Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

business-review.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 381 posts

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#131

Post by forapurpose »

vkou wrote: post #124
mtgx wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the threat of violence is what seems to work: https://www.vox.com/2015/4/30/8518681/protests-riots-work Many Americans like to whine about their gun rights because they need the guns to fight an oppressive government! But it seems the U.S. government has gotten away with quite a lot lately in terms of how corrupt they've become and the fact that so many Americans own guns doesn't seem to have deterred them too mu…

The left is shooting itself in the foot, by having gun control on its agenda. If Occupy or BLM brought as many guns to their protests as more right-wing protesters do, the police would probably think twice before dispersing them with riot police, beatings, and pepper spray. At least, that's a theory. It might turn into a bloodbath.

The mass incarceration of African-Americans effectively eliminates the Second Amendment rights of a large segment of that population. (Many have observed that mass incarceration, via the drug war, began soon after segregation became illegal: When one tool of mass oppression became illegal, another was developed. There is some evidence that Nixon intended the drug war to suppress blacks and hippies.)

And more importantly, law enforcement responds much differently to guns possessed by black people and guns possessed by whites. An African-American only has to put their hand in their pocket or reach for something, and they are shot. White Americans are encouraged by some in law enforcement to own guns and to use them to prevent crime. People talk about gun owners stopping criminals; you would have to be insane to be black and draw a firearm anywhere around police officers or white gun owners, and especially at the scene of a crime.

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#132

Post by rdtsc »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #27
rdtsc wrote: post #5

I was joking before and said that it is inevitable that Facebook, Google and Twitter will eventually sell SaaS (Silencing as a Service). But maybe it wasn't a joke after all... It is simply too tempting to not do it. They have information which the Stasis and KGBs of the past would kill for. One thing Romanian government should be careful with is not listening to protesters. That is at least one country where they ha…

Occupy and anti-Trump protestors should study and learn how that works. You see to have effective peaceful protests, there has to be a credible threat of extreme and overwhelming violence that will follow unless the government listens. Government should be afraid of the people. Those groups cannot begin to challenge the government with violence. What you are suggesting is much more likely to end up in an orgy of bloo…

> Those groups cannot begin to challenge the government with violence.

Voting is obviously better. I was just explaining why those protests in Romania were so effective in contrast to the protests here. I remember the science march, the women's march, occupy, which lasted for a long while. Good things came up from those sure. But there were just not an effective way to make the government listen or do anything, at this point in time, in this particular country because the precondition where not there for it.

Organizing and planning for next elections, having a desirable platform that resonates with voters (in all states, not just on the coasts) is the way to go. Without that things, and focusing on how many scoops of ice-cream Trump had, or how long he shook Macron's hand is also not a valid strategy, and it just sets the stage for a re-election.

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#133

Post by forapurpose »

throwaway613834 wrote: post #71
aaron-lebo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get in government, dedicate yourself to public service. Violence is the lazy and cowardly way out. You can't beat your opponent so you beat them up. When I say evolve, we're not the apes in 2001 anymore are we? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=strWmj-vZ88

> Get in government, dedicate yourself to public service. Notwithstanding the conclusion, the argument is a bit naïve. It's not like we have third party candidates winning left and right. There are established players who crush outside competition, regardless of the quality of the candidates. And there's no guarantee that even if you have any influence, you'll see the benefit in your lifetime. The idea that every pro…

> The idea that every problem can be solved peacefully isn't a bad one, but it's just something you have to accept in faith, not something you can ground in truth.

No claim about the future can be grounded in "truth", but I can give a very strong factual basis to peaceful change: Centuries of history, in all the democracies in the world. No other means, including violent revolution, has achieved more positive change for humanity.

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#134

Post by AnkhMorporkian »

mtgx wrote: post #82
tudorconstantin wrote: post #14

As a Romanian what seems to happen is that a large group of supporters of the ruling party were coordinated in reporting the protests-related posts. I think facebook could easily implement an algorithm to detect reporting rings and actually suspending their member's accounts. Just like reddit is doing with the upvoting rings.

> algorithm to detect reporting rings How the hell is this not a thing already at Facebook? Are you freaking serious, Facebook? And you want to impress us with your lame "AI"?! Reddit has had ring voting protection for years , and it only has 1/10 of Facebook's userbase. I sure hope Facebook isn't planning on developing a self-driving car software platform.

