Tuesday, 8 March 2011

@Northwestel tries to quash criticism by intimidating protesters

There is a Facebook group/page called

Northwestel abuses yukoners, and exploits its monopoly

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Northwestel-abuses-yukoners-and-exploits-its-monopoly/128412970562909?ref=ts

The group called for help from artists such as myself to create an image to represent the group on Facebook. 

I made one using their logo with a red circle and line crossing it out much like the traffic sign that indicates do not enter or do not go here...

Linda Hiller, the "owner" of the group told me she was a little worried because Northwestel had already told her that she could not use their logo and she was worried that her Facebook account would get closed (and the protest page deleted) ....

I assured her that in Canada, as an artist, one has the right to editorialize and publicly critique organizations like Northwestel by using images like their logo as part of our right to free speech....

Well... apparently Northwestel does not agree...

Within in about a day or so...  Linda Hiller, the "owner" of the group had to take it down as she explains below...

"... Linda Hillier March 7 at 8:56pm
Hi George,
I had to take your photo down because I received this notice: "We have removed or disabled access to the following content that you have posted on Facebook because we received a notice from a third party that the content infringes or otherwise violates their rights:

[Main page image:"Northwestel abuses yukoners, and exploits its monopoly"]

We strongly encourage you to review the content you have posted to Facebook to make sure that you have not posted any other infringing content, as it is our policy to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers when appropriate.

If you believe that we have made a mistake in removing this content, then please visit http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=1108 for more information."

This is the info from the page it leads to: "We have removed or disabled access to content that you posted to Facebook because we received a notice from a third party that it infringes or otherwise violates their rights. If you believe that we have made a mistake in removing this content, you are not obligated to respond, but if you wish to follow up, you can contact us at ip@facebook.com.

If we have also disabled your Facebook account, possible reasons include, but are not restricted to:

• Repeated infringing behavior after receiving one or more warnings from Facebook
• Alleged trademark infringement
• Impersonation of an entity
• Misrepresentation of identity - Facebook profiles are meant to represent a single individual. Groups, clubs, businesses and other types of organizations are not permitted to maintain an account.

For more information, please visit our Intellectual Property Help Center page."

I had to acknowledge the notice in order to proceed. I am not willing to put my Facebook account on the line for this photo, but you mentioned that you would be willing to fight with them. Please feel free all of the information is above, including an email address you can forward your complaint to.

Thanks!
Linda..."

I am posting a copy of this (and my artwork) to my blog at
http://mediamentor-circumpolar.blogspot.com/
and as a Tweet to my Twitter account at
http://twitter.com/Northern_Clips



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