Why don't social media companies ever deplatform university presidents, like Rafael Reif of MIT, who provide reputation laundering for brutal dictators like the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia or racketeers in the sex-trafficking business like Jeffrey Epstein by taking photos with them for the newspaper or sending them "personally signed" thank-you notes?
Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
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Re: Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
#12Re: Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
#13I just reviewed this US law:
CHAPTER 115—TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/par...
It's quite explicit about what charges may be levied under these laws, and the penalties. There are many necessary limitations on free speech, and these 'social media platforms' no doubt have lawyers that recognize their peril (from the law, public opinion, monopoly charges....)
Yes, "giving such power to social media platforms sets a dangerous precedent". But then, so does allowing unlimited 'free speech' that at the least borders on sedition.
Re: Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Although I do agree, self-hosting Mastodon is not an easy job (I'm speaking from the perspective of a seasoned DevOps engineer). In addition, domain registrars and hosting companies can always shut you down. IPSF seems like the best direction of our efforts.
Is ISPF some kind of technology? I googled it, and the first few pages were all non-technical things. I searched for it on GitHub, and the first few pages had nothing to do with social media, P2P, distributed services, federation, nor anything else that could be relevant. Please provide a link if you can.
Re: Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
#15Why don't social media companies ever deplatform university presidents, like Rafael Reif of MIT, who provide reputation laundering for brutal dictators like the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia or racketeers in the sex-trafficking business like Jeffrey Epstein by taking photos with them for the newspaper or sending them "personally signed" thank-you notes?
... or the elites in other societies like French novelist Gabriel Matzneff, who wrote about how much he enjoyed sexually molesting multiple 8 year-old boys in bed at the same time during his trips to the Philippines.
Instead of de-platforming Mr. Matzneff, he was applauded for his work on French television show Apostrophe, and even received a "thank-you note" from former President of France Francois Mitterand, which one of his victims described as designed to help Mr. Matzneff avoid arrest by French police much like in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, who received his "thank-you note" from still-president of MIT Rafael Reif, before finally being forced to face charges 30 years later for the sexual abuse of minors:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/world/europe/gabriel-matz...
Re: Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn’t a call to violence illegal?
Murder is illegal but its illegality matters nothing to victims after the fact.
I think you missed my point. If there was a call for violence like in your hypothetical scenario, then the tweet should be removed and legal action taken. It is not covered under any free speech protections.
Re: Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
#17I remain convinced that the only real solution to the twin problems of content moderation and freedom of speech rests in decentralized services (such as https://joinmastodon.org ).
I run a Mastodon instance. The creator of Mastodon is actively against the concept of free speech. When Gab tried to join the fediverse I remember there was a mass effort by developers of Mastodon clients and instance owners to prevent this. IIRC the creator of Mastodon supported this and cited the fact that he was German and that German law outlawed various speech related to Nazism.
Re: Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
#18While I am as concerned about censorship as any other, what would Snowden's response have been if Trump had tweeted, "The time is now. Take no prisoners."
Among other things I imagine he'd point out that this is only a problem if you normalize police not doing their job. Things like this are only a problem when politicians decide they'll be more popular if they treat enforcing the laws of the land as a PR tactic instead of an obligation. The only reason rioters anywhere manage to do as much damage as they have is because every time there's a new BLM or Proud Boys rally…
Bingo - you’re right.
Ted Wheeler is a perfect example of spineless politician run out of his own home by a riot throwing burning debris through the window.
Oddly no one thinks this is related at all.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/09/protesters-march...
Re: Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
#19While I am as concerned about censorship as any other, what would Snowden's response have been if Trump had tweeted, "The time is now. Take no prisoners."
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Re: Edward Snowden: “Turning point in the battle for control”
#20While I am as concerned about censorship as any other, what would Snowden's response have been if Trump had tweeted, "The time is now. Take no prisoners."
It's a valid question, and brings up that whole question of "Where do you draw the line?" We've already allowed the government to define what's legal and what isn't - which obviously differ from country to country. Now it seems private companies also want to weigh in and define their own kinds of "allowed and not allowed". I honestly do think we're damned if we do (allow FB to censor) and we're dammed if we don't (al…
Mark Cuban had an interesting response. The algorithm is editorializing, even if it's driven by AI. FB either needs to show everything in chronological order, or face the burden and liability of the content it promotes.
It might be a bizarre, yet moderating force to online discussion if a cottage industry of civil/personal injury lawyers pops up around FB content.