Adonis Diaries

Billions of violent videos and pictures of gang assassinations, rape, crimes against children, pet animals, and other horror pornographic materials are published on the web every year.

YouTube, subsidiary of Google, screens “inappropriate” images that are signaled by users as “disenchanted”. Then, YouTube run a special program that scans the suspected image and if need be a “moderator” review the data for decision.  These “moderators” or web garbage collectors are hired for less than a year in order to reducing harmful psychological risks.

Facebook hires moderators working in Palo Alto and in Dublin (Ireland).  MySpace, subsidiary of News Corporations, outsource moderators in Orlando (Florida) and the Philippines.  Telecommunications On Demand (TOD), based in Orlando, is doing the dirty job for MySpace. TOD employs 50 moderators at the rate of $8 an hour screening senseless violent images for 8 hours a day.  The 50 employes screen about 20 million images per week.

The owner of TOD, David Graham, boast that his employees are “veteran combatants and completely insensitive to all kinds of horrible images.”  That statement is a lie. Ricky Bess, 52 of years and who worked in warehouses of Wal-Mart and Target, admitted puking, crying and feeling depressed. Moderators learned to seeking support with one another in difficult moments.

Many youths apply for these jobs thinking that it is fun being paid to screening pornographic materials.  They have no idea what is reserved in the garbage bins.  Most moderators are affected for life.

Patricia Laperal investigated the risks of this kind of job and evaluated 500 moderators in the Philippines.  She has set up a test for selecting applicants and another test for spotting early alarm symptoms among co-workers.

I hope Laperal has also suggested critical duration for employment, appropriate break times, shorter work days and rate of visualizing horror images.  I hope she contacted OSHA (US Safety and Health Agency)and submitted her recommendations for further safety and security standards in that job line.

Someone has to do this difficulty and risky job; he should be paid handsomely (not $8 per hour), and be offered an appropriate health package for mental risks and physical harmful symptoms.

I support the idea of screening images after being published and not before:  social web platforms should not invite censorship in its function because they meant to initiate and encourage common people to disseminate their free expressions, opinions, and reflected ideas.  I am glad that the written posts are not screened for any reason and social platforms will not slide into written censorship under pressures of the power-to-be.