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8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

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Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#201
post #4

I've generally been on the free speech side of this debate, as some of my previous comments on HN will show. With 8chan, I legitimately don't know what my opinion is. I've read it before, and I spent a few hours reading it this weekend, and it's beyond clear to me that it absolutely had the potential to radicalize shooters and terrorists. I'm not referring to the simple use of racial or ethnic slurs -- of course this…

> I've read it before, and I spent a few hours reading it this weekend, and it's beyond clear to me that it absolutely had the potential to radicalize shooters and terrorists.

What was it you read there that convinced you that websites are capable of turning people into murderers any more than video games are?

Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#202

We wouldn't tolerate the existence of an Islamist site that glorified and helped perpetrate mass incidents of terror against our society. What 8chan is doing is exactly the same, minus the Islamist part, yet there's hypocrisy in how they're treated vs e.g. the social media wing of ISIS. These people are trying to kill as many of us as possible. In no way should society accept it. It's simple societal self-defense. Ro…

> We wouldn't tolerate the existence of an Islamist site Why? Think about what you're saying. Imagine equivalents: 1. We wouldn't allow cell phones that let terrorists communicate 2. We wouldn't allow roads that allow anyone to carry whatever contra-ban they want down them. 3. We wouldn't allow trains that allow just anyone to carry books on whatever topic they want. 4. We can't allow for air that allows two willing…

The difference is that every single one of your counterexamples is something that society depends on.

Nobody depends on 8chan. 8chan is not comparable to "air".

This point is so incredibly banal that I'm surprised to find myself making it.

Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#203
post #98

Let me start by stating my views on free speech and rights in general, and then how they are shaped by these events. I think that human rights and freedoms are just that: personal freedoms. Freedom of religion is about personal religious observance without harming others. These freedoms philosophically should not mean entitlement to unlimited exercise thereof. The right to bear arms doesn’t mean you should be able ab…

Please don't use capitalization to emphisize your points in the future.

That’s the main and only thing you wanted to respond to from what I wrote?

Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#204

meanwhile, to us canadians, it's painfully obvious that the problem isn't websites, but guns. curbing free speech is not going to solve this problem for you.

https://dailycaller.com/2015/10/12/remember-the-2007-harvard...

It's interesting that the link that was @ Harvard with a pdf of the results (that Harvard published...) is now a broken link.

Here is a working copy: https://www.garymauser.net/pdf/KatesMauserHJPP.pdf

Gary Mauser who is also a Candadian criminologist. Interesting indeed. https://www.sfu.ca/~mauser/

Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#205
post #9

When will the same rules apply to other big companies. FB has never been taken down, and they have been streamig some questionable things. I know its a bit, but look at them. Im just struggeling with the feeling. I have only visisted 8chan a while a go to get a taste whats going on and its like all the other "free" boards, no moderators and it becomes a mess.

What do you mean by rules? It was the company who decided this out of their free will.

Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could simply say that threat actors that are allowed to post in the open are much more accessible and predictable than ones who do not.

You could say that. But you'd be wrong. There is absolutely no evidence that the 8chan circle-hate happening out in the open has had any mitigating effect. It only made it accessible to even the technically illiterate among the potential audience.

[deleted]

Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#207
post #49

IMHO this reflects poorly on CloudFlare. The supreme court has ruled time and time again that the right to free speech implies the right to be heard. While CloudFlare obviously isn't legally required to serve 8chan, the only service they are really providing is making it so that 8chan can't be DDOS'd. And DDOS'ing is very clearly a tactic that violates the first amendment. So really by no longer serving 8chan, the on…

The First Amendment is completely irrelevant to this situation. No relation whatsoever. CloudFlare is a private company.

CloudFlare operates in California.

California has an affirmative right to free speech, broader than the First Amendment's negative command to Congress.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruneyard_Shopping_Center_v._R... (IANAL)

Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#208

I’m old enough to remember when Howard Stern, as quaint as that seems today, was considered one of the greatest threats to civilization and had to be “de-platformed” before he could successfully destroy society - and the reasoning they used against him was _exactly_ the same as this reasoning: “he, himself (8chan, itself) is not going out and doing horrible things, but he’s encouraging people to go out and do horribl…

Howard Stern landed on his feet.

Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#209
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The truth is that information does not radicalize people - censorship does. That's why the channers are as radicalized as they are - they've been censored everywhere else. Censor their last remaining outlets and you will increase violence by orders of magnitude. If ethno-nationalists are not allowed to make their political case with speech, what alternative would they have but violence? You obviously can't change the…

A lot of people say "censorship radicalizes" but I've never seen any studies or evidence for this claim. Your comment is purely speculative. There is some evidence that banning extremist content reduces its potential to radicalize [1]. Do you have any evidence to suggest it increases radicalization? [1] http://comp.social.gatech.edu/papers/cscw18-chand-hate.pdf

That study only proves that it moves extremists somewhere else...

If a man can't speak his truth, what alternative does he have to violence?

Re: 8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service

#210

The problem with 8chan is, it's not a cohesive whole. Each board is individually ran and the global moderators won't get involved unless it's content that's blatantly illegal. Not all boards there are the same. Not all the people there are the same. The problem is the hateful supremicists all congregate there. /pol/ is the board where most of them hang out. Other boards have nothing to do with politics and have compl…

>There's even a /leftypol/ devoted to leftist politics that contains no white supremicists.

Leftypol is not devoted to "leftist politics", it's a counterpart to /pol which stands for "politically incorrect". /leftypol by extension is politically incorrect that curved to the left. In reality /leftypol and /pol are not that dissimilar. Both attract off-the-rocker crazy conspiracy-theory types the likes of QAnon. If you looked at /leftypol during say attempted coup in Venezuela the content you would have encountered would have been just as offensive as /pol.

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