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Freedom of expression is at a ten-year low globally, study says

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Re: Freedom of expression is at a ten-year low globally, study says

#11

Post by jerf »

Reedx wrote: post #7

>"...the desire to have someone force these companies to remove hate speech or misinformation can backfire. To see how, we need look no further than Singapore’s new “fake news” law, which has already been used to force an opposition politician to modify a Facebook post to include the government’s position on the topic he mentioned in his post, along with a large banner across the original saying “False.” This is so o…

It's the goal.

Those seeking it would be advised to consider whether it's a power they really want Trump to have, or his successor, but there's a lot of people who seem to operate on the presumption that in the long term, their side is going to have complete control of the government indefinitely and the fact that some people they disagree with has some control at the moment is a momentary aberration. I would suggest history does not favor this viewpoint.

Re: Freedom of expression is at a ten-year low globally, study says

#12

Post by tenebrisalietum »

Reedx wrote: post #7

>"...the desire to have someone force these companies to remove hate speech or misinformation can backfire. To see how, we need look no further than Singapore’s new “fake news” law, which has already been used to force an opposition politician to modify a Facebook post to include the government’s position on the topic he mentioned in his post, along with a large banner across the original saying “False.” This is so o…

Constitutional rights don't matter for people if parties with vast economic power can render the exercise of those rights pointless. Most people absolutely will trade freedom for security, because most people aren't late 1700's frontiersman that hunt for food, defend land from intruders, huddle together in a rickety log cabin built with their own two hands, and die before they're 40. Most people that aren't the elite-very-rich depend on things like stores, roads, cars, jobs, and paychecks to survive comfortably, which is always going to be supported by some balance of corporatism and government.

Re: Freedom of expression is at a ten-year low globally, study says

#13

Post by _jal »

BucketSort wrote: post #9

In addition to government interference in free speech, all actions/words that offend have potentially life devastating consequences in this age of the digital permanent record. Suppose you slap someone in a moment of uncontrolled anger. If someone records that, posts it on the internet, and it goes viral, you then become the mad slapper in the eyes of the world. If someone googles your name, they will see you slappin…

The behavior isn't new, just the reach and visibility.

Conformist social pressure has always been intense. Previously, it was just very local and not visible outside the social context in which it happened. People didn't notice it (or if they did, would tend to approve of it) unless it was focused on them.

Re: Freedom of expression is at a ten-year low globally, study says

#15

Post by tboyd47 »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #8

Even when governments don’t limit freedom of expression we do it to ourselves as can be seen with all the Twitter mobs.

Those "mobs" are only ordinary people exercising their own freedom of expression online.

I think a more correct sentiment would be that even when there are governments that don't want to limit freedom of expression, multinational corporations will still oblige those governments and influential citizens that do.

Re: Freedom of expression is at a ten-year low globally, study says

#17

Post by linuxftw »

BucketSort wrote: post #9

In addition to government interference in free speech, all actions/words that offend have potentially life devastating consequences in this age of the digital permanent record. Suppose you slap someone in a moment of uncontrolled anger. If someone records that, posts it on the internet, and it goes viral, you then become the mad slapper in the eyes of the world. If someone googles your name, they will see you slappin…

We need to declare all speech religious speech. Politics is religion. One religion currently has the upper hand, and it's dividing people.

Re: Freedom of expression is at a ten-year low globally, study says

#18

Post by hordeallergy »

blackearl wrote: post #10
rahuldottech wrote: post #4

> Governments in a number of countries have been increasing online surveillance and cracking down on content and behavior that indicates dissent, the report says. This is a really sad state of affairs. Because of whatever reasons (monetary, fear of dissent and terrorism, etc.) we've seen governments implement more and more laws and policies that take away the "freedom" that we're supposed to have in a democracy. Peop…

More and more "the people" want corporations to do the policing. Everyone cheers when someone controversial is booted from Twitter, but suddenly it'ss a problem when the NBA and Blizzard censored people, albeit for less defensible reasons.

I've never seen anyone's banning get cheered. On the contrary, I see the locked account person get cheers and welcomes back when they return, elevated as a hero, comradery strengthened, usually on a different account, abandoning the old, meaning a good percentage of twitter's accounts are stagnant.

Re: Freedom of expression is at a ten-year low globally, study says

#20

Post by Merrill »

The report seems to deal mainly with freedom of expression by journalists, members of NGOs, activists, widely read bloggers and other members of the gadfly class.

I wonder whether freedom of expression by the average citizen is decreasing or increasing. They certainly have more opportunity to express their views.

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