Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account • Hacker News Board

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#101

Post by lgleason » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 6:49 AM UTC

duskwuff wrote: post #96

lgleason wrote: post #93

For all of the people saying that Joyent can do this because they are a private company that statement there is a catch to this. All service providers are exempt from being sued for content on their platform under safe harbor under the argument that they were neutral platforms. If they are going to start to curate content by kicking companies like Gab.com off then it is time that a few copyright, libel test cases aga…

This is incorrect on multiple levels. The term "safe harbor" is typically used to refer to the provisions of the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA), not the Communications Decency Act you're discussing. OCILLA protects hosting and network providers from liability for copyright infringements committed by their customers, so long as they aren't aware of the infringement and don't directly b…

Yes, but the preamble tells a much different story as to the intent of the act.... There is also talk about updating the act as well which is a better solution IMHO because a lot has changed since it was written.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#102

Post by sremani » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 6:55 AM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #61

sremani wrote: post #36

Isn't @Joyent part of Samsung ? https://www.joyent.com/blog/samsung-acquires-joyent This should be really interesting in days to come.

Er, why? That seems unrelated.

A private american company imposing its standards on "free speech" does not have same ring as Korean conglomerate imposing its standards on "free speech" in America.

This may be or may not an angle of attack. I am speculating it would be.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#103

Post by lgleason » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 6:55 AM UTC

cjhopman wrote: post #73

mychael wrote: post #16

I don't visit Gab, but I will definitely be closing my Joyent account. If you're not a courageous and principled defender of free speech, you should get out of the cloud business.

Usually when people make these statements, they don't actually mean it. If Gab were strictly a child porn site, would it be okay if Joyent stopped serving them? If yes, then your absolutist statement isn't actually what you mean and it's just a question of where to draw the line. If not (which has yet to have been the case when someone initially stated such a trivial statement), then I disagree with you and maybe the…

Making racist statements is not against the law in the US. Child porn is. As such they would have a legal obligation to cut them off if they were hosting child porn.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#104

Post by syshum » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 9:24 AM UTC

drivingmenuts wrote: post #88

syshum wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "US Standard" generally means the standard by which the people of the US value the concept of Free Speech, which extends beyond that of the 1st amendment. We the people of the US codified our position on speech in the 1st amendment of our governing document to ensure that our government would never infringe upon our most vital right as free humans. This however does not in anyway mean we believe others including…

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." I suggest you re-read that and point to where it says "society at large". The 1st Amendment is a restriction on the government, not on the people…

The Constitution is a document establishing and limiting government power. It has nothing to do with what I am talking about

Freedom of speech exist beyond and outside of the 1st amendment, that fact that many people believe all free speech issues are limited only to the 1st amendment and government censorship is part of the massive problem we have in society at large

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#105

Post by repolfx » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 10:52 AM UTC

paraditedc wrote: post #24

I have been following the issue of Internet polarization since 2014 [1], and I propose two different ways to mediate the situation on a societal level: - Have a neutral platform to facilitate discourse and mutual understanding. This is hard as it requires a largely informed populace. - Complete segregation of groups having different opinions. This proves to be also hard because of incidents like this. [1] https://par…

Sites like Gab are supposed to be that neutral platform.

The problem is that some people (like "Asparagirl" in the other thread) identify providing a neutral space with supporting the enemy and immediately try to get that neutral third party shut down. They use arguments like "we found a bad user" (as in this case) or "that place is garbage it all deserves to be silenced", i.e. shooting the messenger.

There actually isn't any way to end these ongoing forum-hosting-wars, beyond a complete and total cultural victory by people who are fanatical about free speech. That will probably require services like content hosting and payment processing to migrate away from California in the long run, and for companies to be set up with explicit corporate cultural values of neutrality and freedom of speech - enforced by firing anyone who doesn't agree.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#106

Post by detaro » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 10:58 AM UTC

repolfx wrote: post #105

paraditedc wrote: post #24

I have been following the issue of Internet polarization since 2014 [1], and I propose two different ways to mediate the situation on a societal level: - Have a neutral platform to facilitate discourse and mutual understanding. This is hard as it requires a largely informed populace. - Complete segregation of groups having different opinions. This proves to be also hard because of incidents like this. [1] https://par…

Sites like Gab are supposed to be that neutral platform. The problem is that some people (like "Asparagirl" in the other thread) identify providing a neutral space with supporting the enemy and immediately try to get that neutral third party shut down. They use arguments like "we found a bad user" (as in this case) or "that place is garbage it all deserves to be silenced", i.e. shooting the messenger. There actually…

If your sites public relations account posts anti-semitic comments you can't really claim to be a "neutral platform" welcoming to all anymore.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#107

Post by faissaloo » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 2:09 PM UTC

jbarciauskas wrote: post #60

paraditedc wrote: post #24

I have been following the issue of Internet polarization since 2014 [1], and I propose two different ways to mediate the situation on a societal level: - Have a neutral platform to facilitate discourse and mutual understanding. This is hard as it requires a largely informed populace. - Complete segregation of groups having different opinions. This proves to be also hard because of incidents like this. [1] https://par…

What if, instead of either of these, we made it clear as a society that advocating violence against or the elimination of a class of people is unacceptable and we gave no venue for that conversation whatsoever?

But most people believe some people should be eliminated, the only thing that changes is who depending on your political alignment.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#108

Post by canhascodez » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 2:22 PM UTC

faissaloo wrote: post #107

jbarciauskas wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if, instead of either of these, we made it clear as a society that advocating violence against or the elimination of a class of people is unacceptable and we gave no venue for that conversation whatsoever?

But most people believe some people should be eliminated, the only thing that changes is who depending on your political alignment.

I can see how this might be a convenient belief, but I'm having a hard time imagining a more foul lie.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#109

Post by aldoushuxley001 » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 2:48 PM UTC

pvg wrote: post #92

aldoushuxley001 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't recall running into much antisemitic tripe when I was there. Calling Gab a white supremactist website just seems like a ridiculous over-the-top assertion without even a shred of evidence to back it up... I don't get how this isn't being called out as a blatant ad hominem attack.

Well, their own tweets seemed to convince one HN user they were, at best, Nazi-adjacent so I'm happy to try again. Take a look at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318536

Hm, thanks for the link! Definitely ridiculously unprofessional Twitter account they have. I wouldn't call them Nazis based on those tweets alone though. But yeah that certainly doesn't reflect well on them.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#110

Post by jnbiche » Sun, Oct 28, 2018, 3:48 PM UTC

SwellJoe wrote: post #75

jnbiche wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, come on. As today's horrible event demonstrated, all it takes is one single unbalanced individual with a semi-automatic weapon, and the members of any group -- white, black, Asian, Latino, Jewish, Muslim -- are at risk. And writing about killing members of any group only services to rile up and incite those people among us who are predisposed to violence. And those people are of every color and nationality that e…

Why is there always an "all lives matter" person?

For the record I support BLM.