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Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

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Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#41

Post by Volpe »

Karunamon wrote: post #36
Volpe wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because US propaganda has got it into peoples heads that "Free-Speech"* = "Freedom"+ Glasshouses, stones, kettles and pots are all coming to mind :P * Where free speech, is "Free" by US law. And not anything that is critical of the US govt institution (ala Bradley Manning) + Where freedom is the same brand of Freedom™ that the US promotes/enjoys(?)

> And not anything that is critical of the US govt institution (ala Bradley Manning) Pretty sure free speech does not, has not, and never has or will apply to military secrets that one takes an oath to keep when they join the military. Let's get one thing straight. Manning is a hero in my book.. but there is no question what so ever that he broke the law (and his oath). The debate comes in to what we do with him beca…

Thats my point... you have a special brand of "free speech". That has caveats on the free part.

If you don't like the bradley manning example, then just move further up the chain to Wikileaks. The point is still valid. It isn't Free Speech, is just 'mostly' free unless you impinge on a more powerful interest... oh wait, that isn't free.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#43

Post by Karunamon »

Volpe wrote: post #41
Karunamon wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And not anything that is critical of the US govt institution (ala Bradley Manning) Pretty sure free speech does not, has not, and never has or will apply to military secrets that one takes an oath to keep when they join the military. Let's get one thing straight. Manning is a hero in my book.. but there is no question what so ever that he broke the law (and his oath). The debate comes in to what we do with him beca…

Thats my point... you have a special brand of "free speech". That has caveats on the free part. If you don't like the bradley manning example, then just move further up the chain to Wikileaks. The point is still valid. It isn't Free Speech, is just 'mostly' free unless you impinge on a more powerful interest... oh wait, that isn't free.

It sounds like you're pointing to a definition of "free" that doesn't include exceptions for incitement, classified information, etc.

It's a nice principal, but unworkable in the real world.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#44

Post by x5315 »

droithomme wrote: post #20

A useful new web service to complement this would be a site to determine which tweets are censored in which countries and publicly log them for convenient searching and analysis.

Twitter reports this information to http://www.chillingeffects.org/. I think this is what you're describing.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#45

Post by x5315 »

slig wrote: post #40
snikolov wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow. Could you point to where it mentioned NLP in the article?

It's not on the article, I implied it because I thought they were going to censor content automatically.

It's not an automatic censoring. The country sends a request to Twitter.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#46

Post by rooshdi »

beseku wrote: post #30
simonw wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a violation in the moral sense, depending of course in your morals. Twitter's image involves the protection if free speech, so it's problematic for them.

It's only a violation in so far as its less of a violation to a persons free speech than blocking the whole service. Users can be creative with what they want to express with this approach - with no Twitter at all, where is the wiggle room?

Yes, but censorship is a slippery slope to silence and government abuse. Eventually Twitter and/or the People will need to make a stand against tyranny if they feel human rights and free speech are being overly obstructed.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#47

Post by aptwebapps »

alain94040 wrote: post #27
simonw wrote: post #26

I'm going to guess this is more about Germany than it is about China In Germany, Nazi propaganda is illegal. This leaves Twitter with three options when dealing with a user who posts Nazi propaganda: 1. Leave it up, in violation of German law. 2. Delete the user's tweet, even though it is legal in most countries (and blocking it is a violation of the principle of free speech) 3. Block it only in Germany, and make it…

Blocking those tweets is not a violation of the principle of free speech. At least not in the legal sense. Private people and companies suppress speech all the time and that's fine. It's when your government does it that it's very wrong.

So if a Government told a newspaper that they couldn't run an editorial by a guest columnist, that wouldn't be suppressing free speech?

Twitter isn't doing this just for fun, they're doing it because of the policies and laws of the countries in which they operate.

If Twitter told it's users that they couldn't post bad things about Jack Dorsey that would be different.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#48

Post by mhartl »

alain94040 wrote: post #27
simonw wrote: post #26

I'm going to guess this is more about Germany than it is about China In Germany, Nazi propaganda is illegal. This leaves Twitter with three options when dealing with a user who posts Nazi propaganda: 1. Leave it up, in violation of German law. 2. Delete the user's tweet, even though it is legal in most countries (and blocking it is a violation of the principle of free speech) 3. Block it only in Germany, and make it…

Blocking those tweets is not a violation of the principle of free speech. At least not in the legal sense. Private people and companies suppress speech all the time and that's fine. It's when your government does it that it's very wrong.

I'm sympathetic to your point; people are so confused about this issue. If a reporter says something offensive on TV and gets fired as a result, it's not a violation of "free speech". In the present case, though, it is a violation of free speech—not by Twitter, but by the German government. (Good thing, too, as I hear the Nazis are rallying their forces and are on the brink of a comeback.)

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#49

Post by Volpe »

Karunamon wrote: post #43
Volpe wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats my point... you have a special brand of "free speech". That has caveats on the free part. If you don't like the bradley manning example, then just move further up the chain to Wikileaks. The point is still valid. It isn't Free Speech, is just 'mostly' free unless you impinge on a more powerful interest... oh wait, that isn't free.

It sounds like you're pointing to a definition of "free" that doesn't include exceptions for incitement, classified information, etc. It's a nice principal, but unworkable in the real world.

> It's a nice principal, but unworkable in the real world.

Reference? Why is it unworkable?

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#50

Post by erichocean »

SamReidHughes wrote: post #28
alain94040 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blocking those tweets is not a violation of the principle of free speech. At least not in the legal sense. Private people and companies suppress speech all the time and that's fine. It's when your government does it that it's very wrong.

It is when they do it because of German government coercion. So it is.

Exactly, Twitter is acting on behalf of Government. That doesn't somehow make it "ok" -- understandable? Yes. But it's not the same thing as a private enterprise deciding they don't want to republish Nazi tweets.
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