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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

#51

Post by naner »

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.

What are you trying to say? Germany compels companies to suppress Nazi propaganda in Germany. (I'm assuming, the article isn't that specific.) That is the government telling citizens what they cannot say (e.g. censorship).

The difference between censored speech in Germany (or America: we have limits on free speech, too) and someplace like China is German society has agreed to limit certain offensive speech where as Chinese citizens don't really have a say in the matter.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#52

Post by vibragiel »

Karunamon wrote: post #8
dustineichler wrote: post #3

This is weird. Freedom shouldn't be the price you pay to operate in any country. Is it passe to push American ideals abroad.

No, but when it comes down to "Censor stuff when asked" or "Don't bother setting up shop at all", any rational person would take option #1. So let's see, you're Google, and you want to set up your search engine in China. "Not so fast" says the local big cheeses. "You have to censor search results in compliance with laws X Y and Z. If you do not, your employees will be jailed and you will be shut down." As a Chinese c…

That is indeed a very simple matrix.

Outcome A': Google avoids China altogether, keeping the pressure on Chinese authorities, which may, on the long term, contribute to relax Chinese censorship laws and bolster freedom in that country. Chinese Citizen: 100.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#53

Post by furyg3 »

So they will publish the tweets they censor, eh? Idea:

1. Check the list. Get @username and text of censored tweet.

2. Mirror the tweet.

3. Lookup followers of @username

4. Send followers a tweet with link to censored tweet of the @user.

This will start an arms race. Twitter will censor all tweets which link to websites in (2), and start censoring all tweets from users who do (4). Solution:

2. Make Wordpress plugin which mirrors censored list on people's blog. Encourage wordpress users to install this plugin.

4. Encourage twitter users to authorize you to use their accounts to retweet links to censored tweets.

Thoughts?

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#54

Post by Maxious »

x5315 wrote: post #44
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.

The low bar for tweets to be taken down can be seen on their database already:

simply mentioning that TPB can be used to download movies: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512c/notice.cgi?NoticeID=...

claiming someone used your copyrighted photo as an avatar: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512c/notice.cgi?NoticeID=...

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#55

Post by icebraining »

Maxious wrote: post #54
x5315 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The low bar for tweets to be taken down can be seen on their database already: simply mentioning that TPB can be used to download movies: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512c/notice.cgi?NoticeID=... claiming someone used your copyrighted photo as an avatar: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512c/notice.cgi?NoticeID=...

We have contacted piratebay.com as well.

Yeah, good luck with that. https://thepiratebay.org/legal

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#56

Post by wladimir »

x5315 wrote: post #44
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.

That's incredible.

Even though I don't like it a bit that they're yielding to censorship, they did the best thing you can do when forced to censor: stay transparent about it. Provide a public API.

Same with the subpoenas: They were forced to give away the user's information, couldn't help that, but they did notify those users, and publish the subpoena.

Despite claims, Twitter is certainly not evil and secretive here.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#57

Post by rmc »

x5315 wrote: post #37
nextparadigms wrote: post #2

So does this mean they'll only censor them in a certain country when that country's government asks them to do it, or also when the US Government asks them to censor them in that country?

A country can only ask Twitter to censor the information in that country. For example, if Germany doesn't want the German people see pro-Nazi content, they can ask Twitter to censor it in that country. Twitter will then report it in to http://www.chillingeffects.org/ .

The German government doesn't have to ask twitter. Twitter would be breaking the law in Germany to publish it. It's not a request.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#58

Post by Karunamon »

vibragiel wrote: post #52
Karunamon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but when it comes down to "Censor stuff when asked" or "Don't bother setting up shop at all", any rational person would take option #1. So let's see, you're Google, and you want to set up your search engine in China. "Not so fast" says the local big cheeses. "You have to censor search results in compliance with laws X Y and Z. If you do not, your employees will be jailed and you will be shut down." As a Chinese c…

That is indeed a very simple matrix. Outcome A': Google avoids China altogether, keeping the pressure on Chinese authorities, which may, on the long term, contribute to relax Chinese censorship laws and bolster freedom in that country. Chinese Citizen: 100.

I think you greatly overestimate the amount of "pressure" a single company can exert on China, of all places.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#59

Post by vibragiel »

Karunamon wrote: post #58
vibragiel wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is indeed a very simple matrix. Outcome A': Google avoids China altogether, keeping the pressure on Chinese authorities, which may, on the long term, contribute to relax Chinese censorship laws and bolster freedom in that country. Chinese Citizen: 100.

I think you greatly overestimate the amount of "pressure" a single company can exert on China, of all places.

I can't hardly overestimate something I didn't make an estimation of.

Re: Twitter Will Censor Certain Tweets In Certain Countries

#60

Post by Karunamon »

vibragiel wrote: post #59
Karunamon wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you greatly overestimate the amount of "pressure" a single company can exert on China, of all places.

I can't hardly overestimate something I didn't make an estimation of.

Oh FFS.

>Outcome A': Google avoids China altogether, keeping the pressure on Chinese authorities, which may, on the long term

You did type this, yes?

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