, my late father occasionally tweaked his readers — quite disingenuously — by belittling his cat, knowing the slur would stir invective so passionate and erudite that he could fill another column without having to do much writing of his own.
I had no intention of employing that device when I recently wrote — quite sincerely — in defense of motorcyclists who navigate the space between cars to get ahead on crowded freeways.
To be sure, I knew some motorists would object out of fear of hitting a rider, or annoyed by the intrusion on their space. I was prepared to shrug them off because, I thought, my opinion was based on logic, experience and the law.
How fragile is the hard shell of reason! Among the emails that flooded my inbox, those that left me most humbled were from motorists who mostly agreed with me. But they were hurt by my admonishment that they should not move slightly out of my way.
Specifically, I wrote: "If you want to show solidarity, just hold your course and be sure you're a little in front or a little behind the car beside you."
Joe Edward of Beverly Hills was insulted. "Moving over, even briefly, gives you more room and I, maybe mistakenly, thought it shows courtesy," he wrote. "I thought it was the olive branch between those on four and two wheels, and is confirmed when I get the two-fingered 'thank you' wag from cyclists. When that happens, just for a moment, LA freeways are a nicer place and, yes, to the late Rodney King, we can all just get along.... But now you say NOT to move over? Ok. Forget the olive branch. Forget wanting to get along. It's on!"
I certainly never intended to turn plowshares into swords. And I'd like to think that if Joe knew me personally he'd see I'm not like the name he called me at the end of his email.
But I do apologize. I was myopic when I wrote, "Hold your course." The comment was aimed at drivers who turn their wheels sharply when surprised by a motorcycle. I appreciate drivers who ease slightly left or right, giving me the room to slide by comfortably, but more important letting me know they too are attuned to their surroundings.
And yes, I always give them the wave and momentarily feel better about humanity.
As you may have noticed, motorcyclists also give each other the two-finger salute when passing, a mutual acknowledgment of our membership in a minority that embraces the fun and physics of vehicular transportation along with its practical benefits.
The wave is also a silent bond between boomers like me and gen-whatevers who wear red mohawks on their helmets and wouldn't notice me under any other circumstances.
My aggressiveness in standing up for our somewhat outcast status surprised and pleased many fellow riders.
"Doug! You are the bomb!!!" wrote Arlene Battishill, who produces a line of head-turning women's motorcycle apparel and rides a Kawasaki. "I nearly screamed out loud.... Man oh man, I could just kiss you right now!"
Yes, we can be an exuberant bunch, inebriate of air, as Emily Dickinson so nicely put it. I can't deny that a few respondents castigated me for being irrational and self-aggrandizing, predicted my untimely demise or, worse, implied that such might be the due reward for my impudence.
I think my cat-baiting father would have gotten a sly smile from the reaction of an anonymous trucker who asked, "Ever heard of a CB?
"I know when one of you guys is coming for miles," he wrote, warning that outside my state I could become "road pizza" for riding like a Californian. He claimed to have seen semis "run bikes off in the grass more then once."
To my surprise, though, the critiques that hit home were also from fellow motorcyclists.
Some noted the bad behavior of "squids," those hyper riders who weave back and forth on screaming "crotch rockets." No wonder the "cagers," those dull people imprisoned in their cars, are up in arms.
David Lasher, who makes a continuous video of his commute from Northridge to Santa Monica, sent me a clip of his own crash when a car veered into his lane seemingly in contradiction of my assertion that a motorist cannot swerve fast enough to hit me as I pass by.
Lasher followed the cowboy mantra and got right back on a replacement Suzuki. Another, John Greenwood, told me of his "deal with God" never to ride again after one bad day ended 20 great years of riding.
By carefully parsing these scary stories, I can show that none directly refute the thesis that motorcycles are safer between lanes than in them, assuming a few guidelines are followed. Lasher, for example, conceded that he shouldn't have been lane-splitting in the HOV transition zone. Some materials I got from motorcycle safety experts convinced me further.
