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'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

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Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#21

Post by chrismcb »

barnaclejive wrote: post #15

We're never gonna get anywhere unless we come to terms with the fact that some things do not have a right to exist. Parler itself can exist, but some of the content on it cannot because it is straight up illegal (plots of murder for example). There are tons of examples of things that society has decided cannot exist, this isn't new, Parler seems to think it is though.

But that can be said of any platform. Plus of murder, as in your example, have happened in Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms.

Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#22

Post by coryfklein »

cosmotic wrote: post #19

Parler (a social network or publication platform) has the right to exist. Parler (a platform to publish hate and to make threats of violence without consequence) does NOT have a right to exist.

Hate speech is actually protected speech under the 1st Amendment, meaning you have every right as a US citizen to speak and publish hate. True threats, on the other hand, do not have the benefit of 1st Amendment protection. Then again, Parler claims that such speech is removed via moderation. Do we have evidence that Parler has chosen not to moderate such speech?

Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#23

Post by coryfklein »

ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #16

Parler most certainly does have a right to exist. And companies have a right to not associate with a platform that incites violence and foments activity against the very constitution it appeals to.

You can be sure that any companies that host user-published content today are looking closely at the response to Parler, and are probably accelerating plans to get off of AWS. What happens when the Eye of Sauron turns to you and declares that you don't do enough to moderate?

Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#24

Post by coryfklein »

duskwuff wrote: post #13

> Can Ethereum Help? Of course not. No amount of blockchain magic can obviate the need for physical infrastructure to host a large web service. (No, "it'll be distributed" or "it'll be on the blockchain" aren't viable solutions.)

I'm not an Ethereum expert, but I don't think it's typical blockchain stuff. TBH I find Ethereum extremely confusing, but it seems to bill itself more as "distributed compute units" instead.

Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#25

Post by barnaclejive »

chrismcb wrote: post #21
barnaclejive wrote: post #15

We're never gonna get anywhere unless we come to terms with the fact that some things do not have a right to exist. Parler itself can exist, but some of the content on it cannot because it is straight up illegal (plots of murder for example). There are tons of examples of things that society has decided cannot exist, this isn't new, Parler seems to think it is though.

But that can be said of any platform. Plus of murder, as in your example, have happened in Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms.

Well of course, but as a percentage of the content posted on other platforms it isn't even close. You can't just dismiss this on that argument, "it depends" is a thing and it is real

Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#26

Post by coryfklein »

barnaclejive wrote: post #15

We're never gonna get anywhere unless we come to terms with the fact that some things do not have a right to exist. Parler itself can exist, but some of the content on it cannot because it is straight up illegal (plots of murder for example). There are tons of examples of things that society has decided cannot exist, this isn't new, Parler seems to think it is though.

> plots of murder for example

Parler claims to moderate such illegal speech. I'm curious if anyone here has evidence that, when brought to moderator's attention, Parler has opted not to delete such content?

Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#27

Post by barnaclejive »

kodyo wrote: post #18
barnaclejive wrote: post #15

We're never gonna get anywhere unless we come to terms with the fact that some things do not have a right to exist. Parler itself can exist, but some of the content on it cannot because it is straight up illegal (plots of murder for example). There are tons of examples of things that society has decided cannot exist, this isn't new, Parler seems to think it is though.

Prosecute the offenders, then.

Yes, please, do that or at least moderate the content. It didn't happen, there are consequences. Imagine a site that regularly ignored content posted that was illegal, and you just sit back and say "prosecute them then"... but they never do. What happens next in your world?

Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#28

Post by barnaclejive »

coryfklein wrote: post #26
barnaclejive wrote: post #15

We're never gonna get anywhere unless we come to terms with the fact that some things do not have a right to exist. Parler itself can exist, but some of the content on it cannot because it is straight up illegal (plots of murder for example). There are tons of examples of things that society has decided cannot exist, this isn't new, Parler seems to think it is though.

> plots of murder for example Parler claims to moderate such illegal speech. I'm curious if anyone here has evidence that, when brought to moderator's attention, Parler has opted not to delete such content?

Correct.

Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#29

Post by barnaclejive »

coryfklein wrote: post #22
cosmotic wrote: post #19

Parler (a social network or publication platform) has the right to exist. Parler (a platform to publish hate and to make threats of violence without consequence) does NOT have a right to exist.

Hate speech is actually protected speech under the 1st Amendment, meaning you have every right as a US citizen to speak and publish hate. True threats, on the other hand, do not have the benefit of 1st Amendment protection. Then again, Parler claims that such speech is removed via moderation. Do we have evidence that Parler has chosen not to moderate such speech?

Parler has to find a private company willing to accept money to build and maintain a soapbox for you to speak that hate from. AWS is not obligated to that. The speech is free, the soapbox is not (unless it is not privately owned). "Do we have evidence" - seems the answer is "yes", have you read the AWS letter?

Re: 'Parler Has a Right to Exist,' Says Vitalik Buterin. Can Ethereum Help?

#30

Post by barnaclejive »

gumby wrote: post #9

I can't agree that it has a right to exist but absolutely people who want it to exist have the right to work to make that happen. Just as others have the right not to participate.

They have the right to speak hate, of course. But no private company is obligated help build the soapbox to shout it from.
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