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Parler drops offline after Amazon pulls support

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Parler drops offline after Amazon pulls support

#441

Post by metiscus »

mozillalives wrote: post #44

All I’m going to say is that I’m all for free speech and setting fair rules for everyone to play by (ie regulation), but looking at the examples provided in the buzzfeed articles this is beyond simple free speech. I hear a lot of people saying this is just another example of the left trying to shut down free speech but there are clear threats being made on the platform. If Parler doesn’t want to do any content regula…

Are these platforms prohibited from removing unionization and strike organization activities? My fear is that the labor movement (which is just starting to make significant headway in some of these companies) will be the next targets. If the companies do not have to pay to host hateful content, are there legal protections for labor which may be seen as the next major threat by these companies?

Re: Parler drops offline after Amazon pulls support

#443

Post by dragonwriter »

jjcon wrote: post #429
driverdan wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free speech doesn't apply to non-government resources. A company can ban any speech they want. Plus there is speech that isn't protected, like certain violent threats, which is the biggest problem with Parler.

> Free speech doesn't apply to non-government resources Of course it does! That’s like saying ethics don’t apply to corporations. If you meant the first amendment you would be correct but free speech is a long standing liberal ideal and is absolutely not the same thing nor is it what is being discussed in this context.

> > Free speech doesn’t apply to non-government resources

> Of course it does!

Well, it does in that free speech is exactly the liberty of owners of non-government resources to choose how to control their use in expressing, relaying, and amplifying speech.

But “free speech” doesn’t provide any entitlement for any other party against the interests of the owners of non-government resources.

Re: Parler drops offline after Amazon pulls support

#444

Post by AnonMO »

I don't know why but I find it vey difficult to sympathize with parler. as a developer I was about to shun AWS because of their role as a infrastructure provider of the web, but even before the news came out and it was just rumors that employees were pushing for the removal. people on the platforms were calling for the bombing of server locations and the killing of the employees. At what point do we say its enough?

Re: Parler drops offline after Amazon pulls support

#445

Post by listenallyall »

munificent wrote: post #310
mozillalives wrote: post #44

All I’m going to say is that I’m all for free speech and setting fair rules for everyone to play by (ie regulation), but looking at the examples provided in the buzzfeed articles this is beyond simple free speech. I hear a lot of people saying this is just another example of the left trying to shut down free speech but there are clear threats being made on the platform. If Parler doesn’t want to do any content regula…

> I hear a lot of people saying this is just another example of the left trying to shut down free speech This is a specious argument on its face. The First Amendment does not say that private companies are obligated to spend money broadcasting someone else's speech. Hosting and serving isn't free and any private company has the freedom to decide what not to host. If an author's content is so toxic that advertisers wo…

The First Amendment, obviously, doesn't address TV or the internet but your statement "any private company has the freedom to decide what not to host" is false, television stations must adhere to the "equal time doctrine" and allot broadcasting time (the equivalent of hosting) to political candidates regardless of party affiliation or agenda. We also had a "fairness doctrine", the reinstatement of which had the support of many of today's prominent Democratic leaders (Pelosi, Durbin, Kerry).

Point is, the government has, multiple times, recognized the power of "big media" to suppress political speech, and acted to regulate that power.

Re: Parler drops offline after Amazon pulls support

#446

Post by a_band »

crazydoggers wrote: post #405
Closi wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a specious argument on its face. The First Amendment does not say that private companies are obligated to spend money broadcasting someone else's speech. Hosting and serving isn't free and any private company has the freedom to decide what not to host. I'm in the UK, but the difference is that right now, these private companies control communication. I'm not allowed outside my house and I live alone. I'm no…

The difference with the phone companies is you’re talking one on one communication. Not a publishing platform which is what these social media services really are. You can always use text, signal, etc if you want to communicate with your group. These are the same kinds of issues society dealt with, with the advent of radio and television, platforms that allowed small groups to reach out to very large groups of people…

> You can always use text, signal, etc if you want to communicate with your group.

Does Signal run on AWS? If I can shut you down at the cloud level then I'm not sure these options will be available in the future. Someone is going to coordinate a protest/riot on Signal, screenshots will leak, then what happens?

Re: Parler drops offline after Amazon pulls support

#447

Post by grahamburger »

mozillalives wrote: post #44

All I’m going to say is that I’m all for free speech and setting fair rules for everyone to play by (ie regulation), but looking at the examples provided in the buzzfeed articles this is beyond simple free speech. I hear a lot of people saying this is just another example of the left trying to shut down free speech but there are clear threats being made on the platform. If Parler doesn’t want to do any content regula…

The main thing I'm afraid of is that there will be a renewed push to make encryption illegal. Optimistically, I think the actions of these tech companies might help avoid that - if they had done nothing, it would be easier for politicians to demand the ability to take matters in to their own hands.

Re: Parler drops offline after Amazon pulls support

#448

Post by jorblumesea »

trident5000 wrote: post #428
jorblumesea wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the people that end up on Parler have a strong grasp of constitutional law (no offense to anyone that does and uses app). The general people that end up on that app are hardcore trending extremist and you're not going to find intelligent debate on the role of private companies and the government. It's probably closer to propaganda than it is a true social media site.

There are plenty of extremists on Twitter and Facebook. Thats where the double standard is. People organized on twitter when they stormed the white house and the pres went into a bunker as an example. Facebook is accused of much worse in foreign countries currently. The reason Parler was banned is because all these corporations are very aware they are under the anti-trust microscope. This was a favor to the new party…

While I absolutely agree with the idea that every social media has extremes, I completely disagree with the end conclusions.

Other social media services do not actively shape the debate through intense political moderation. There's no "Post tsar" the validates the political health of things that people host.

Meanwhile on Parler...

https://twitter.com/donk_enby/status/1347939939120533506

https://twitter.com/donk_enby/status/1346565749977051136

It's literally, a far right wing propaganda machine and any other interpretation of this is misinformed.

Re: Parler drops offline after Amazon pulls support

#450

Post by hertzrat »

DangerousPie wrote: post #408
zmb_ wrote: post #321

I'm struggling to try to understand what this means for the risks of running a business in the cloud going forward. It was not just AWS dropping them, but many of their other vendors dropped them too, essentially killing their business overnight. Granted, for this first case the bar was extremely high. You needed literal storming of the Capitol and a platform seemingly specifically targeted at those people for this t…

I think the mitigation is "don't build a platform to attract white supremacists banned from other sites and then watch as they use it to plan a riot in the Capitol."

Imagine a hypothetical, well-intentioned free speech focused platform, without censorship and with low moderation: it will attract those people because those people have nowhere else to go. That strategy is a non-starter. The real requirement is that we are pushing for a world of auto-moderation where robots have to approve every single thing we say online - otherwise you are not allowed to let people communicate.
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