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It appears my Google account is slated for deletion

alexaobrien.com

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Re: It appears my Google account is slated for deletion

#191

Post by Shivetya »

quuquuquu wrote: post #3

Help me understand- Alexa O'Brien has a Youtube account with many hours of video. She also has a google account, drive, etc. Some of her videos contained material that Google (being Google), didn't like. Despite the fact that it was all very important journalism, Google arbitrarily decided it was #extremism, therefore #banned. I would say that 5 years ago I would have been shocked and outraged, but lately I just abso…

when you cannot control the message through politics and laws you get ask your friends in important industries to step in for you. if not that then you have the very rich and powerful deciding what they think is good for society and abusing their position to make it so.

it all depends on how much freedom you can stand, me, I want everyone to have freedom to express their views regardless how abhorrent I find them (not saying anything about the person in the article) and no politician or large business should have the ability to stop it. if anything we have a safer society because people have an outlet and also the more dangerous self identify.

Re: It appears my Google account is slated for deletion

#192

Post by dredmorbius »

KGIII wrote: post #177
dredmorbius wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything particularly you'd point at of yours?

Oh, just comments here on HN, Slashdot, and similar. I was once a freelance journalist, so I probably should write up something more formal and better researched. I'm hoping to get some writing in during the coming winter. I have a lot to say.

I'd differ strongly with your premise. There was a golden age of journalism, though it probably peaked with Watergate. Izzy Stone has a great Day at Night interview discussing this.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qV3gO3zxQ1g

The period probably began with Lippmann's Public Opinion, though it was coverage of the Second World War that probably marked the start of the true peak. By 1980, something was already decidedly off.

I'm reading Robert McChesney who does a very good job of recapping the history in Communication Revolution.

Re: It appears my Google account is slated for deletion

#194

Post by imtringued »

KGIII wrote: post #7

Well, she is easier to defend than Nazis. So, here I go... Freedom of expression, not just free speech the legal concept, should be a societal goal. Google has every right, legally, to delete this stuff. However, in an ideal world, they'd do no such thing and would let people judge based on the merits of the message. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd like to work towards that ideal world. Maybe the solution…

The problem isn't that the video was deleted. The problem is that they decided to delete the entire account which contains data that is unrelated to the video.

Re: It appears my Google account is slated for deletion

#196

Post by simonh »

KGIII wrote: post #100
blazespin wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, I'm all for google doing this. Youtube is absolutely NOT the place to host these videos, as makes it very hard if not impossible to ferret out all the highly destructive hate speech that's occurring.. Obviously, there should be a place, similar in price and ease as YouTube to where she can host such things, but YouTube is not the place. Ideally the new system will be set up to weed through what makes sense and w…

I'm not sure this is the time or place, but what is it that you're calling hate speech and how is it 'highly destructive?' What prevents the user from selecting a different video and who is the arbiter of 'what makes sense and what doesn't?' I suppose those can be rhetorical questions, if you want. To be clear, I suspect I hold very extreme views on the concept of free speech, at least from your perspective. Lest you…

Do you think that she should be able to post this content because she's a white westerner that you like, while brown Muslims you don't like who posted the same material should not?

Youtube has rules about the content they are willing to host and she knowingly violated those rules. Who she is any why she did it shouldn't come into it.

Re: It appears my Google account is slated for deletion

#197

Post by simonh »

quuquuquu wrote: post #3

Help me understand- Alexa O'Brien has a Youtube account with many hours of video. She also has a google account, drive, etc. Some of her videos contained material that Google (being Google), didn't like. Despite the fact that it was all very important journalism, Google arbitrarily decided it was #extremism, therefore #banned. I would say that 5 years ago I would have been shocked and outraged, but lately I just abso…

Do you think Google should have the authority to decide who is a journalist and who isn't? What criteria should they apply to determine that? Other than just reading the description alongside a video and just uncritically believing what the poster wrote, how should they determine the reasons and motivation for posting a video?

What this argument comes down to is "How dare Google pull this video posted by a nice white woman who clearly should be allowed to post it, can't they see she isn't one of those nasty brown people who clearly shouldn't?"

Re: It appears my Google account is slated for deletion

#198

Post by mirimir »

zaphirplane wrote: post #158
mirimir wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, this! It's true that the process of setting up and managing websites can be daunting. Even using shared hosting, let alone on a VPS. And then there's the additional complexity of HTTPS, which is now pretty much the norm (even when not really needed, with no account creation or payment processing). Using Micah Lee's OnionShare, one can easily create Tor onion sites.[0] They can be transient (for file-sharing)…

people arguing (out of principal or to push their views) for some kind of freedom to publish on a for profit company's site are simply seeking that company's audience to spread their message

True. It's amazingly hard to get attention, otherwise.

Re: It appears my Google account is slated for deletion

#199

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

rjsw wrote: post #166
jdietrich wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also a very blurry line between a common carrier and a publisher. Social media platforms don't want to be liable for content published on their site, but they also want the right to delete content at their own discretion. Somehow, the courts have granted them this wish. The USPS has a similar monopoly to YouTube, but they're obliged to transport any printed material that is legal. There's no hidden algorithm…

The USPS isn't unregulated though, mail fraud can be prosecuted.

Because they arbitrarily decide they don't like it, or because it is actually illegal?

Re: It appears my Google account is slated for deletion

#200

Post by ionised »

bostonvaulter2 wrote: post #19

What are some good alternative email accounts to use? I should really start decreasing my dependence on Google.

Kolab - https://kolabnow.com/ (just go for the webmail-only lite version)

Posteo - https://posteo.de/en

Both paid but they are very cheap and don't advertise to you.

Kolab is run by the founder of the European Free Software Foundation, with all that connotates.

Posteo is a German provider, aiming to be totally green and offering at-rest and in-transit PGP encryption and a host of other security and privacy features.

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