Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

471–480 of 491 posts

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#471

Post by clucas »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #463
clucas wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm one of those people. I think Elon can ban whomever he wants, for any reason he wants. I didn't see anyone arguing otherwise though, so I didn't have much to say. Edited to add: I am a little curious why the free speech absolutists weren't up in arms about those bans though. Hmm.

“I ignored when a national media outlet was banned for a publishing a true story that embarrassed a politician I and the US intelligence apparatus wanted to win… but no one complained about when I was suspended for 12 hours!”

The NY Post was banned for violating the hacked materials policy, and they were unbanned after Twitter changed the policy. It wasn't 12 hours, but it was pretty quick. Meanwhile plenty of other media outlets published embarassing details about the laptop contents on Twitter, and were not banned... because they didn't violate the hacked materials policy. If underlying goal was to suppress the story about the laptop and prevent embarassment, why didn't they also ban those accounts?

Also, what exactly is the rule you want in place re: banning by social media platforms? Do you have a principle behind your positions that you can articulate?

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#472

Post by nathias »

NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #218
elurg wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The distinction between the government "asking nicely" and "making demands" is not strong enough. In theory could Twitter could have resisted but the costs would have been quite high. The government should be prohibited from making such requests. It's also apparent that regarding the Hunter Biden story the FBI outright lied in order to make web platforms censor the story.

> The government should be prohibited from making such requests. They are. The first amendment forbids the government from interfering with the press. They're ignoring it and hoping people don't know this fact. The fact that other media outlets aren't pointing this out, means they're all part of the same fascist tribe as the FBI. Remember, fascism is the union of state and corporate power according to Mussolini's gho…

yea, exactly, I really don't see how they got all of the people to cheer at this

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#473

Post by wrycoder »

ceejayoz wrote: post #460
wrycoder wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government “requests” are usually treated as directives, since it’s well understood that they have many seemingly unrelated ways to make life difficult for a company and its officers.

That’s not even true for Twitter. https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/removal-requests... : > Overall, Twitter withheld or otherwise removed some or all of the reported content in response to 51% of global legal demands, down 5% from the previous reporting period.

Your category is "global" "legal" requests i.e. take-down requests. The FBI has special access and its requests aren't included in that report.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#474

Post by maxbond »

chitowneats wrote: post #469
maxbond wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> GP is defending CIA participation in a domestic influence/disinformation campaign, operated by the FBI. Please show me the phrase where they do this.

> In that domestic in intelligence/counterintelligence is the FBIs job, and that they are expected to do it as part of and in close coordination with other parts of the intelligence community including the CIA, yes, but its not getting around anything since its exactly the way things are supposed to work. "Expected" "not getting around anything" "Supposed to" Textbook apologia for the CIA's expansive interpretation o…

I guess we just entirely disagree about what this comment is saying and what it means.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#475

Post by Eisenstein »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #403
Eisenstein wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, cops are not allowed to do welfare checks because there is no crime of 'dying alone in your house' and there is no explicit authorization for police to enforce wellbeing? Don't be adsurd.

Cops are agents of their states, and a welfare check on an individual is a very different situation than a check on the welfare of society as a whole. The government doesn't get to decide when society is well, that's for the people to do as a whole.

Yourreasoning is just as arbitrary as just as nonsensical. What is a democracy if not the will of society as a whole? Do you have a different way for society to determine and enforce its needs?

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#476

Post by ceejayoz »

wrycoder wrote: post #473
ceejayoz wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not even true for Twitter. https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/removal-requests... : > Overall, Twitter withheld or otherwise removed some or all of the reported content in response to 51% of global legal demands, down 5% from the previous reporting period.

Your category is "global" "legal" requests i.e. take-down requests. The FBI has special access and its requests aren't included in that report.

The FBI was issuing these sorts of requests. I’d welcome specific evidence to the contrary.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#477

Post by NaturalPhallacy »

dang wrote: post #438
NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

We've banned this account for using HN primarily for ideological battle and ignoring our request to stop. We ban accounts that do this, regardless of which flavor they favor. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombina…

It's obvious which ideologies are allowed here, you're just too steeped in them to see it.

It's too bad new accounts are so expensive.

You'll be seeing me again soon.

An also, fuck you, cunt.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#478

Post by lurquer »

Eisenstein wrote: post #475
pclmulqdq wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cops are agents of their states, and a welfare check on an individual is a very different situation than a check on the welfare of society as a whole. The government doesn't get to decide when society is well, that's for the people to do as a whole.

Yourreasoning is just as arbitrary as just as nonsensical. What is a democracy if not the will of society as a whole? Do you have a different way for society to determine and enforce its needs?

The US Federal Government has only the limited powers granted it by the federal constitution. The States, on the other hand, have general authority… their powers are not limited (except by the specific restrictions set forth in the US Const.) In short, there is a very real and legal and intended difference between FedGov and StateGov. If you don’t like it, change the constitution. But, it’s not matter of opinion… it’s simply the way the USA government is set up. States have ‘general police power’ while the Fed does not.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#479

Post by refurb »

dragonwriter wrote: post #468
refurb wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it collects intelligence? That changes nothing in what I said. Or do you see a distinction between “law enforcement” and “intelligence agency” when it comes to asking a private business to ban certain customers? I see no distinction. Both operate with the all the powers vested by the government. They have no business doing it.

> So it collects intelligence? Collects and shares intelligence, intelligence assessments, and recommendations on mitigating threats indicated by that intelligence with other domestic and friendly government and private sector entities, yes. That's all very much part of the FBI’s overt, primary, national security role. Is there potential for confusion that needs careful clarity, especially when communicating with leg…

You seem to be getting off topic, and arguing points I never made.

Let me bring it back on topic.

Are you ok with a US law enforcement/intelligence service asking a social media company to silence certain users? To squash stories reported by the media they know are factual?

I mean if you are, that's ok. Just be upfront about it and not try and hide behind a long paragraph that talks about other thing that aren't relevant.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#480

Post by bbbbb5 »

wrycoder wrote: post #427
bbbbb5 wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about this kind of vague insinuations is that they're impossible to refute, but not necessarily impossible to show examples of. Do you have any?

In the same way that the Beltway connections are somewhat hard to pin down. I don't have much ready to hand - and it may be hard to come up with hard proof. There is Greenwald[0] and the infamous Homeland Security Disinformation Best Practices and Safeguards Subcommittee - here are the bios[1]. Note how interlinked these people are. They don't need to document their interactions, because they basically think alike an…

The executive branch essentially works for the congress, what's the issue here?
Post reply on HN