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US workers may have to change social media use as firms adapt to China's rules

cnbc.com

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Re: US workers may have to change social media use as firms adapt to China's rules

#51

Post by pessimizer »

bonoboTP wrote: post #48
o_p wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We've heard over and over that we have freedom of speech, not freedom from the consequences of our speech. Thats some nice doublespeak. By that definition the chinese people have total freedom of speech, just no freedom from the consequences of being disappeared by the CCP!

For some reason, a lot of people consider it a problem only when the consequence is brought on you by the government. Somehow corporations are seen as naturally good, from whom protection is not needed. Only the government is seen as a potential source of tyranny or oppression. How long will this be justifiable, with the rapid gain in power by corporations?

It's not that it's only a problem when the consequence is brought by the government, but that US policy is so actively hostile to worker interests that the vast majority of employees can be fired at any time for any reason other than when that reason is somewhere explicitly stated to be because the worker is a member of a short list of protected classes.

There's no "right to publicly support things that are not illegal without employer punishment."

Re: US workers may have to change social media use as firms adapt to China's rules

#52

Post by ghaff »

bonoboTP wrote: post #48
o_p wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We've heard over and over that we have freedom of speech, not freedom from the consequences of our speech. Thats some nice doublespeak. By that definition the chinese people have total freedom of speech, just no freedom from the consequences of being disappeared by the CCP!

For some reason, a lot of people consider it a problem only when the consequence is brought on you by the government. Somehow corporations are seen as naturally good, from whom protection is not needed. Only the government is seen as a potential source of tyranny or oppression. How long will this be justifiable, with the rapid gain in power by corporations?

>problem only when the consequence is brought on you by the government

It's not that corporations (or individuals) are seen as being naturally good. But they don't have the power to imprison you or silence you by force and, in fact, would be committing a crime by doing so. They have some civil remedies for stealing trade secrets or breaching NDAs.

Certainly major corporations have a lot of power. But it is still a fundamentally different degree and type of power than the government has.

Re: US workers may have to change social media use as firms adapt to China's rules

#54

Post by fjp »

bonoboTP wrote: post #48
o_p wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We've heard over and over that we have freedom of speech, not freedom from the consequences of our speech. Thats some nice doublespeak. By that definition the chinese people have total freedom of speech, just no freedom from the consequences of being disappeared by the CCP!

For some reason, a lot of people consider it a problem only when the consequence is brought on you by the government. Somehow corporations are seen as naturally good, from whom protection is not needed. Only the government is seen as a potential source of tyranny or oppression. How long will this be justifiable, with the rapid gain in power by corporations?

> For some reason, a lot of people consider it a problem only when the consequence is brought on you by the government.

Well this is because it's all the the US constitution legally protects us from.

I agree with your general point about corporate power, but getting fired from your job (corporate power) is simply not the same as getting thrown in jail or having your rights reduced in any way (state power)

Re: US workers may have to change social media use as firms adapt to China's rules

#55

Post by LocalH »

thereare5lights wrote: post #22
hprotagonist wrote: post #2

In two words: bite me. there aren't too many things that i'm a raving aboslutist about, but the freedom of political speech is one of them. If my employer attempts to step on my neck for saying things about china that china doesn't like, on my time, and my personal accounts, their next contact from me will be from an ACLU lawyer.

AFAIK, political speech is not protected against employer discrimination.

That's honestly part of the problem.

Increasingly, every single right that we have that was enumerated in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights has been encroached upon by the government via workarounds and loopholes (see: Commerce Clause).

Re: US workers may have to change social media use as firms adapt to China's rules

#57

Post by gibspaulding »

hprotagonist wrote: post #2

In two words: bite me. there aren't too many things that i'm a raving aboslutist about, but the freedom of political speech is one of them. If my employer attempts to step on my neck for saying things about china that china doesn't like, on my time, and my personal accounts, their next contact from me will be from an ACLU lawyer.

Relevant XKCD from way back in 2006: https://www.xkcd.com/137/

Re: US workers may have to change social media use as firms adapt to China's rules

#58

Post by rjpr »

ourlordcaffeine wrote: post #6

Name and shame companies who bow to Chinese censors https://github.com/caffeine-overload/bandinchina (Repo named after south park episode)

You should update the Blizzard entry. Blizzard didn't just ban the player, they rescinded his prize money and fired the 2 casters that were with him on air.

Re: US workers may have to change social media use as firms adapt to China's rules

#59

Post by eecc »

gibspaulding wrote: post #57
hprotagonist wrote: post #2

In two words: bite me. there aren't too many things that i'm a raving aboslutist about, but the freedom of political speech is one of them. If my employer attempts to step on my neck for saying things about china that china doesn't like, on my time, and my personal accounts, their next contact from me will be from an ACLU lawyer.

Relevant XKCD from way back in 2006: https://www.xkcd.com/137/

hmm, that one hit

Re: US workers may have to change social media use as firms adapt to China's rules

#60

Post by claudeganon »

hprotagonist wrote: post #2

In two words: bite me. there aren't too many things that i'm a raving aboslutist about, but the freedom of political speech is one of them. If my employer attempts to step on my neck for saying things about china that china doesn't like, on my time, and my personal accounts, their next contact from me will be from an ACLU lawyer.

While I agree with your general sentiment, free speech absolutism is meaningless in employment settings without something like militant labor organizing to defend it. It’s not protected in many cases and they can always just fire you and exhaust your resources in any resulting legal battle.

If you had a union on the other hand, it could stipulate protection of this kind of speech as part of the employment contract and marshal the resources to mount an actual, meaningful defense if your employer were to try these tactics.

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