Why don't you think they have one? Let's take a second and think about how awful Facebook would be right now if they didn't have the protections they have in place already.

Taking an isolated incident of community reporting taking down some posts and accounts doesn't show in any way that they don't have protections against bot rings. What if it's legitimate users who have a vendetta against the protesters? Obviously, that doesn't make the end result OK, but that wouldn't be some weird evidence of technical neglect by Facebook.

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#135

Post by ankhkare »

fosco wrote: post #112
mrtksn wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really what?

I think ankhkare is referring to the other discussion thread about this situation. can be seen here [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790687

sorry, the other post on HN was about an article on dorinlazar.ro, which says the same things pretty much and sadly now is down...

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#136

Post by Varcht »

wavefunction wrote: post #109
bad_user wrote: post #64

I'm a Romanian and I can confirm that posts and accounts have been blocked, probably because of being reported by the other side. On the other hand, folks, this is a little reminder that censorship is a doubly edged knife ;-) So next time you call for censoring "fake news", think again, because it's not you who will benefit from it. A couple of years back I was enthusiastic about the rise of social media for informin…

I think the cost borne by propagandists from censorship is higher than those organizing protests like those Romania appears to be facing. Censoring modern propaganda greatly limits the damage it can cause, while protestors have more traditional ways of organizing their protests. I am not a fan of censorship but it appears some fraction of credulous humanity requires it to maintain at least a tenuous grasp of reality.

The "propagandists" have unlimited resources compared to the individuals, filtering them on FB is a small battle in a big war. These individuals' "reality" is much more immediately in peril than some perceived danger of your reality being overwhelmed by propaganda. Teach people discernment if you are truly concerned.

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#137

Post by forapurpose »

frandroid wrote: post #23
rdtsc wrote: post #5

I was joking before and said that it is inevitable that Facebook, Google and Twitter will eventually sell SaaS (Silencing as a Service). But maybe it wasn't a joke after all... It is simply too tempting to not do it. They have information which the Stasis and KGBs of the past would kill for. One thing Romanian government should be careful with is not listening to protesters. That is at least one country where they ha…

Facebook and Twitter routinely censor on behalf of repressive governments. But the joke is on Facebook and Twitter, as it is them which pay this price as the cost of doing business in these countries.

We might hope so, but I don't think that has been true historically. Did the companies that did business with the Third Reich suffer any penalties? What about the oil companies, who do business with many brutal regimes (and who now have one of their CEOs running the U.S. State Department, forswearing the U.S.'s commitment to democracy).

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#138

Post by ankhkare »

mrtksn wrote: post #118
fosco wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think ankhkare is referring to the other discussion thread about this situation. can be seen here [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790687

I understand that, what it has to do with my comment though? I think ankhkare disagrees with me on a fundamental level and I'm curious about it.

i just can't believe you think this is 'just an algorithm misfiring'...

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#139

Post by mrtksn »

fosco wrote: post #128
mrtksn wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand that, what it has to do with my comment though? I think ankhkare disagrees with me on a fundamental level and I'm curious about it.

I think he accidently replied to you rather than post to article. See his other CO.ments in context. 5 years...3comments...2 today. My two cents

Oh, Ok. that makes sense. Thanks for pointing out.

edit: On the other hand, he just commented and apparently that wasn't the case :)

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#140

Post by forapurpose »

vkou wrote: post #17
rdtsc wrote: post #5

I was joking before and said that it is inevitable that Facebook, Google and Twitter will eventually sell SaaS (Silencing as a Service). But maybe it wasn't a joke after all... It is simply too tempting to not do it. They have information which the Stasis and KGBs of the past would kill for. One thing Romanian government should be careful with is not listening to protesters. That is at least one country where they ha…

> Occupy and anti-Trump protestors should study and learn how that works. You see to have effective peaceful protests, there has to be a credible threat of extreme and overwhelming violence that will follow unless the government listens. Government should be afraid of the people. This is why the Civil Rights movement was successful (To a point). On the one hand, you had MLK preaching peace, and on the other hand, you…

I'm not sure that's true or he much it's true. I've read a bit about Gandhi; his stated belief was that the people of the UK would back justice for India when they saw the treatment of Indians. MLK studied Gandhi and used similar strategies.
Post reply on HN