But instead of lining up the reaction as pro versus con, I think the collective lesson I've drawn from 100 emails is that Angelenos are up for a reasoned conversation about bettering the quality of life on L.A.'s freeways, the one place that draws us all together, whether we like it or not.
Sandy Driscoll epitomized this conciliatory effect, writing to me about an encounter on Pico Boulevard.
"A motorcyclist very quickly passed me on the left (lane splitting) gave a quick (and I must say, graceful) arm signal, and moved in front of me," she wrote. "Just as quickly, I saw him move in and out of traffic ahead of me, always with an arm signal. It was like an amazing ballet, and I was mesmerized. Thanks for your article."
"Motorcycling is not for me, but I hope you keep spreading the word about its benefits," wrote Dan Brooks of Santa Barbara. "In the meantime, I'll try to heed your driving advice and will offer a respectful salute rather than a New York salute."
Reading numerous such comments I've done some self-searching about my own behavior on the road.
As a result, I find I've become a more conservative, patient and polite rider in the last couple weeks.
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OTTAWA – One of the cardinal rules of social media: no one cares what you had for lunch. Unless, perhaps, you’re the prime minister.
The people behind Stephen Harper‘s Twitter account are using the first day of Parliament’s winter sitting to provide an intimate look at how the prime minister spends his day.
The posts include a video of Harper’s ride to work, photos of breakfast with his cat Stanley and a lunch that included fruit and a Diet Coke at his desk.
The behind-the-scenes look is the latest move by Harper’s team to bolster his presence on social media platforms.
Digital public affairs analyst Mark Blevis says it’s likely an effort to rebrand Harper in the lead-up to the next election, where he’ll face off against politicians far more adept online.
Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rupert Sanders' wife has filed for divorce five months after it was revealed the director had a brief affair with actress Kristen Stewart.
Liberty Ross, Sanders' wife of more than nine years, filed for divorce Friday in Los Angeles citing irreconcilable differences.
Ross' filing cites irreconcilable differences for the couple's breakup. They have two children, an 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.
The model-actress is seeking joint custody of the children and spousal support from her estranged husband, who directed Stewart in "Snow White and the Huntsman."
TMZ, which first reported the filing, stated that Sanders also filed divorce paperwork but it was not available on Monday.
Stewart, who has been dating "Twilight" co-star Robert Pattinson, apologized for her fling with Sanders in July after it was revealed by US Weekly.
Manhattan’s only remaining hospital south of 14th Street, New York Downtown, has found a white knight willing to take over its debt and return it to good health, hospital officials said Monday.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, one of New York City’s largest academic medical centers, has proposed to take over New York Downtown in a “certificate of need” filed with the State Health Department. The three-page proposal argues that though New York Downtown is projected to have a significant operating loss in 2013, it is vital to Lower Manhattan, including Wall Street, Chinatown and the Lower East Side, especially since the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital after it declared bankruptcy in 2010.
The rescue proposal, which would need the Health Department’s approval, comes at a precarious time for hospitals in the city. Long Island College Hospital, just across the river in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, has been threatened with closing after a failed merger with SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and several other Brooklyn hospitals are considering mergers to stem losses.
New York Downtown has been affiliated with the NewYork-Presbyterian health care system while maintaining separate operations.
“We are looking forward to having them become a sixth campus so the people in that community can continue to have a community hospital that continues to serve them,” Myrna Manners, a spokeswoman for NewYork-Presbyterian, said.
Fred Winters, a spokesman for New York Downtown, declined to comment.
Presbyterian’s proposal emphasized that it would acquire New York Downtown’s debt at no cost to the state, a critical point at a time when the state has shown little interest in bailing out failing hospitals.
The proposal said that if New York Downtown were to close, it would leave more than 300,000 residents of Lower Manhattan south of Houston Street, including the financial district, Greenwich Village, SoHo, the Lower East Side and Chinatown, without a community hospital. In addition, it said, 750,000 people work and visit in the area every day, a number that is expected to grow with the construction of 1 World Trade Center and related buildings.
