Letters from the Editor in Chief

Yes...this would be an element of unwanted publicity, but also be a source of media to be spun by politico reps of one candidate or party this as the "Bride's bad hair day" YouTube incident was in the end supported by some commercial means. Imagine if you wish some deep pockets doing something similar with some technical savy to cover their electronic tracks. We Canadians should brace ourselves for a nasty federal campaign a la USA.

YouTube should be shut down or blocked during an election. This technology can (and will) be easily abused by many. It can have potentially catastrophic consequences - a seed for government corruption and erosion of democracy, and a breeding ground for spreading misleading information to the masses. I am dismayed.

This is yet further evidence that so-called "citizen journalism" (or material masquerading as such) is problematic. I will be interested to see how the CBC's proposed "civic journalism" project copes with this: clearly, anonymous sourcing is in conflict with objectivity. But, then again, we knew that already....

The means of spreading the political rumours and smears may be new, but as a tactic it is very old.
As for YouTube itself, as soon as it was bought by Google (and therefore had money), it became sue-able, and so you can expect that soon enough you'll see defamation lawsuits added to all the copyright lawsuits it already faces.

Surely we can do better than Rupertsland's leap to censorship as the solution! Vancouver's predicted lawsuits along with improved "user" identifying software should help abate the problem.

Freedom is a fragile element of our existence.

We (the public) find ourselves under surveillance....cameras here, cameras there. We are threatened with speech laws (you can say what you want about anything, but never, never deny the holocaust). We can be arrested and held indefinitely without charge. We are told it's in our interest, but it's really to make sure we conform.

YouTube and the like should be protected at all costs.

The truth is powerful and the truth will win. Why do we doubt the power of the truth?

Francis Penny

I think media like YouTube are here to stay- so it's pobably better to use these file sharing services to encourage positive change like gettting young people interested in politics.

You Can't compare Canadian tactics with Americans. As for youtube becoming a factor Canadians are not stupid we can see through the B.S.
P.S.: STOP blaming the younger generation for not having an interest in politics, it's not true. If you have not realized that the babyboomers are the majority, WAKE-UP!.
How can my generation get on board with yours when you can't agree with each other.

Brilliant idea, Rupertsland. YouTube can be dangerous. Imagine the possibilities of the unmoneyed hoi polloi being able to speak their minds and be heard!

Whatever will we do when we are able to listen to other voices beyond those with money and power? We must stop this now; those without cash shouldn't be able to influence elections!

I went to the youtube site for the first time. I’ve got the idea how it works.
Until now, someone may leak a new like madam Plame for example, or manage to invent or twist a new for a specific reason and pass it to a reporter to publish it. It happens all the time. We know there is a monopoly of certain special interest groups over the media and the cable companies. The individuals in the existing system are not able to publish their own opinions. No one will publish it to them. The youtube is the opportunity for those individuals to practice there right and publish what they believe in. Is it OK for the big fishes and forbidden to the small ones? What we afraid of? Let the truth speaks. This is the real democracy.

I hope YouTube helps counterbalance the influence of manipulative political marketing.

As others have already mentioned it could raise public awareness of deceptive, manipulative methods used by some political groups. However, it offers additional access and anonymity for such groups to exploit.

A voting population that is well informed and savvy enough to spot a shyster through the smoke and pyrotechnics of slick manipulative messages is essential for a successful democracy.

Of course, for YouTube to provide any competition to the influence of manipulative messages delivered through mass media providers that have owners controlling their content it would have to be free from manipulative influence on its content.

Sadly, a lot of people develop highly emotional opinions that are unsubstantiated by fact and, as a result, only accept messages that support their strong opinion. Their minds can’t be changed by additional information that contradicts what they have allowed themselves to be convinced of. Most of them would view the provider of such information as being biased or having an “agenda”. These people don’t realize that the providers of the manipulative messages that created their emotional opinion were the ones with an agenda.

Such is the power of marketing.

YouTube may be an effective equalizer for getting one's message out. At least in the short term.

That will last only as long as it takes to offend someone who has deep pockets.

Then...here come the courts and there goes the effectiveness of YouTube. Too bad!!

But we must also recognize that internet services such as YouTube allow idividuals to express their views and present their side of the story. Isn't that what democracy should do? Some views are slanted and some are outright lies but that is a price we have to pay for freedom and educate ourselves enough to know when the lie is being foisted on us. Freedom has its responsibilities, education is one of them. If we don't become responsible we won't know the diffreence between what is truth and what is fiction. It is up to us to determine if the YouTube story is truth or fiction, just like we have to determine if the political advertisement by the powerful political party is truth or fiction. Reality, of course, is somewhere inbetween truth and fiction.

