Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content” • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#101

Post by jensensbutton » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:03 PM UTC

semitones wrote: post #39

The road to hell is paved with "good intentions". We desperately need to find a globally adoptable alternative to google and the services that it provides. Docs, Sheets, Drive, etc. are fantastic services in that they work really well on a massive scale. However, Google's increasing role as an arbiter of right vs wrong and a steward of information puts too much power into the hands of one corporation, whose best inte…

> We should be able to implement services like these, that are free of ads, on globally distributed infrastructure, with no central authority, to have truly free-flowing information.

Who's going to pay for and operate it? And why won't they be subject to the same pressures that got us here?

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#102

Post by not2b » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:04 PM UTC

josephcsible wrote: post #53

protomyth wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which government?

The way it's written, it sure sounds like any government. I expect them to selectively enforce it only for governments they agree with, though.

Where legally required, they have to enforce it for a government they disagree with if they want to continue to do business in that country. Otherwise their employees could face arrest (that's happening in India, for example).

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#103

Post by deregulateMed » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:04 PM UTC

markzzerella wrote: post #71

josephcsible wrote: post #13

Their definition of misleading says it "includes information [...] that contradicts official government records". Because no government record has ever been wrong before, right?

Early on Fauci was telling everyone how useless masks were [1]. I have a couple people in my social circle that were banned from fb for saying he was wrong early on about masks being ineffective. And several others were banned later for pointing out fauci's earlier stance and calling it all propaganda. You are not allowed to think for yourself. Pick up that can. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE-XVfZCX-o

N95 masks were never useless and Fauci should be seen as a monster.

What I don't understand is why there were no nations giving away n95 masks and education on how to wear it. It seems like we hivemind to the unsustainable lockdowns.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#104

Post by colinmhayes » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:05 PM UTC

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #41

drew-y wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying "all the experts" think it may actually be true is a big stretch. It's far more accurate to say that the experts haven't ruled it out. But they still think natural origin is far more likely[1]. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01529-3

I said that almost "all the experts" agree that it may be true, not that they necessarily believe it to be so.

I don't see an "almost"

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#105

Post by mancerayder » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:05 PM UTC

I read regular stories on HN about employee activism on certain types of popular issues around gender and race, involving petitions and publicity. Spotify, Apple, Google. Yet nothing about the march towards totalitarianism and information control - always with good intentions and to our benefit - promulgated with stories such as this.

Not a peep from our young Silicon Valley activists. Do we still teach history at school? I'm talking about history of many countries. No fear whatsoever of information control and government censorship. I'm baffled and saddened.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#106

Post by kube-system » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:05 PM UTC

For better or for worse: the cloud was always somebody else's computer.

Honestly I think it's pretty silly that we've all become so complacent with the cloud that we pretend that we're not guests, and that we own the place.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#107

Post by thinkingemote » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:06 PM UTC

Its a slippery slope but not for the reasons you might first think.

It's because this is turning a platform into an publisher. Soon more and more governments will be demanding publishers to enforce editorial standards. There seems to be no platforms these days that say they are just that. Even cloudfare, a peice of background infrastructure is happily editorialising certain things.

With this idea, try not to get sucked in to the other argument. The issue is not that the list of certain things is going to increase, the issue is that the impartial nature of the internet is disappearing.

There's a fair bit of evidence on some public hearings that the major players were given an ultimatum from both Republicans and Democrats to start being publishers, to relinquish control to the state, or be split up under anti monopoly and anti competition laws.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#108

Post by trhway » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:06 PM UTC

Such rules are probably not for everyday enforcement. It is more like Russia laws - have something to use when needed and/or to publicly demonstrate that you care about the issue.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#109

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

semitones wrote: post #39

The road to hell is paved with "good intentions". We desperately need to find a globally adoptable alternative to google and the services that it provides. Docs, Sheets, Drive, etc. are fantastic services in that they work really well on a massive scale. However, Google's increasing role as an arbiter of right vs wrong and a steward of information puts too much power into the hands of one corporation, whose best inte…

"We should be able to implement services like these, that are free of ads, on a globally distributed infrastructure, with no central authority, to have truly free-flowing information."

Google's job is to take away the motivation to do this work.

Alernatively, if it looks like someone is doing it, hire or acquire them.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#110

Post by floatingatoll » Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

s3r3nity wrote: post #51

How is this _not_ on the front page? Google is analyzing your files for content, and flagging if it doesn't align with narratives that a government body sets - and _removing all trace of that content._ If this doesn't conflict with the "hacker pathos," what the fuck is Hacker News then?

It's on the front page right now, but I'm not sure it deserves to be given the quality of HN's discussion so far. The top ten highest voted comments are essentially redundant copies of the same outrage, stated slightly differently. If everyone is just going to pile on and state how upset they are, instead of replying to each other's comments and keeping one thread for all the outrage, what's the point in bringing this to the front page at all? Where's the curious and interesting discussion? Outrage is pervasive on TV and the Internet and yet, as presented here so far, it's the most uninteresting response possible.