The proposal argues that New York Downtown is essential partly because of its long history of responding to disasters in the city. One of its predecessors was founded as a direct result of the 1920 terrorist bombing outside the J. P. Morgan Building, and the hospital has responded to the 1975 bombing of Fraunces Tavern, the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, and, this month, the crash of a commuter ferry from New Jersey.
Like other fragile hospitals in the city, New York Downtown has shrunk, going to 180 beds, down from the 254 beds it was certified for in 2006, partly because the more affluent residents of Lower Manhattan often go to bigger hospitals for elective care.
The proposal says that half of the emergency department patients at New York Downtown either are on Medicaid, the program for the poor, or are uninsured.
NewYork-Presbyterian would absorb the cost of the hospital’s maternity and neonatal intensive care units, which have been expanding because of demand, but have been operating at a deficit of more than $1 million a year, the proposal said.
Chick-fil-A Inc.'s most recent tax documents show no donations to groups that oppose gay rights, according to an advocacy group.
The chicken chain last summer was caught up in the debate over gay marriage amid claims that the Atlanta company had donated money to anti-gay groups as recently as 2010 and controversial remarks by Chick-fil-A's president.
But according to gay rights group Campus Pride, the 2011 IRS 990 filings for Chick-fil-A's charity arm WinShape Foundation show no sign of gifts to organizations such as Family Research Council or Exodus International, which advocate against same-sex unions and other privileges for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The documents, filed Nov. 15, instead exhibit nearly $6 million in funding to beneficiaries supporting youth, education, local communities and what Campus Pride called "marriage enrichment."
Quiz: How well do you remember 2012?
The forms may demonstrate a shift in corporate America's attitude toward gay rights — or at least how to address the issue, analysts said.
Even though LGBT customers probably make up a small segment of Chick-fil-A's clientele, there's probably also "a substantial segment of patrons who are sympathetic" to equal rights and same-sex marriage efforts, said Jason Snyder, an assistant professor at UCLA Anderson School of Management.
"Gays are now able to exert some sort of market pressure," he said. "That's the reason Chick-fil-A is probably responding, because in some ways the market is pushing them this way. This is indicative that there's a tangible threat to the bottom line."
On Monday, LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign said major companies including Marriott International Inc., Aetna Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and EBay Inc. were backing a repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
It said the businesses formed a coalition to oppose the law, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples.
In a statement, Chick-fil-A continued to maintain — as it has for months — that its "intent is to not support political or social agendas." Campus Pride said it believes the company's tax filings now "accurately reflect" that goal.
The fast-food chain said it has contributed more than $68 million over the last three years to more than 700 educational and charitable groups nationwide, focusing on youth and education outfits, leadership and family enrichment organizations and local community support.
"This has been the case for more than 60 years," the company said. "The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect and to serve great food with genuine hospitality."
The chain has also steadily denied accusations that it supports an anti-gay marriage agenda by donating to Christian groups hoping to ban homosexual unions.
A report last year from LGBT advocacy group Equality Matters concluded that Chick-fil-A gave more than $3 million from 2003 to 2009 to such organizations. In 2010, the company donated nearly $2 million to similar groups, according to the report.
But it wasn't until Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy said in July that his company was "very much supportive" of the "biblical definition of the family unit" that the company's name rose to prominence in the gay marriage debate.
The comments sparked months of discussion and demonstrations on both sides of the issue. Gay rights supporters demanded a boycott of the chain. Some politicians threatened to try to ban Chick-fil-A from their cities. Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee launched a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day that drew long lines of customers to the company's locations nationwide.
In September, Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno said in a statement that extended negotiations with Chick-fil-A had resulted in a promise from company executives to stop funding organizations that oppose same-sex marriage.
A day later, Chick-fil-A issued its own statement, saying that its corporate donations had "been mischaracterized" for "many months now."
That may change, according to Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer, who believes that Chick-fil-A is trying to draw back the curtain and interact with its detractors.
