Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store • Hacker News Board

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#231

Post by rootsudo » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:29 PM UTC

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #178

rvz wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. This is Google drawing the line on where this "hate speech" is from and they believe that such "content" can be accessed via the Fediverse. To see how ridiculous this sounds, Google might as well completely take down the entire social media and internet browsing category on the Play Store since I keep seeing the same content from both extremes on all these platforms. Just wait until you tell them to take dow…

The fascinating part of this is that Google has officially claimed the mantle of arbiter of what is allowed on the internet ( they are not exactly a gate keeper yet, but given how people have trouble accessing information outside FB, Apple, Google gardens, they are well on their way ). edit: Trouble in a sense that it is inconvenient for them.

You are absolutely right, and this is scary.

Absolute fear.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#232

Post by tinyhouse » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:29 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #172

tinyhouse wrote: post #101

On a related topic. I was trying to search videos from the Wisconsin shooting of the 17 year old who shot and killed two people and injured one. Every video I clicked on was already taken down due to offensive content. I found it strange given that Youtube is full of videos of shooting incidents. Now, I do understand the families of the victims may want the videos taking down. But it seems to me the mob of people fla…

That's actually very disturbing considering the amount of misinformation over this incident, and that they're charging that kid for murder! Were you able to find the videos? They tell a pretty different story than the media narrative. Every person he shoots attacked him or had a gun. He doesn't shoot the kid behind them who had his hands up, or any other bystanders. He then walks with his hands up and turns himself i…

Yes, I found it eventually. Although the video doesn't show the first fatal shooting so we don't know how it all started.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#233

Post by robotron » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:29 PM UTC

mgn01 wrote: post #214

How is anyone surprised? It is the grave you, the liberal tech people, have made. You can dig up threads here about Confederate Flags and how the people waving them (or not-burning the flags) need to be pushed into wood chipper. Suspect the outrage of this thread is largely performative too.

No you are. (See how that works)

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#234

Post by vorpalhex » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:29 PM UTC

viro wrote: post #91

john_moscow wrote: post #64

For anyone else concerned with the recent Big Tech censorship, people are actively building alternative social medial platforms and they are taking off. The RedditAlternatives subreddit [0] provides a fairly good overview of them. Some are rather extreme, others are more reasonable, but there are alternatives, and it's up to us, the reasonable people, to choose where we want to spend our time and money. [0] https://w…

When your content is too cancerous for Reddit ...maybe the issue isn't Reddit.

Reddit recently dramatically revised their moderation policy and has generally been banning a lot of subs. Reddit very much wants to be a profitable business, and has no problem elimiting non-profitable subreddits.

"When your content is too cancerous for church, maybe the issue isn't the church".

Feel free to replace church with whatever is appropriate to your situation, but there have always been censors and there will always be people who resist the censors. The censors have acted against homosexuals, trans folk, hippies, anti-war demonstrators and many others who we no longer see fit to censor today and I will continue to be in the camp of people who work to thwart the censors.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#235

Post by gerbal » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:30 PM UTC

tinyhouse wrote: post #101

On a related topic. I was trying to search videos from the Wisconsin shooting of the 17 year old who shot and killed two people and injured one. Every video I clicked on was already taken down due to offensive content. I found it strange given that Youtube is full of videos of shooting incidents. Now, I do understand the families of the victims may want the videos taking down. But it seems to me the mob of people fla…

Right wing propagandists flooded twitter and reddit with deceptive edits, frame grabs, and narratives. I expect there are now multiple retaliatory take down campaigns by multiple groups and bot networks to try to preserve only videos that support their preferred narrative.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#236

Post by claudiawerner » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:30 PM UTC

brightball wrote: post #226

claudiawerner wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm understanding you right, the idea is that some harms, physical ones, are fair game for the law to cover, but other harms (mental ones) or a collection of boundary cases are less (if at all) within the purview of legislation. I think there's a good conversation to be had as to what in particular makes physical harms so special as compared to others, and how existing law in every country (including the US) can c…

Specifically, I’m concerned about government placing restrictions on individuals based on their mental health history. What is the process to dispute it? You can’t just take a blood test to say this isn’t really a problem.

