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

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#891

Post by lenkite » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:38 AM UTC

Nursie wrote: post #853

6f8986c3 wrote: post #837

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the world watched in horror as American cities burned for an entire year while politicians and media whores, thoroughly protected by police and private security, did nothing. Police were ordered to take a knee to the mob. We were told that this was justice. But the second those powerful people were even slightly threatened, the gloves came off. Only one person was murdered on the 6th. A veteran and Trump voter na…

She was trying to force her way into a chamber where she and the rest of the mob intended to do harm to elected politicians, and disrupt US democratic process. That’s not really murder. And no, the rest of the world did not look on in horror at the BLM protests. They looked in horror at what caused them.

Speak for yourself. You didn't have family threatened by the BLM riots, nor property damage - all egged on by both the media and the left.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#892

Post by varispeed » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:41 AM UTC

natmaka wrote: post #879

Isn't the underlying main problem (censorship), as (nearly) always, growing up along with the size of the society, that is to say mistrust? I have yet to encounter a small group of people, let's say less than ~15 people (all adult and responsible, children and fools are another matter and must be protected by adults), where someone thinks that others shouldn't access to some content (because they are irrevocably dumb…

Censorship is just another way to wield power. It has nothing to do what people should or shouldn't see. It's about controlling the population. This is associated with dopamine hit each time authoritarian enacts another restriction and they just want more and more as tolerance builds. It's a slippery slope that will end up badly if we don't stop them early in their tracks. Once the withdrawals get really bad, it's when the army goes on the streets.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#893

Post by lenkite » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:41 AM UTC

weare138 wrote: post #709

contravariant wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>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. Google is not the government. It's a private company owned by private citizens who also have the same constitutional rights. You're not being 'censored'. It's not a violation of your free speech. Y…

Jen Psaki said herself that the government will flag posts for Facebook. So, yes, it's effectively the government.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#894

Post by deadpannini » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:42 AM UTC

plank_time wrote: post #771

ibbibby wrote: post #748

"Misinformation" is just another word for "falsehood" or "untruth." Those of you claiming that "democracy" depends on authorities preventing the spread of misinformation are ipso facto saying that democracy requires the government, or megacorporate cartels with a monopoly on public speech most likely acting as proxies for the government (as Psaki made clear is happening), to define what counts as "truth" (a Ministry…

Exactly. What is misinformation? What you define as misinformation right now could be information in a few months. Entire discussions on things like ivermectin to treat covid were banned from YouTube as “misinformation”. Now some studies are coming out that might show that it’s not. At least it deserves a discussion but it has been censored as misinformation. So we lost an entire year of treating people around the wo…

> This is the problem. What you thought was misinformation is only really a few studies away from being flipped around.

The big tech companies are destroying the value and credibility of our information ecosystems, by treating the first draft of history and science like it's the last. The day after an event [0], elite opinion becomes "information" and anything that contradicts that is "misinformation."

[0] I meant this as a slightly comical overstatement, but in many cases it's quite literal.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#895

Post by smaryjerry » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:43 AM UTC

pcrh wrote: post #888

adflux wrote: post #871

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lab leak theory was discarded as false and conspiracy thinking, now many experts believe this to be the case... What is a conspiracy one day can eventually be the truth, e.g. the Tonkin Incident.

On the contrary, no expert believes the coronavirus lab leak hypothesis is correct; a few do however say it should be investigated. This is exactly this kind of misunderstanding that this whole thread is about.

What you are describing is just another manipulation of words by media that has caught you and others. Most scientists believe the virus had a lab in origin, and couldn’t have been natural, but whether that is due to a lab leak is completely speculation based on the fact it likely has a lab origin.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#896

Post by atoav » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:45 AM UTC

adflux wrote: post #871

thrwoi4234234 wrote: post #769

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually worse - the "truth" necessarily implies that there is but one, and that everything else in false. Does this sound familiar ? This is exactly what religious loonies say in order to take control. Science necessarily involves keeping your own ignorance, epistemic and otherwise, in mind while dealing with things, but it's quite worrying that the West is going back on what was won with blood and sweat.

The lab leak theory was discarded as false and conspiracy thinking, now many experts believe this to be the case... What is a conspiracy one day can eventually be the truth, e.g. the Tonkin Incident.

I am not aure about the US but here in Germany most experts didn't say it was a conspiracy theory, but that those who claim this is the truth lack the data to back it up.

I could also argue that there is a invisible unicorn orbiting the solar aystem. As long as there is no real proof for it we have to accept that it is just a theory. And the more facts align with my theory the more motivation there should be to check my theory by trying to disproove it.

SARS-1/MERS was prooven to stem from bats in the same region, so assuming that instead of a lab leak theory was more in line with known/knowable facts than a lab leak theory. When the facts changes theories change, that is science.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#897

Post by jejones3141 » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:49 AM UTC

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…

I take rat poison as medicine--warfarin, just in much smaller doses than the rats get. For that matter, the most toxic substance known to man, botulism toxin, is being promoted for various medical and cosmetic uses.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#898

Post by throwaway316943 » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:56 AM UTC

username90 wrote: post #882

exporectomy wrote: post #876

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though that's what happens, I don't think people call that misinformation but rather bias. Isn't misinformation factually wrong in the common meaning?

People rarely go and read the actual article so the headline must be accurate on its own or you misinform the public. Reversing or strongly altering the statement made in the headline in the actual article doesn't mean it is no longer misinformation, the damage is already done as the masses read the headline and now thinks it actually happened that way. Yet this seems to be completely acceptable even in most reputabl…

The problem is not the existence or propagation of misinformation, disinformation or lies or truth. The problem is the attempt to control any of it by decree. You cannot trust anyone with the power to be the sole arbiter of truth. Everyone is human and everyone is fallible no matter how educated or credentialed. Democracy is the best of all the imperfect forms of government because it allows a plurality of opinions and convictions to exist and for everyone to freely choose among them. Governance can swing from one set of ideas to another peacefully and with the legitimacy that a majority have decided that things should be done a certain way for a limited amount of time after which we all re-evaluate the decision and can make changes if needed.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#899

Post by u20210717 » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:56 AM UTC

nix23 wrote: post #866

FeepingCreature wrote: post #830

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe there is only one truth, and everything else is false. But I also believe humans do not have access to it.

>I believe there is only one truth, and everything else is false. That is maybe true with science, but not with living breathing things. Just one example: What is the best system to live in? Capitalism, Socialism or a mix of Capitalism AND Socialism? Often it is just not a question of truth when it comes to humans.

>That is maybe true with science, but not with living breathing things.

Are you saying living things have some irreducible complexity that's unexplainable or undetectable by scientific methods?

>Just one example: What is the best system to live in?

It's a pretty bad example. There's necessarily an answer which, if nothing else, is the best for the largest number of people. People aren't infinitely variable.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#900

Post by Jyaif » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 11:57 AM UTC

throwaway83058 wrote: post #722

driverdan wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google isn't spying on your private files This is false. All of the major services that host images scan them for child porn, regardless if they're private or shared. I don't know how they're going to apply these rules and, unless you work there and are involved in this, neither do you.

I work at Google. I’m not involved with this change specifically, but suffice it to say there is far more advanced processing than simple hash checks for CSAM being run on every file uploaded to Drive. I would be surprised if all files weren’t subject to these checks, but whether or not Google will take action on them is another matter.

I hope you are wrong as that would be economically and environmentally wasteful.