In addition to being given "access to internal documents," Windmeyer said in an piece on Huffington Post Gay Voices that he has exchanged "months of personal phone calls, text messages and in-person meetings" with Cathy. The piece is titled "Dan and Me: My Coming Out as a Friend of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A."
Windmeyer said he was Cathy's guest at the Chick-fil-A Bowl football game in Atlanta last month and met with company representatives as recently as last week.
"Our mutual hope was to find common ground if possible, and to build respect no matter what," he wrote. "We learned about each other as people with opposing views, not as opposing people."
Ben Affleck's “Argo” seems to be unstoppable. The film about a CIA plot to rescue American hostages in Iran in 1980 won the 19th Screen Actors Guild Award on Sunday night for ensemble in a motion picture.
The win came hours after the film, which also stars Affleck, took the Producers Guild Award on Saturday night — an honor that is one of the leading indicators of Oscar gold. Two weeks ago, “Argo” won the Golden Globe for best dramatic motion picture, one of the many honors it has recently picked up this season.
“Argo” heads into next month's Academy Awards with momentum — and seven nominations, including best picture, supporting actor for Alan Arkin, and adapted screenplay. (Shockingly, Affleck was not nominated for a directing Oscar, even though he received a Directors Guild of America nomination and won the Golden Globe for director.)
PHOTOS: SAG Awards red carpet
The outlook seems equally golden for Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway, whose Golden Globe awards two weeks ago were followed Sunday night with SAG awards.
Day-Lewis won the trophy — and a standing ovation — for lead actor as the nation’s 16th president in “Lincoln.” Lawrence won her award for female actor playing a young widow in the quirky romantic comedy “Silver Linings Playbook.” Hathaway took the SAG award for female actor in a supporting role as the tragic Fantine in “Les Miserables.”
Tommy Lee Jones won his first major award of the season for male supporting actor for “Lincoln.” Jones is also nominated for an Academy Award for supporting actor.
SAG 2013:Winners | Show highlights | Complete list | Red carpet
The SAG movie wins offered a rare moment of clarity as the highly unpredictable awards season enters its final stretch, culminating with the Academy Awards on Feb. 24.
A SAG win does not guarantee Oscar gold, but history suggests it's nearly impossible to win an Academy Award in the acting categories without a SAG nomination.
On the television side of the awards ceremony, it was a three-peat night for Claire Danes, Julianne Moore, Kevin Costner and the ABC sitcom “Modern Family.”
FULL COVERAGE: SAG Awards 2013
The performers made it a clean sweep by winning the Emmy, the Golden Globe and the SAG award.
Danes won for female actor in a drama series for Showtime’s political thriller “Homeland.” Moore’s uncanny performance as 2008 Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin in HBO’s “Game Change” earned her female actor in a television movie or miniseries. And Costner nabbed male actor in a television movie or miniseries for History’s “Hatfields & McCoys.”
“Modern Family,” meanwhile, earned its third consecutive SAG award for ensemble in a comedy series.
PHOTOS: Best & Worst moments
Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey earned a great parting gift when they won for their lead roles in a comedy series for NBC's “30 Rock.” Fey used the win to ask people to tune in at 8 Thursday night for the series’ one-hour finale, opposite the highly rated CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.”
“Just tape ‘The Big Bang Theory’ for once, for crying out loud!” Fey pleaded.
Bryan Cranston won for male actor in a drama series for “Breaking Bad.” “It is so good to be bad,” purred Cranston as he picked up the honor. And PBS’ “Downton Abbey” won for ensemble in a drama series.
SAG 2013:Winners | Quotes | Photo Booth | Red carpet | Backstage | Best & Worst
One highlight was a spry and chipper 87-year-old Dick Van Dyke, honored for a career that has spanned nearly seven decades.
Van Dyke was met with a standing ovation and cheers. “That does an old man a lot of good,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. He was supposed to receive the life achievement honor from Carl Reiner, who created the seminal 1961-66 CBS series “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” the show that turned Van Dyke into a TV legend. Because Reiner was sick with the flu, Baldwin did the honors.
