Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store • Hacker News Board

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#521

Post by brigandish » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:46 AM UTC

modriano wrote: post #446

djsumdog wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The purge has been happening for years. I hate how people on HN is praising this. There are literally few alternatives for the average person apart from Google and eyeProducts. I have a PinePhone, but what percentage of America can truly put in the effort to use one? If you cannot install an run your own software on a device, you do not own the device. You cannot praise the removal of Gab or Parlor now and complain l…

Are you at all worried about the possibility that America could have another civil war because a sufficiently large proportion of Americans are radicalized in uncensored, insufficiently moderated communities? Facebook's own research found “64% of all extremist group joins are due to our recommendation tools” and that most of the activity came from the platform’s “Groups You Should Join” and “Discover” algorithms: “Ou…

If you start conflating free speech with child pornography when that isn’t even relevant or necessary to the point at hand then it’ll be no wonder if you lack responses, and maybe you’ll consider that proof of a strong argument, who knows? Maybe that’s even the point of slinging that in there. I fail to see how that will lead to productive discussion though.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#522

Post by savanaly » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:46 AM UTC

flunhat wrote: post #443

pjc50 wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other way round: anyone on the left is used to unfair treatment. The app reporting drone strike locations was banned years ago. Apple caused tumblr to self-destruct. Just this time the policy is actually in our favor. Unlimited incitement to violence is not sustainable. Banning them for this is the start ; America is going to have a long uncomfortable process of dealing with its media.

Exactly -- I love the pearl-clutching tone of these of slippery-slope complaints: "Just you wait, leftists! One day the power of the state shall be visited upon you, and then you'll see! How would you feel if the government censored you, infiltrated your gatherings, and sidelined you from mainstream society? Hmmmmm?"

So what's the argument you're making? That that was all ok? Are they hypocritical and correct, or non-hypocritical and wrong?

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#523

Post by bromuro » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:46 AM UTC

post_break wrote: post #4

Wow, is this the great purge? I don’t support certain people, but man I don’t think this is going to end well. This censorship just seems crazy to me.

I share your feeling “this is not going well”. Most of the comments here seem polarized and emotionally driven - yet these censorships are worrying even if they look like the right thing to do.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#524

Post by slg » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #425

slg wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>100 people spilling over a barrier into a government building This isn't a fair representation of what happened and it reveals your bias. For one example, it appears a police officer was murdered with a fire extinguisher. We don't even have to get to what might have happened if the politicians weren't able to get out in time.

You are correct; a police officer was reportedly struck over the head with a fire extinguisher, and he later died of the injury. I really, really want them to find who did that. I also think the guy who shot that unarmed woman has no business wearing a uniform and carrying a weapon. And if it wasn't 100 people spilling over a barrier (actually, the police pulled the barriers away and literally waved them in - explain…

>I also think the guy who shot that unarmed woman has no business wearing a uniform and carrying a weapon.

I don't know what you are basing this on. He was apparently the last line of defense between the mob and some of the politicians the mob was trying to attack. Who knows what would have happened if they got through that door and he didn't act. There could have easily been a serious hostage situation.

>And if it wasn't 100 people spilling over a barrier (actually, the police pulled the barriers away and literally waved them in - explain that one to me) and entering a government building and disrupting an important session... then what was it?

Cops aren't apolitical. I guarantee there were plenty of people involved in security that sided with the insurrectionists. And that is exactly what it was, insurrection. They were trying to and were temporarily able to disrupt the function of the government recognizing the rightful next president.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#525

Post by verwyrelevant » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

wnevets wrote: post #370

setr wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm basically seeing 4 posts about "kill " and otherwise standard speeches... and then someone later posts screenshots about Jan 20 re-org posted on twitter.. It seems like the basic political discourse you find on twitter, fb and every other social media system, both red and blue posters, at pretty much the same level of intelligence; I'm really not seeing anything there that doesn't equally merit the banning of, we…

How about these [1], are they just basic political discourse find on twitter, fb and every other social media system? [1] https://twitter.com/slpng_giants/status/1347190280492089344

There was a story about a lady tweeting something like "kill all white men" on Twitter. She got cancelled, but Twitter is still here obviously.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#526

Post by bitwize » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

I can't wait for Biden's restructured Supreme Court to overturn Brandenburg v. Ohio. I've always found it funny how SCOTUS, during the early 20th century, has upheld laws limiting the freedom of socialists to say things like "compulsory military service is bad", but then had a change of heart when the motherfucking KLAN argued that fomenting hate was free speech.

