holocaust

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- "Bang With Friends" sex app claims to help you mix business with pleasure.

- Paying tribute to Holocaust victims...using Grindr?

- Google Street View catches couple doing it in a dressing room.

- Research finds people that fly in virtual reality are more eager to help in real life.

- Sony teases big NYC event for February 20; PS4 debut?… Read more

The more people use Facebook, the more they find new uses for it.

Sometimes these don't revolve around poking someone you met last night in a drunken bar, but poking the thoughts and conscience of a wider audience.

A Polish arts organization called Brama Grodzka (Grodzka Gate) was, according to the Associated Press, the driving force behind an idea to create a living testimonial to Holocaust victims. Following its lead, some members of his family and other administrators wrote a Facebook profile for Henio Zytomirski, a 6-year-old boy whose life was brutally taken in the Holocaust.

While more famous … Read more

When I lived and worked in Warsaw, Poland, just before the turn of the century, I had a client who was about to make a TV spot. The client insisted on a Polish director. We offered the name Marek Dawid.

"Who's his DP (director of photography)?" the client asked.

"Pawel Edelman," was the answer.

"Oh, I'm not having two Jews on my shoot," came the reply, which was both stunningly anti-Semitic and frighteningly stupid, as Edelman went on to be DP on such movies as "The Pianist."

I tell this … Read more

While it stopped short of changing its stance with respect to Holocaust-denial groups on its Web site, Facebook has confirmed that it has disabled a group I brought attention to on Saturday, called "I Hate Muslims in Oz."

"We disabled the 'I Hate Muslims in Oz' group a day or so ago because it contained an explicit statement of hate. Where Holocaust-denial groups have done this and been reported, we've taken the same action," Facebook's Barry Schnitt said in an e-mail Wednesday.

Given President Obama's clear statement that Holocaust denial is "hateful,&… Read more

I wonder how management at Facebook might have reacted should they have come across some of President Obama's words Friday.

The president was speaking at the Buchenwald concentration camp, one of whose sub-camps, Ohrdruf, was liberated by his own great uncle. And he made sure to express his own feelings very clearly on a subject that Facebook believes should freely be discussed, Holocaust denial.

"To this day, there are those who insist that the Holocaust never happened--a denial of fact and truth that is baseless and ignorant and hateful," he said. "This place is the ultimate … Read more

Facebook has confirmed my earlier suspicion that it has disabled two of the five Holocaust denial groups whose presence has caused much controversy over the past week, following attorney Brian Cuban's consistent pressure for the groups' removal.

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said in an e-mail to Technically Incorrect: "Two of the groups have been disabled, but the other three remain."

He continued: "We are monitoring these groups and if the discussion among members degrades to the point of promoting hate or violence, despite whatever disclaimer the group description provides, we will take them down. This has … Read more

Following a concerted campaign by Dallas attorney, Brian Cuban, brother of entrepreneur Mark Cuban, Facebook appears to have begun to take down some of the Holocaust denial groups about which Brian Cuban complained.

Brian Cuban pointed to five specific groups.

As of 8:30 a.m. PDT Monday, "Holocaust: A Series of Lies", "Holohoax," and "Holocaust is a Myth" were still live.

However, "Based on the facts...there was no Holocaust" and "Holocaust is a Holohoax" appear to have been taken down.

TechCrunch on Monday also weighed in on the … Read more

On Monday, I wrote about the very difficult issues surrounding the presence of Holocaust denial groups on Facebook.

Questions were raised by Brian Cuban, Mark Cuban's brother and attorney, as to whether the existence of such groups contravenes Facebook's terms of service.

I had a detailed e-mail Q&A Wednesday with Facebook's spokesman, Barry Schnitt.

I'm publishing it here in full, as Facebook is honest enough to admit that the company itself is still battling with some of these difficult questions.

I first asked him whether he felt Facebook had replied to Cuban's questions:… Read more

Mark Cuban's brother and attorney for his companies, Brian, has written to Facebook demanding to know why the social-networking site allows Holocaust denial groups.

In a sustained and persuasive argument in his own blog, the Cuban Revolution, and his Twitter feed, Brian Cuban lays out his objections to five Facebook groups with names such as "Holocaust: A Series of Lies" and "Holohoax."

His opinion is that this is not a First Amendment issue.

"The belief that the First Amendment protects speech in the private social media arena or at your place of employment is … Read more