9:30 p.m. Update : See
Google Issues Apology ; Tries To Explain Away Censorship As ''A Processing Error.''
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As of about 7:15 a.m., this blog came back up, but my No Third Term blog remains down. Please contact press@google.com and demand that political blogs stop from getting flagged for spam -- this leads to political censorship.
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Please Contact : Louis Flores : louisflores@louisflores.com : 1 (646) 400-1168
Google Censors Political Activist-Blogger Louis Flores
01 November 2011 (New York) -- This morning, LGBT civil rights activist and political blogger Louis Flores woke up to an e-mail from Google’s Blogger service, informing him that one of his principal political blogs (No Third Term : http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/) was censored by Google. Ostensibly, the No Third Term blog was marked as “spam,” but the blog entirely contains content that has been critical of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Screenshot of No Third Term Blog url : “Blog has been removed” notification : http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/?action=view¤t=2011-11-01GoogleCensorsNoThirdTermBlog-Screenshot2011-11-01at51909AM.png
Screenshot of Louis Flores’ Blogger account : “Account has been disabled” notification : http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/maslow25/?action=view¤t=2011-11-01GoogleDisablesLouisFloresEntireGoogleAccount-Screenshot2011-11-01at53405AM.png
But not only was the No Third Term blog deleted by Google’s Blogger service, but Mr. Flores’ entire Blogger account was “disabled.” Consequently, all of Mr. Flores’ blogs have also been removed. Examples of other blogs that were removed are : http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/, http://nyc-mayor-2013.blogspot.com/, http://bigotbell.blogspot.com/, and http://ny-popculture-politics.blogspot.com/.
Before sending this press release, Mr. Flores filled out a web form, asking Google to restore his blog.
“I ask all political bloggers to contact Google on my behalf, to demand that they restore my blogs and my account,” said Louis Flores, 38, from Jackson Heights, Queens.
People are encouraged to contact : press@google.com
This morning’s censorship followed just hours after Mr. Flores published a controversial blog post on the Christine Quinn Sold Out blog, which traced back to New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn the problems that the #OccupyWallStreet social movement have been having with protest permits. Note that the Christine Quinn Sold Out blog and the controversial post ( http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupywallstreet-protest-permits.html) have also been temporarily removed/deäctivated by Google’s Blogger service.
“If Google believes in doing no harm, it should not allow the censorship of political blogs, whose only aim is to demand accountability from elected politicians,” said Mr. Flores. “But Google has a pattern of doing this. Just weeks before the 2009 mayoral election, Google’s YouTube service censored artist and political blogger Suzannah B. Troy’s entire YouTube account, and in March 2011, Google’s Blogger service censored political consultant and activist Gary Tilzer’s blog, too. This harassment of political activists and bloggers must come to an end.”
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Tracking : 02
------ Forwarded Message
From: Blogger
Date: Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:54:57 +0000
To: Louis Flores
Subject: http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/ has been deleted
Hello, Your blog at http://no-third-term.blogspot.com/ has been reviewed and confirmed as in violation of our Terms of Service for: SPAM. In accordance to these terms, we've removed the blog and the URL is no longer accessible. For more information, please review the following resources: Blogger Terms of Service: http://blogger.com/terms.g Blogger Content Policy: http://blogger.com/content.g -The Blogger Team
------ End of Forwarded Message
