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F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

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Re: F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

#71

Post by majkinetor »

writepub wrote: post #52
phoe-krk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The removal of Gab app from F-Droid is precisely exercising of the freedom of the right not to hear something. Gab is just like any other Fediverse client - with an important difference. To show it, let's use an example: for instance, Firefox doesn't brand itself with the logo of a company that abuses free speech to promote and benefit off hate speech. This is exactly what Gab does and - at least for me - which is th…

> The removal of Gab app from F-Droid is precisely exercising of the freedom of the right not to hear something. No - it's merely exercising the right F-Driod has as a private entity to exercise it's rightful freedom. However, no one strapped anyone to chair and force fed them Gab content. Unless one wanted to access Gab as an exercise of their free will, one wouldn't just stumble upon it, especially with the mass ba…

> And who is all this for anyways? Are the tech savvy software devs & power users who gravitate towards F-Droid incapable of avoiding a site they really don't want to visit?

This! I am horrified by this kind of babysitting because it sure as hell backfires.

Re: F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

#72

Post by majkinetor »

RickSanchez2600 wrote: post #26
SuperNinKenDo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing about allowing Gab apps on F-Droid that denies anybody "the right not to hear something". Just don't install the app, and you won't see what people post on Gab.

It is more of a denial of service for Gab because they allow anything on their site instead of policing it like Hacker News here and having a code of conduct. Gab went to Mastodon to be part of the federated universe but federated apps block their URL now.

> Gab went to Mastodon to be part of the federated universe but federated apps block their URL now.

Some apps and some instances do that. I totally see the future when you will have more fedeverses that promote specific view on human rights.

Re: F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

#74

Post by ScottFree »

mhd wrote: post #62
panpanna wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because this sort of stuff really triggers certain people.

Not surprised that certain people are outraged about this, more that there's a significant part of those people in the "free software" community. I thought that ESR is pretty much the end of the spectrum there and that the younger AnCaps don't care that much about GNU.

Most of the FSF are free speech advocates and always have been. Those who are defending gab now are merely showing that they have the integrity to stand by what they believe even though they find gab itself reprehensible.

Re: F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

#75

Post by jddj »

inawarminister wrote: post #31
jasonvorhe wrote: post #22

Their work, their infrastructure, their call. And a good one as well. Don't provide nazis with anything.

Would you support the same thing done by, say, Christian bakers not providing a customer for religious-ideological reason?

The baker can shun the gay couple, the Nazis can spend their time and angst declaring under a cover of "Free speech is a human right" that all other ethno-religious groups are sub-human and unworthy of rights, and a reasonable human can decide to shun them both as utterly ridiculous.

If that reasonable human runs an open source app store, more power to them.

Intolerance of intolerance promotes tolerance, and F-Droid isn't the US government.

Re: F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

#76

Post by repolfx »

majewsky wrote: post #67
Smithalicious wrote: post #34

The message here seems clear: F-Droid is not a free platform. The software on it might be free software, but it is curated by F-Droid. If you wish to exercise your free speech, you should use another platform, since F-Droid can and will censor it. I for one am deciding now never to use F-Droid for anything important enough that it risks being censored. I do not use Gab myself, but I think such platforms are very impo…

Exactly. Most people don't agree with the principle of "free speech without any asterisks". Die-hard free speech advocates are a fringe group (which is why they need to use a fringe service like Gab). (Side-note: Of course, you can probably come up with a poll where a majority of people respond that they support free speech, but you know how easy it is to skew polls. Asking for "Yes" or "No" does not make people cons…

That's a self-contradiction.

You say most people don't agree with free speech, then you state if you ask people if they agree with it actually most will say yes, but that's meaningless because their opinion would be ill considered.

I think all this shows is you don't care what other people think. Either they agree with you in which case they're right, or they disagree in which case it doesn't matter because they aren't smart enough to have an opinion, indeed, it's not even worth asking them because you can get any answer you want. That is the hallmark of totalitarian thinking throughout time.

Re: F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

#77

Post by panpanna »

ScottFree wrote: post #74
mhd wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not surprised that certain people are outraged about this, more that there's a significant part of those people in the "free software" community. I thought that ESR is pretty much the end of the spectrum there and that the younger AnCaps don't care that much about GNU.

Most of the FSF are free speech advocates and always have been. Those who are defending gab now are merely showing that they have the integrity to stand by what they believe even though they find gab itself reprehensible.

Well, I don't support your version of free speech.

"free speech (ph): A constitutionally protected right in the US that is primarily invoked by tech bros and internet trolls when they are asked to stop being assholes. Syn: hate speech. See ideological diversity"

From

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/26/how-to-speak...

Re: F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

#78

Post by lake1 »

phoe-krk wrote: post #35
RickSanchez2600 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gab allows Free Speech and does not have a code of conduct or ban or censor anyone. They claim this is freedom and the code of conduct is fascism. Anyone who writes a racist comment usually gets called out on it and called an idiot and mocked anyway on Gab. You cannot have both free speech and a code of conduct at the same time. You either allow everything or censor and ban things to a degree. Most of these racist co…

Gab, via their free speech and unwillingness to take down content in general, promotes content that is racist, misogynyst, antifeminist, islamophobic, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, classist, ableist, authoritariant, supremacist, and pretty much anti-intellectual. This is why I oppose that platform. Of course you can have free speech as a person and a code of conduct for your service. You are free to say anythi…

You are silly.

Re: F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

#79

Post by zaarn »

s9w wrote: post #66
zaarn wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know plenty of people who critized the government for decisions around and after 2015, publicly even, and none of them were raided, sued, fined or jailed for it. Maybe these people are actually in the groups and just employ the standard tactic of claiming to be a lone wolf when asked.

> I know plenty of people who critized the government for decisions around and after 2015, publicly even, and none of them were raided, sued, fined or jailed for it. That doesn't mean that these things don't happen. Just one recent example: https://www.einprozent.de/blog/meinungsfreiheit/friedlicher-... or this: https://www.vice.com/de/article/8xe7jg/kuchen-tv-volksverhet...

Your first link goes to a blog that's operated by a known right-wing extremist who is part of the Neuen Rechten and the AfD. The second link is some youtuber doing something that is either extremely dumb or very right-wing and rightfully earned him a visit at the nearest courthouse.

Re: F-Droids statement on their ban of Gab

#80

Post by BubuIIC »

Semaphor wrote: post #70
SuperNinKenDo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Because of this, it won’t package nor distribute apps that promote any of these things. This includes that it won’t distribute an app that promotes the usage of previously mentioned website, by either its branding, its pre-filled instance domain or any other direct promotion. Pretty clearly a ban, whatever you think of it.

You are right, I missed that part. Seems it was a proactive ban for a not yet existing app?

The app exists and is going to be banned from google play in the next few days.

It wasn't yet submitted to F-Droid when this piece was published.

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