Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

support.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

551–560 of 1001 posts

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#551

Post by api »

leppr wrote: post #543
api wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I was optimistic about cryptocurrency, but the problem I see is that the bad drives out the good. There are so many scams that the very idea is now linked to scams in the mind of a huge number of people, driving away a ton of people who might otherwise use it for things that are not scams.

It's the "bad neighborhood effect." A few people commit crimes, so a neighborhood becomes known as "bad." The people who don't commit crimes move out. Now most of the neighborhood's residents are criminals.

A lot of financial regulation is about maintaining the reputation of markets so that serious people will use them. If too many scams, bubbles, and other nonsense goes down, the market gets an overall bad reputation.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#552

Post by chitowneats »

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.

First of all it isn't "proven true". It's just not proven false. Which has been the case the entire time.

One of the reasons it was assumed false was that the scientific community bought into the original letter from Peter Daszak. It turns out Daszak has conflicts of interest regarding WIV and GoF research that, in theory, could have caused the pandemic.

It is incredibly naive to allow people to be the gatekeepers of information that is inconvenient for them.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#553

Post by soheil »

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…

> whose best interests are provably not aligned with that of the general population.

I intuitively I agree with you, but can you provide sources so next time someone argues against it I can back up that claim better?

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#554

Post by sumnuyungi »

seniorgarcia wrote: post #530
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 I hate you. "But the money" is your argument for contributing to something you recognize as evil. Good on you for having at least some conscience so it "weighs on you". Apparently the money is too good though, or you don't care enough. Curious which one it is.

The toxicity on HN is a strange combination of vitriol and superiority complex. I can't really think of many other forums that spew such hatred while morally grandstanding to such an extent.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#555

Post by cwkoss »

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…

Don't quit, organize with other google workers to fight against the policies you disagree with from within until they fire you, then take a fat unemployment check until you find your next gig - somewhere hopefully with fewer moral compromises.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#556

Post by mrtksn »

kmeisthax wrote: post #311
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…

Another wrinkle in all of this is that you can use free speech as a form of censorship . For example, if someone says something you don't like, you can intimidate them into shutting up by, say, threatening to reveal their personal information, such as their legal identity, address of residence, and so on. On certain corners of the Internet, merely dropping dox is good enough to get randos (who won't even be affiliate…

> threatening to reveal their personal information, such as their legal identity

What's the problem with that? Bad things on the internet happen more often than not because of the lack of responsibility.

Doxxing has become the primary sin in the Internet religion but it would solve all kind of problems. I am going to commit that sin and say that Doxxing is the solution, you can downvote me and make my comment greyed out and censor me when you argue against censorship.

Instead of deleting content, simply make sure that it's linked to someone who can pay for it if it turn out to be something to be payed for.

The Anonymity argument is only good when you are actively persecuted by a state actor. I don't agree that you deserve anonymity because the public will demonise you. If you hold strong believes that can be met harshly by the general public, you better be ready for the pushback and think of ways to make it accepted. That's how it has been done since ever.

Therefore, when a content is questionable maybe the users should be simply KYC'ed en left alone until a legal take down order is issued. If its illegal(like illegal porn, copyrighted content, terroristic activities etc), go to prison for it. If its BS get your reputation tarnished.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#558

Post by soheil »

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…

> It's like hoping for market competition create health regulation in the food industry.

Why is it like that and not like gas stations not allowing smoking so their property doesn't go up in flames? It's really strange to think market forces must always be against consumer, there can be mutual benefit if the right incentives are put in place.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#559

Post by themacguffinman »

unyttigfjelltol wrote: post #276
commandlinefan wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google's increasing role as an arbiter of right vs wrong The problem is that (I doubt) Google is really doing this out of some misguided attempt at "protecting" people but rather as a reaction to what they perceive to be what the people want. When America was a very religious (Christian) country, media distributors stayed away from anything that appeared "blasphemous". They didn't necessarily do it because there wa…

>speaking ill on certain topics is modern-day heresy The AUP would be more transparent if it simply banned "modern-day heresy". Folks would then be tagged as tech-heretics, and many would wear that badge with honor. Calling questionable, unproven, unpopular or ambiguous information "misleading"-- it's a doublespeak. Worse, having my cloud drive spontaneously dumping or blocking my data because some algorithm or facel…

That's not how heresy works. People don't point fingers at you and hiss "heretic!", instead they judge you and think you're a terrible human being who does terrible things so they shouldn't help or associate with you. You can't "simply ban" heresy.

If you're genuinely interested in convincing people across the aisle to stop trying to ban stuff like this, simply yelling that it's "totally unacceptable as a consumer proposition" and "completely unworkable" and "doublespeak" is barely an argument. Evidently, many consumers are accepting it and will continue to accept it.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#560

Post by systemvoltage »

irthomasthomas wrote: post #280

I just cancelled my drive subscription. I don't know how anyone could continue using it after this. I probably have dozens of docs and hundreds of research papers contradicting government health advice on diabetes and heart disease. These would fall under "Misleading content related to harmful health practices" since they promote a health theory which the government considers harmful. However I would have cancelled r…

Please switch to Firefox as well. I beg everyone.
Post reply on HN