I wish that people would stop making the creator of the video's distant and coincidental "Connection" with the Obama campaign such a huge ordeal. De Villis happened to work for firm that had happened to have been hired by Obama's team in the past and De Villis had no connection or contact with the Obama team. The Obama campaign did not ask anyone to create that video and probably is frustrated that it was created, because now people are jumping to the conclusion that Obama's campaign is ordering under-cover smear campaigns against his opponents which is completely unfair. I just wish that the media would give the whole picture instead of copping out of real journalism and simply saying that Obama and De Villis had "connections" with no further explanation.

I'd rather go back to the days when what we saw, read, and heard was controlled by Big Publishing and Big Networks. It was so much easier trusting the Information Dictators. Now I have to think for myself. It hurts my brain...real bad.

Sadly, having been deeply involved with several new "user-created-content" systems and movements, some of which are literally worth billions today, every single one of them has become a voice/platform not for "the people" but for commercial and political interests. This despite the focused efforts of thousands of dedicated people working tirelessly (and thanklessly) to avoid that very result. My reporting about same became international news for fifteen minutes, but it didn't alter the fact that what you're reading, almost everywhere, is a commercial marketing message.

Internet message placement pays slightly better than telemarketing, and you get to work from the comfort of your own home.

You are a market to be dominated. Nothing more.

YouTube, as one of the more visual-oriented platforms of the online community, is certainly ripe for exploitation by political as well as corporate interests. BBC, for example, already has an "official" presence there, as does ABC and other content providers. (The Tory Dion-killer ads, for example, are still around on YouTube.)

However, the ability to exploit is also limited by audience savvy, and I'd venture to say that the general public, as an audience, is more educated now on the foibles of mass media manipulation than we were even five years ago.

Political parties, then, have to invest a lot more in internal education and resources in order to put together a truly effective YouTube strategy, and it's doubtful that senior leadership will be able to make time for that.

As for anonymity, 95 percent of the time that's not a problem. Most posters will self-identify, either because (a) they created something and want to take credit for it, or (b) they have a sense of fairness based on expectations formed from other media.

As for the 5 percent who do try to hide themselves, the public is educated enough to be able to detect a truly professional effort from an amateur one.

The problem with democracy is that 50% of the population has an IQ below 100. The suggestion that youtube should be shut down during elections is hysterical.

Anyone with any shred of intelligence will make their own decision based on facts and sound reason. Everyone else is fair game for the disgusting mess brought forth by mass media.

What youtube does is level the playing field. Media is no longer controllable and consolidated in the hands of a few networks or publications. Like everything else it has the potential to be abused, but at least it lets the common denominator - you and me - get a real message out when it matters.

Youtube and blogs are bringing about a revolution for the individual.

Free speech is supposed to be a part of the political process in any democratic society. With the amount of apathy (trns: sense of lack of effect) in the general voting public, any vehicle, YouTube or otherwise, giving free space to express an opinion is a good thing. Individuals will have to wade through extreme views and garbage, yes. That's what freedom is all about!

It's not about shutting down an opinion you don't like. Canadians are known for compassion, I believe. If you don't like the opinion, stop the video. Vote for someone else! Do your own campaigning for the person you support. Don't just sit quietly and let others speak for you.

Mr. Burman, I'm glad you brought this subject to light. I applaud De Vellis' ad, and his reason for making it. People outside of the United States may have difficulty empathizing with our mood here since Bush took office.

Six-plus years crushed by a dictator, complete with tacky smear campaigns and now carte blanche for the democrats, who can cheat, lie and steal and still win the election because Americans can no longer stomach living under Hitler.

It's about time someone did something real, something that gave power back to the people, whose voices have been drowned out for so long. Nothing we said or did mattered, we still were squished like bugs under Bush and accused by the entire world of not caring.

Do it again, Philip! You're my hero. While Obama and Hillary point fingers like out of control children, (THESE are our next leaders!?!?)it's about time individual Americans had their voices heard. Philip's ad was creative, biting and "spot on". Wake up, politicians! Someone finally has your number!

And to those who object to the "deceptive" nature of YouTube, I thought everyone on earth knew that the internet is NOT where you turn for authentic information. If that's where people are getting their news from, I have a bridge to sell you.