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Nobel Peace laureates blast tech giants and warn against rising authoritarianism

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Re: Nobel Peace laureates blast tech giants and warn against rising authoritarianism

#11

Post by 1cvmask »

mc32 wrote: post #8
1cvmask wrote: post #5

If they were going to give their award to a truly deserving recipient it would have been the tortured and imprisoned journalist Julian Assange who is an advocate of free speech and an independent media and voices. Instead they gave the awards deliberately to censorship advocates. It's the journalistic equivalent of giving war criminals and killers of children Nobel Peace Prizes like Kissinger and Obama. https://www.h…

That would be impossible. Can you imagine: United States imprisons Nobel prize laureate.

I can imagine them imprisoning Nobel Prize laureates as they have bombed Nobel Prize recipients as well.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doctors-without-borders-bombi...

Re: Nobel Peace laureates blast tech giants and warn against rising authoritarianism

#12

Post by smt88 »

karl11 wrote: post #3

Just to make sure I understand this — the argument is that in order to combat authoritarianism, Silicon Valley companies should censor more content?

A better interpretation would be that Silicon Valley should stop algorithmically promoting anti-democratic, pro-authoritarian content.

Re: Nobel Peace laureates blast tech giants and warn against rising authoritarianism

#13

Post by anjbe »

karl11 wrote: post #3

Just to make sure I understand this — the argument is that in order to combat authoritarianism, Silicon Valley companies should censor more content?

That’s how I read it too. It’s interesting to see how platforms’ freedom to moderate as they please is being assaulted from all sides—some groups are claiming they must be forced to moderate more or be punished for what their users post, while others are claiming they must be forced to moderate less (or not at all) or be punished for what their users post.

Re: Nobel Peace laureates blast tech giants and warn against rising authoritarianism

#14

Post by smt88 »

whitepaint wrote: post #6

Aren't governments (especially Germany and Australia for what they are doing at the moment) way more scarier than big tech? I am not scared of Google or Facebook at all. I am, however, scared of governments. Especially seeing how the pandemic was handled and how little resistance the handling got from the citizens.

Those governments (and the ones in the US) are at least beholden to voters.

Large companies have no accountability, and if they disrupt the democratic process, they have no consequences either.

Mark Zuckerberg is the authoritarian ruler of an extremely powerful entity that, in some countries, is more powerful than any local government.

Re: Nobel Peace laureates blast tech giants and warn against rising authoritarianism

#17

Post by ForHackernews »

whitepaint wrote: post #6

Aren't governments (especially Germany and Australia for what they are doing at the moment) way more scarier than big tech? I am not scared of Google or Facebook at all. I am, however, scared of governments. Especially seeing how the pandemic was handled and how little resistance the handling got from the citizens.

At least governments (in a democracy) are subject to public scrutiny and accountable to the electorate. As far as I can tell, the big tech firms aren't answerable to anyone.

Re: Nobel Peace laureates blast tech giants and warn against rising authoritarianism

#18

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

i think one key passage from Muratov's Nobel lecture is the following: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/muratov/lecture...

""Peace, progress, human rights – these three goals are insolubly linked to one another.”

These words are a quote from the Nobel lecture of member of the Academy of Science Andrei Sakharov, a citizen of the world, a great thinker.

His wife Elena Bonner read it out here, in this place, on Thursday, December 11, 1975.

I felt an urge to repeat Sakharov’s words here, in this world-famous hall.

Why is it important today for us, for me?

The world has fallen out of love for democracy anymore.

The world has become disappointed with the power elite.

The world has begun to turn to dictatorship.

We’ve got an illusion that progress can be achieved through technology and violence, not through human rights and freedoms."

Re: Nobel Peace laureates blast tech giants and warn against rising authoritarianism

#19

Post by vimy »

karl11 wrote: post #3

Just to make sure I understand this — the argument is that in order to combat authoritarianism, Silicon Valley companies should censor more content?

Ironically, the title on HN made me think they were warning against Silicon Valley censorship.

Re: Nobel Peace laureates blast tech giants and warn against rising authoritarianism

#20

Post by gorwell »

karl11 wrote: post #3

Just to make sure I understand this — the argument is that in order to combat authoritarianism, Silicon Valley companies should censor more content?

No worries, this time it's the good guys who want to censor you. We'd never abuse such power. We're just saving you from the bad guys. Pinky swear.
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