It's time for change. Hate speech is not free speech. If you foment hate, spread antigovernment lies like the vote fraud narrative, or are complicit as a platform in doing the same, you should be punished.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#527

Post by valuearb » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #243

danijelb wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real censorship means that the government prosecutes you for speech, no matter where or how or to whom are you saying it. That was happening in parts of Europe from 1945 to 1990. This what is happening in USA right now is nowhere near that. It's just free market. If you're banned from a certain platform you can reach your audience in another way. No one is censoring your speech. It's just a certain company not wantin…

I made this comment in another thread but I think we are few year from it being forced by the Supreme Court as it has ruled very close to this in the past. > ... noting that ownership "does not always mean absolute dominion." The court pointed out that the more an owner opens his property up to the public in general, the more his rights are circumscribed by the statutory and constitutional rights of those who are inv…

For the sake of our freedoms let’s hope Twitters right to decide who gets to use their property and distribution remains. Otherwise it’s a tragedy of the commons as every platform devolves into the lowest common denominator.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#528

Post by ogre_codes » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

vimy wrote: post #44

post_break wrote: post #4

Wow, is this the great purge? I don’t support certain people, but man I don’t think this is going to end well. This censorship just seems crazy to me.

Looks like it. - Twitter has suspended both General Michael Flynn, President Trump's first National Security Adviser, and attorney Sidney Powell. Also less know users. - Twitch and Snapchat disabled Trump's accounts. - Shopify took down two online stores affiliated with the president. - YouTube says it's accelerating its enforcement of voter fraud claims against President Trump and others based on Wednesday's events.…

The ways to profit from Trump are shrinking and the chances his vindictive actions can affect companies have vanished. So there is no longer a good reasons to associate with his toxic brand. Companies can virtue signal with little to no repercussions now.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#529

Post by drtillberg » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

jkelleyrtp wrote: post #379

drtillberg wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was no "network effect" deterring me from dropping the NYT. These social media platforms, and the internet in general-- which are entirely "private"-- are the new public square. Twitter, Facebook, et al just excluded leading conservative voices from the public square.

They are not a public square. They are not the government. They are a private company that needs to do business to stay alive. Other companies can choose not to do business with them based on the content that's on their site. If they fail to satisfy their customers, they die. They cannot satisfy the whims of those who pay nothing and demand a megaphone. They owe you, and your beliefs, nothing.

Civilized (and sometimes boorish) people today go to the Internet to communicate. That's what we're doing right now.

Maybe if you (or I) were banned from HN, no big deal, find some other corner of the Internet to shout from. FB and Twitter are the modern public fora however, they have through moats or whatever business tactics, made other fora far less significant, and in terms of discussion space they are a very big deal. You might be correctly repeating legal principles as they appear in last year's hornbook, however, the books will eventually change.

If Cloudflare and Google together delisted and deplatformed anyone repeating any words of the President or major conservative leaders -- that would undermine a core tenet of our democratic society. That would be an obvious affront to first principles. I'm not sure FB and Twitter are greatly removed from that hypothetical.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#530

Post by saurik » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #461

PurpleFoxy wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a big point. I feel it’s acceptable for google to remove whatever they want because android allows you to install the apk directly. IMO apple should either be forced to allow side loading apps or to accept everything within reason to the App Store.

You can already side load apps on iOS, you just need to go through some hoops (install Xcode, compile the app, create a developer account, futz about with certificates) but you don’t have to pay any money (you don’t have to pay the $99/year, that’s only necessary if you want to sell apps).

Applications installed like this have limited functionality--such as no push notifications--and some types of application are simply not supported (such as VPN clients: Apple seems to have structured everything in order to best support the China Communist Party's control regime here). You can only have three such self-signed applications installed at once, and you have to keep reinstalling them every 7 days (which is more annoying than you would expect if you haven't really had to do it constantly).