6 Dec 2005

Putfile cuts Singapore service

p2p news / p2pnet: Putfile bills itself as a free dedicated digital media hosting service. People use it to upload videos and images and at the top of its FAQ is this:

... Now Putfile has cut off its service to Singapore because, "At dawn on December 2nd 2005, Singapore hanged a citizen of Australia, despite a plea for clemency from the United Nations."

It says it's not a human rights campaigning organization but, "we believe that if a country must have the death penalty, there is no need for it be barbaric. It is enough of a punishment, and a deterrent, to take someone's life in a painless manner, without having to be barbaric about it.

"Putfile prefers to not continue to provide our free uploading service to a country that executes prisoners by hanging, a method of execution which can take up to six minutes to painfully execute the victim.

"For this reason, we are at this time terminating all service to users from Singapore. We shall be happy to restore service following any positive move from the government of Singapore towards abolition of hanging as an execution method.

"Goodbye Singapore."...

To read the entire atricle

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Never heard of this company before. So, it objects to hanging, but seems to say that the death penalty is fine as long as it isn't hanging... How marvellous! I love a company that takes such a principled stand :)

Anonymous said...

Are they doing business or are they doing politics? No wonder I have never heard of their miserable company before.

Their +44 in their fax number reveals they are from UK. Oh so they support the Iraq war with all the innocent civilian deaths and that is not cruel? I'm sure all the victims involved died in split seconds.

Or if they do not support the war in Iraq then why not cut off their services to their own country to protest then?

What a bunch of stupid hypocritical moronic business people. losers tsk tsk

Anonymous said...

oh no... i loved the site! :(
its not fair that we suffer crap because of some stupid leader's mistake...

Anonymous said...

now we are talking. this is exactly how we teach singapore to be more civilized. thank you putfile!

Anonymous said...

Could somebody be kind enough to email them and tell them that their facts are wrong?

1. UN did not put in a plea of clemency, although Australia, NZ, 2 popes and >10,000 people did..

2. Hanging is not barbaric in that it is not death by strangulation. It is calculated to break the neck and the victim becomes unconscious almost instantaneously. Lethal injection is not very much less barbaric.

The intent is laudable but the effect due to these errors makes it laughable.

Anonymous said...

their 4 subscribers in SG are so sad :)

Anonymous said...

lol, but actually, I think it is good.

But to say that it teaches us to be civilised would be wrong because the people may think a different way from their leaders, only that the people's right to express is nearly nonexistant, and I don't think the PAP uses putfile.com to upload video clips anyway LOL. Thus no effect on them. We citizens may be civilised, but the PAP is definitely not, and should be the target instead.

(Btw, I can still get to the website through a proxy easily.)

I suggest they should ban more things from Singapore, bigger things, so that the PAP would sit up and actually DO something about respecting the lives of humans who are not exempted from erring, and be more civilised. BAN! BAN! BAN! Trade tariffs!!! Taxes!!! Hit where it hurts them most!

Between good for self and the good for country, I would choose the good for country. Let our leaders realise their mistake, and start trying to save their country instead of saving their face!

shiokman: What 4 subscribers?