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Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

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Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#11

Post by dane-pgp »

rektide wrote: post #7

I tend to agree with this article: we all should be worried about being dependent on having only a few core systems where speech happens, especially when network effect & switching costs are very very high. I believe platforms have the right to moderate themselves as they see fit. They get that freedom, and we're better for letting private systems regulate themselves. Or, (as mentioned) as Twitter is floating, creati…

> “app store for moderation”

One amusing possibility about this approach is that if Twitter implemented it and governments decided that they didn't like Twitter's default censorship regime, Twitter could say "That's fine, just provide your own censorship system and write a law forcing that system onto all users in your country."

I suspect at least some governments would be reluctant to incur the financial and political costs of maintaining their own (inevitably imperfect and controversial) censorship regime, and would then find it harder to act at arms length and say "Twitter has to do more" as they do currently.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#12

Post by wizzwizz4 »

rektide wrote: post #7

I tend to agree with this article: we all should be worried about being dependent on having only a few core systems where speech happens, especially when network effect & switching costs are very very high. I believe platforms have the right to moderate themselves as they see fit. They get that freedom, and we're better for letting private systems regulate themselves. Or, (as mentioned) as Twitter is floating, creati…

> If we leave the one network our friend is on we lose all digital connection with that friend, lose the view we'd get of them interacting with others.

Ever since I started using the Fediverse, I haven't had this problem. Sure, most of my friends aren't there, but I'm happy to IM or email them instead.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#13

Post by betterunix2 »

daenz wrote: post #5

Take what you support and imagine it used against you in the worst possible ways. Do you still support it? If yes, then it is worth supporting. If it's not, then maybe you're only supporting it because of who it currently helps or harms. This exercise also works with things that you don't support.

...which is exactly how I concluded that the censorship we see online is basically necessary. The worst possible ways that online speech can be used against me include being murdered by a lone-wolf terrorist who received instruction online. The worst that can happen to me from censorship being imposed is that I will not be allowed to say certain things online or challenge those in power, or possibly that I will be excluded from these social networks entirely because the people in power do not like what I said -- which is certainly bad, but not quite as bad as being dead.

The unfortunate truth is that terrorist organizations use mainstream social networking sites to recruit and radicalize. We are sitting here talking about how power has been concentrated and how everyone is subject to censorship -- as if we did not just spend a decade watching ISIS and violent white nationalist groups amplify their messages by evading the controls that existed in legacy media outlets. "This is why we can't have nice things" is the expression that comes to mind...

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#14

Post by AlexTWithBeard »

betterunix2 wrote: post #13
daenz wrote: post #5

Take what you support and imagine it used against you in the worst possible ways. Do you still support it? If yes, then it is worth supporting. If it's not, then maybe you're only supporting it because of who it currently helps or harms. This exercise also works with things that you don't support.

...which is exactly how I concluded that the censorship we see online is basically necessary. The worst possible ways that online speech can be used against me include being murdered by a lone-wolf terrorist who received instruction online. The worst that can happen to me from censorship being imposed is that I will not be allowed to say certain things online or challenge those in power, or possibly that I will be ex…

You certainly must love the way things are going in Belarus then.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#15

Post by version_five »

LatteLazy wrote: post #6

There are really 2 options here: 1. Live with the first amendment at section 230 as. That means things stay mostly the same. Big tech will continue to censor too many of the things I like and too few of the things I don't like. And we wait for the pre-internet generation to die off and be replaced so society can progress. 2. Restrict the 1st and force fact checking, fairness, neutrality, etc. This would get us back t…

I didn't downvote but I read twice and I don't understand what you're saying. Maybe you could try and rephrase to make your point clearer?

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#16

Post by eloff »

betterunix2 wrote: post #13
daenz wrote: post #5

Take what you support and imagine it used against you in the worst possible ways. Do you still support it? If yes, then it is worth supporting. If it's not, then maybe you're only supporting it because of who it currently helps or harms. This exercise also works with things that you don't support.

...which is exactly how I concluded that the censorship we see online is basically necessary. The worst possible ways that online speech can be used against me include being murdered by a lone-wolf terrorist who received instruction online. The worst that can happen to me from censorship being imposed is that I will not be allowed to say certain things online or challenge those in power, or possibly that I will be ex…

Benjamin Franklin once said: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

I will not sacrifice free speech for added protection from terrorists.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#17

Post by AlexTWithBeard »

LatteLazy wrote: post #6

There are really 2 options here: 1. Live with the first amendment at section 230 as. That means things stay mostly the same. Big tech will continue to censor too many of the things I like and too few of the things I don't like. And we wait for the pre-internet generation to die off and be replaced so society can progress. 2. Restrict the 1st and force fact checking, fairness, neutrality, etc. This would get us back t…

> force fact checking

Just remember that less than a year ago it would have been your worst enemy appointing the fact checkers.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#18

Post by radley »

daenz wrote: post #5

Take what you support and imagine it used against you in the worst possible ways. Do you still support it? If yes, then it is worth supporting. If it's not, then maybe you're only supporting it because of who it currently helps or harms. This exercise also works with things that you don't support.

This makes the false assumption that authoritarians won't abuse the system simply because non-authoritarians didn't. Authoritarians gonna make up their own authority regardless.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#19

Post by drstewart »

It was certainly weird to see all the "they're private businesses, they can do what they want!" takes from the internet when Trump and Parler were banned, after the same people have been yelling for years that these same corporations have too much power over the public narrative.

Re: Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship

#20

Post by duemti »

LatteLazy wrote: post #6

There are really 2 options here: 1. Live with the first amendment at section 230 as. That means things stay mostly the same. Big tech will continue to censor too many of the things I like and too few of the things I don't like. And we wait for the pre-internet generation to die off and be replaced so society can progress. 2. Restrict the 1st and force fact checking, fairness, neutrality, etc. This would get us back t…

Nothing is "inconvenient truths" from what you said, you've just showed yourself as an ignorant fool, that's all.

At least try and read half the article next time before engaging in conversation.

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