It seems that the Citizens United ruling doesn't apply in Russia.
Russia: Google removes Putin critic's ads from YouTube
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Re: Russia: Google removes Putin critic's ads from YouTube
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're advocating for breaking a country's laws. What makes Russia's laws worth less than any other country's? Whether you agree or not with them, you have to respect them. They are a sovereign country and have the right to establish whatever laws they want within their territory.
> Whether you agree or not with them, you have to respect them. A trivial comparison: would you respect laws of Nazi Germany in 1930s if Internet existed then?
Your comparison only works because we now know that the Nazis committed horrific deeds. We didn't know about the holocaust until the early 1940s. Until then, they were just another government to do business with.
Re: Russia: Google removes Putin critic's ads from YouTube
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would choose not to do business with Nazi Germany. If I'm running a business and don't agree with their laws, I can choose not to do business there. If I'm choosing to do business there, I'm choosing to respect their laws. It's that simple - it's just like an individual immigrating to a country. Doing business there, and breaking their laws, isn't right no matter what you think of them.
> Doing business there Out of curiosity, how'd you define "doing business there" in a borderless Internet? Surely Google servers remain in the USA? Would you rely on imperfect client location determination?
The article is about Google pulling down Russian ads, paid for by Russians. It is clear that Google is doing business with people in Russia. This isn't about visitors to a website, which I agree is an entirely different situation.
Re: Russia: Google removes Putin critic's ads from YouTube
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're advocating for breaking a country's laws. What makes Russia's laws worth less than any other country's? Whether you agree or not with them, you have to respect them. They are a sovereign country and have the right to establish whatever laws they want within their territory.
I'm actually not advocating breaking a country's laws or their sovereignty. What I was trying to argue (and I probably didn't do a good job) is that trusting a for-profit company to serve the general welfare and public good is a fool's errand. This is further proof that companies like Google only care about furthering conversations insofar as to make money.
I completely agree with you there, and I'm sorry if my comment came across as aggressive. What I'm surprised by though, is that anyone thinks corporations are anything but a way to make money.
Does anyone really believe they care about serving the general welfare? It's money first, "don't be evil" second, for all for-profit corporations. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just what a corporation is for.
Re: Russia: Google removes Putin critic's ads from YouTube
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm actually not advocating breaking a country's laws or their sovereignty. What I was trying to argue (and I probably didn't do a good job) is that trusting a for-profit company to serve the general welfare and public good is a fool's errand. This is further proof that companies like Google only care about furthering conversations insofar as to make money.
I completely agree with you there, and I'm sorry if my comment came across as aggressive. What I'm surprised by though, is that anyone thinks corporations are anything but a way to make money. Does anyone really believe they care about serving the general welfare? It's money first, "don't be evil" second, for all for-profit corporations. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just what a corporation is for.
It appears to me that a lot of people have shifted their trust to private corporations from government entities. Namely because we've stopped holding our elected officials accountable. There should be and always will be a struggle between for-profit ventures and the general welfare but if we don't have trust in democratic institutions, we'll continue ceding power to for-profit ventures.