Oh right, I don't think I understood what you were saying, then. That's also a good question.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#237

Post by gerbal » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #172

tinyhouse wrote: post #101

On a related topic. I was trying to search videos from the Wisconsin shooting of the 17 year old who shot and killed two people and injured one. Every video I clicked on was already taken down due to offensive content. I found it strange given that Youtube is full of videos of shooting incidents. Now, I do understand the families of the victims may want the videos taking down. But it seems to me the mob of people fla…

That's actually very disturbing considering the amount of misinformation over this incident, and that they're charging that kid for murder! Were you able to find the videos? They tell a pretty different story than the media narrative. Every person he shoots attacked him or had a gun. He doesn't shoot the kid behind them who had his hands up, or any other bystanders. He then walks with his hands up and turns himself i…

It sounds a lot like you are deliberately seeking bias-confirming right wing propaganda!

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#238

Post by Retric » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

thomascgalvin wrote: post #169

> Like hate speech is bad and it’s not censorship if it’s not mandated by the government. To be fully accurate, this is absolutely censorship , but it's not a violation of anyone's First Amendment rights. People often conflate the two. We can argue about whether or not Google should ban certain opinions on their platform, or where the line should be drawn, but it is arguable that hey have the legal right to do so. An…

Censorship is allowed under the first amendment on obscenity or national security grounds. Private organizations just have more freedom in this area.

EX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_v._Pacifica_Foundation

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#239

Post by djsumdog » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

valvar wrote: post #177

mc32 wrote: post #95

It always starts like that. People agree to very sensible things. Like hate speech is bad and it’s not censorship if it’s not mandated by the government. Eventually the definition of hate or whatever it is that’s offensive is very removed from the original meaning, and now we all bear the brunt of the sensible people who with best intentions wanted to make things better.

I really don't get that logic. Of course, everyone agrees that hate speech is bad (and so are a lot of things, but I digress). But how is it not censorship when one of the world's most powerful companies does it? Do they get a free pass because they are governed by shareholders and make a lot of money? I can see how it's not censorship if Bob does not want people to post things he disagrees with on his cat picture fo…

> everyone agrees that hate speech is bad

but does everyone agree on what hate speech is? That's the danger. You can just claim any opinion you don't like is hate speech. You can say endorsing a particular candidate is hate speech and those people can justifiably be censored; their views invalid (and in some places; justifiably killed).

It was once considered offensive, in many places a crime, to say homosexuality is morally okay or that the Bible should be translated into German and English or to say God doesn't exist.

There is no distinction between "Free speech" and "hate speech," because it requires you to qualify the former. There are exceptions in many countries, but they are for very specific things: child abuse and advocating specific violence against individuals.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#240

Post by ben_w » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #159

kyriakos wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shopping Malls can have Sex Shops. Play and AppStore don't allow them.

I have never seen a shopping mall with a sex shop. Maybe lingerie or some novelty items at a Spencer’s, but I doubt mall operators would want to deal with people complaining about their kids walking by a store selling pornography and sex toys. They usually end up in undesirable locations or in rundown strip malls.

I go past a mall with a dildo shop inside it on my current walking commute to work.

I saw another one of the same chain in the main train station of… I think it was Hannover? I was travelling a lot by InterRail and the places are blurring together.

Zürich has (or had) a sex shop with the wares clearly visible from the outside in the expensive bit of the city centre.

Cambridge (UK) has an Ann Summers in its main shopping centre. Thinking of the UK, I’ve seen vibrating cock rings openly stocked in Tesco, which is the largest supermarket chain in the UK.

Attitudes to such topics are surprisingly flexible.