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Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

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Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#541

Post by yobbo »

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

Implementation would be easy if we knew how to solve payments for decentralized hosting, maybe with ads as a possible business model. And the payments brokers mustn't be the central points either.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#542

Post by philwelch »

izacus wrote: post #180
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…

I think your fundamental error is in the fact that you think that a private company (and market competition) can fix these issues. It seems that many people on HN are just waiting for the new Savior company, that will magically have incentives to fight for them instead of making money. It's like hoping for market competition create health regulation in the food industry. Turns out, not even Apple is that messiah, and…

As people remind us all the time, it’s not a violation of the right to freedom of expression if a private company stops letting you use their services. It is a violation of that right if the government does so.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#543

Post by leppr »

api wrote: post #439
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…

I know there are a ton of people who, like you, want alternatives. Unfortunately nobody is willing to pay for it. Advertisers (and governments and criminals) pay handsomely for surveillance-driven "free" platforms, but who will pay for the development, maintenance, productization, polish, and support of open decentralized alternatives? Users have been conditioned to believe that software should be free, and the more…

This problem is not nearly close to being solved, but if you look at the more general area around "crypto"(currency), lots of projects are exploring novel forms of funding development, maintenance and usage of decentralized networks, either for themselves or as generalized solutions[1].

[1]: https://gitcoin.co/

(Obligatory disclaimer pre-acknowledging the drive-by comments when mentioning anything crypto on HN: yes there are lots of scams, yes lots of illegal activity uses these networks, yes blockchain is often used as a buzzword)

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#544

Post by hash872 »

TeeMassive wrote: post #526
hash872 wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that we know from experience, after 20+ years of the modern Internet, that if you make a 'free speech' drive/repository place that's widely available, it will host the absolute worst of the human race. Then, let's say you personally were in charge of said Free Speech Drive- every day you'd get up and hear about people using it for (legal) jailbait photos, Islamic State recruiting, collaboration between e…

> The issue is that we know from experience, after 20+ years of the modern Internet, that if you make a 'free speech' drive/repository place that's widely available, it will host the absolute worst of the human race. Then, let's say you personally were in charge of said Free Speech Drive- every day you'd get up and hear about people using it for (legal) jailbait photos, Islamic State recruiting, collaboration between…

Right, and I left this out of my already-lengthy comment just so it wasn't a total wall of text. If you can easily host your 'censored' ideas on some other corner of the Internet- what exactly is the problem? Why are you entitled to Google's private property, specifically? You've been asked to leave one establishment, and are free to simply go elsewhere.

We've entered a Golden Age for radical/controversial content- totally unthinkable freedom to say or read anything that would've been technically impossible even in the 80s. It's actually the opposite of censorship- never have people been so free to express any view, thanks to the Internet. I'm not really clear the level of hysteria over Google Drive's policies, specifically- 4chan or another site just like 4chan will always be there

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#545

Post by wolverine876 »

WalterBright wrote: post #267
avivo wrote: post #173

Google can do a much better job of making clear what is out of scope. When I first saw this headline I was also surprised and outraged. Looking more closely, this is just about distribution , probably in terms of "content hosting". It doesn't target individuals or families storing whatever they want for themselves. This made more sense in that context. For example, if I create a fake video urging people to vote illeg…

> if that content is leading to real-world harm The truth can also lead to real-world harm.

We can't make any distinction at all?

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#546

Post by kgrimes2 »

jonnycomputer wrote: post #22

What. The. Hell. I suppose limiting sharing might be justified. But limiting access and/or deleting own files is outrageous. For that matter, collections of misleading content can have legitimate purposes. Such as research. Now I'm seriously considering dropping my Drive subscription. Update: I got a lot of upvotes, but tbh I may have misunderstood the new policy, which does seem to (maybe?) only be limited to distri…

Chiming in on your update. It's my understanding as well that it's only related to distribution of content. There's nothing keeping you from storing misinformation on your personal Drive, but if you're linking to it from Facebook and using it to, say, sway a political election, cutting off others' access to it makes some sense.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#547

Post by hash872 »

Torwald wrote: post #396
hash872 wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that we know from experience, after 20+ years of the modern Internet, that if you make a 'free speech' drive/repository place that's widely available, it will host the absolute worst of the human race. Then, let's say you personally were in charge of said Free Speech Drive- every day you'd get up and hear about people using it for (legal) jailbait photos, Islamic State recruiting, collaboration between e…

If I were hosting said Free Speech Drive, I would be oblivious to the contents of what my users host on their drives. I would not violate their privacy by spying on them. Their files, not mine.

If your site is widely used and you make it technically impossible for you see or moderate content in any way whatsoever, your site will become a host for real illegal content- not just the borderline examples I gave. As the comment above me notes, even 4chan removes CP. You place yourself in serious legal jeopardy with this decision

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#548

Post by kirykl »

contravariant wrote: post #441
crazygringo wrote: post #388

I see a lot of comments misinterpreting this. First, it's not about private files, it's about distributing content. Google isn't spying on your private files, but does scan them when you share them publicly. E.g. keep all the pirated movies you want on your Drive, and even give private access to friends, but the moment you make them publicly viewable Google scans them and limits access accordingly. So no, this isn't…

There's something fundamentally flawed about the idea that censorship in the name of preventing misinformation is protecting the foundation of democracy. You cannot have true democracy if people cannot disagree with their governments, they must be able to disagree with any truth or opinion such a government might consider self-evident, just on the off chance they're right. I should at this point note that Google does…

If Google didn’t hide the URL people might know what voting location info is official and what’s not

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#549

Post by [deleted] »

underwater wrote: post #523
dfdz wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A recent high profile example is the lab leak "conspiracy theory". Facebook block discussion of the possibility that Covid-19 started from a lab leak, but now scientists are seriously considering the issue. Imagine if Google had this policy last year, and a scientist posted a Google Slides presentation about the merits of the lab theory (and imagine it was banned under the misleading "health" information umbrella) ..…

Maybe it should be the scientists and journalists exploring that possibility, not random Facebook conspiracy nuts? Once an conspiracy is broven true, then FB can let it ride.

[deleted]

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#550

Post by octonion »

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"? No "we" don't. If it bothers you so much, why don't you do it? No one is stopping you.
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