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Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

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Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#31

Post by 5trokerac3 »

caseydurfee wrote: post #9

"If you show probability work like Hillary having lower election odds, then this is new definition of hate speech." I get that the guy is angry. I would be too if I got locked out of my accounts, but this is a ludicrous accusation -- the new definition of hate speech? "Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity." The idea that google is waging war on this guy because of election predictions he made…

I would be inclined to believe it wasn't something very deliberate if it was only one or a few services getting shut down, but everything is fully removed. Even his [blog](https://statisticalideas.blogspot.com) has a "this has been removed" header.

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if there's more to this story than what's come out so far. I think it's worth following.

Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#32

Post by aaomidi »

ucaetano wrote: post #28
falcolas wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the importance of email and other online services - should multinational corporations be allowed to be capricious about who they provide service to, and how those users are cut off from their digital lifeline?

What do you propose?

Use your own email, at least if gsuite takes it down you can host it elsewhere.

Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#33

Post by falcolas »

ucaetano wrote: post #28
falcolas wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the importance of email and other online services - should multinational corporations be allowed to be capricious about who they provide service to, and how those users are cut off from their digital lifeline?

What do you propose?

That Google reigns in the automated bans and automated appeals process, and provide time to do backups of their data and find an alternative solution. Ideally, if their goal is to reduce fraud and spam, they would offer people banned from their free email service a paid account under a different domain, or something similar.

The longer that Google fails to take action, the more likely it is that the government will. ISPs and other major online services are looking more and more like common carriers from the point of view of the government officials. They already have an acronym which is used to refer to them - GAFA - a major warning sign.

And like an elephant stepping on a mouse, the mouse won't be the only one affected when the government rouses itself.

Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#34

Post by puzzle »

Zarathust wrote: post #21
redm wrote: post #14

I think the Zerohedge article should have been linked directly, it provides much more information on what happened. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-21/one-statistics-prof... It does indeed seem he was shut down, but it's unclear as to "why" it was done. Google's standard black box in effect. That may be the most frustrating part.

It is still not clear to me what happened. The reply from Google sums up to "You angered us, figure it out. It's in the TOS".

If they reply like that when turning down appeals, it's usually for something very egregious that might have legal ramifications. Look up "thomasmonopoly" for a case at the very edge of legality that made it to HN years ago. (I'm not saying that it's the case here, but it gives you an idea of the seriousness, especially if VPs go silent.)

Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#35

Post by marcosdumay »

ForHackernews wrote: post #3

Contrary to some of the other comments, I highly doubt there's any political agenda at play here. More likely, this user inadvertently tripped some automated algorithm somewhere, and then failed the automated appeals process. That said, it's their service and their rules. Don't host data you care about on free services run by capricious multinationals.

Automated algorithms have agendas too, and very unreliable ones. That does not make them better, but worse.

Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#36

Post by SamReidHughes »

chroem- wrote: post #23
SamReidHughes wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because it's their computers.

This is the same argument that was used to wrongfully deny service to gay couples. You are turning a blind eye because corporations are attacking an ideology we disagree with. I do not believe that some people should be treated more equally than others.

They aren't attacking any ideology I disagree with as far as I'm aware. It's their computers and they can do what they want with them.

Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#37

Post by SamReidHughes »

falcolas wrote: post #15
SamReidHughes wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because it's their computers.

Well, it's also "their" power lines, water mains, sewer, and phone lines. We as a society don't let people be cut off from those services for their politics or their religion. And when people are cut off from aforementioned utilities, it's done with notice, and with the ability to have service restored when payment resumes.

There are other email providers.

Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#38

Post by ignoramceisblis »

caseydurfee:

> this is a ludicrous accusation -- the new definition of hate speech?

slackstation:

> This has to be a mistake. > it was probably someone who saw one of these procative headlines and marked this blog for deletion without looking or realizing who this person was.

redm:

> It does indeed seem he was shut down, but it's unclear as to "why" it was done. Google's standard black box in effect.

ForHackernews:

> I highly doubt there's any political agenda at play here.

At least 4 out of 11 parent comments so far cover: the "ludicrous accusation" of the censored victim, "it was probably mistakenly banned and repeatedly denied further attempts at access", "we're not sure why he's banned", and "we're not sure why he's banned, but it's certainly not related to all of the other political censorship and outright subversive manipulation that's been occurring towards anyone who doesn't subscribe to the mainstream media narrative".

That's right, nothing to see here folks. Dismiss this crazy person for speaking the truth. Statistics should be supressed. Deny their ability to speak out against the extreme subversion that is taking place. Deny their ability to organize. Isolate and destroy. Or you're next.

Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#39

Post by SamReidHughes »

yorwba wrote: post #17
SamReidHughes wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because it's their computers.

That's the simple answer. However, there is a trade-off between the rights of a property owner and service provider to determine how their property is used and whom they provide service to, and the rights of the public not to be arbitrarily excluded from using that property or service. That trade-off is not always made absolutely in favor of the property owner. For example, there are privately owned public spaces : h…

It might be complicated for you, but it's simple for me. Google can do what it wants with its stuff and you don't get to tell it what to do with its computers. They don't have a monopoly on any essential services.

Re: Statistics professor at Columbia and Georgetown banned from all Google services

#40

Post by brightball »

snksnk wrote: post #30

Do not rely on Google and its services if your public beliefs / opinions do not align with the establishment, are politically incorrect in even the slightest degree, or if you value your privacy. There are good alternatives (preferably open source). https://www.privacytools.io/ https://www.prism-break.org/

Have there been some HN articles about good alternatives to Google services?

I seem to remember Mail-in-a-box getting some support for running your own server. I've also seen kolabnow.com looking promising.

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