“I've knocked around this business for 70 years, but I still haven’t figured out what exactly I do,” Van Dyke cracked during his acceptance speech. He noted that it was great to pick a career “full of surprises and a lot of fun” and one that does “not require growing up.”
The awards were telecast live on TBS and TNT from the Shrine Exposition Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
It’s actually pretty surprising that it took everyone three days to figure out that Twitter’s new cell phone camera-powered video sharing app, Vine, is perfect for porn. Vine has it all. It can record reasonably high quality videos of anything you want, on-the-go, and post it publicly for all the Internet to see. You add hashtags so that people can easily find special interest content. There’s even a little comments section so that you can share your thoughts about the distinctively addictive six-second loops. Heck, we’d be surprised if people didn’t immediately start to post pictures of their genitals doing what genitals do. They probably did, actually. Everyone else was just too busy watching pictures of their friends pets and children to notice.
RELATED: The Chinese Want to Know Why Their News Is on Twitter and They Aren’t
But alas, by Sunday everyone had noticed. Although it had already been mentioned on smaller tech blogs, the Vine porn problem started to become widely known after New York Times reporter Nick Bilton tweeted, “Friend: ‘So are people using Vine for porn yet?’ Me: “‘Nah, I don’t think so.’ Friend: ‘Check the hashtag #porn.” Both: “Holy ****!’” And the thing is, he’s totally right. TechCrunch published a post on the NSFW trick — #NSFW works for porn seekers, too, by the way — broaching the topic of Apple‘s App Store coming down hard on the adult-only content. It’s against the rules, see, and Apple has a history of yanking apps that become magnets for all things naughty. The Verge followed up a few minutes later with the headline, “Apple has a porn problem, and it’s about the get worse.”
RELATED: How Not to Get Censored on Twitter
This got us thinking: These App Store restrictions on pornographic content have been around as long as the App Store. Surely in the past five or so years, the moderators know a porn magnet when they see one. Vine is hardly the first video-sharing app to make it through the approval process, not to mention the many photo-sharing apps. (And Apple’s certainly not afraid of enforcing those rules, as we learned when it yanked the 500px app after it started to become home to “pornographic images and material.”) It’s no anomaly that Vine made through, though. As virtually every new video- or photo-sharing service has shown us since the dawn of the Internet, from Flickr to ChatRoulette, it’s very difficult to keep these sites or apps G-rated. So the companies either learn how to police it well, like Flickr does, or they wither and die, as ChatRoulette did.
RELATED: Twitter’s New Hashtag Project Sounds Risky
So it’s hard to believe that the App Store didn’t consider the fact that people might upload pictures of their penises to Vine. It’s more likely that they did and decided to see how Twitter would deal with it, when it became a problem. After all, Vine is not going to be the last video-sharing app to be built and it certainly won’t be the last porn-friendly app to be built either. So Twitter gets to play guinea pig and navigate the tricky terrain of moderating user-generated content in real time. It’s a good thing they already have a boatload of experience doing that on Twitter! See, look how fast they came up with a solution. A company statement reads:
RELATED: The Good, the Bad, and the Fuzzy of Twitter’s New Censorship Rules
Users can report videos as inappropriate within the product if they believe the content to be sensitive or inappropriate (e.g. nudity, violence, or medical procedures). Videos that have been reported as inappropriate have a warning message that a viewer must click through before viewing the video.
Uploaded videos that are reported and determined to violate our guidelines will be removed from the site, and the user that posted the video may be terminated.
Twitter being Twitter — that is, big proponents of the free flow of information — they stop short of defining “inappropriate” in Vine’s terms and conditions. Unlike Twitter, which has been free to operate on the whole of the Internet, however, Vine lives in Apple’s house now. If Twitter’s hands off policy doesn’t do enough to keep smut off the iPhone, Apple will surely pull the plug, and then, well — then we’ll be back to where we were last week.
Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News
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