Live data from Hacker News

Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

support.google.com

711–720 of 1001 posts

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#711

I see a lot of comments misinterpreting this. First, it's not about private files, it's about distributing content. Google isn't spying on your private files, but does scan them when you share them publicly. E.g. keep all the pirated movies you want on your Drive, and even give private access to friends, but the moment you make them publicly viewable Google scans them and limits access accordingly. So no, this isn't…

There's something fundamentally flawed about the idea that censorship in the name of preventing misinformation is protecting the foundation of democracy. You cannot have true democracy if people cannot disagree with their governments, they must be able to disagree with any truth or opinion such a government might consider self-evident, just on the off chance they're right. I should at this point note that Google does…

This seems like a “throw the baby out with the bath water” situation in both directions: Censorship, like you note, can be used for evil to suppress anything you disagree with and drive your narrative. But unbridled amplified speech opens the possibility for destructive mass influence of minds, to be evil and destroy the good things those minds agree on.

So to me this is at least nuanced. Insisting on completely unchecked speech, however unscientific and destructive, is not a reasonable position.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#712

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something fundamentally flawed about the idea that censorship in the name of preventing misinformation is protecting the foundation of democracy. You cannot have true democracy if people cannot disagree with their governments, they must be able to disagree with any truth or opinion such a government might consider self-evident, just on the off chance they're right. I should at this point note that Google does…

> There's something fundamentally flawed There isn't really. You're adopting, I assume, J.S. Mill's view, that the cure for bad speech is more speech, which he famously published in 1859. However, since then it's been widely accepted that when speech reaches a certain level of harm then the greater good is to prevent/punish it. You can't incite violence under the guise of free speech. You can't advertise that somethi…

> u can't incite violence under the guise of free speech.

No, you can’t incite violence with speech. Everyone is responsible for the actions they take, even if misinformed.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#713

I see a lot of comments misinterpreting this. First, it's not about private files, it's about distributing content. Google isn't spying on your private files, but does scan them when you share them publicly. E.g. keep all the pirated movies you want on your Drive, and even give private access to friends, but the moment you make them publicly viewable Google scans them and limits access accordingly. So no, this isn't…

> Google isn't spying on your private files This is false. All of the major services that host images scan them for child porn, regardless if they're private or shared. I don't know how they're going to apply these rules and, unless you work there and are involved in this, neither do you.

This is a point most miss. I’m curious how they know if something is/isn’t CP.

Anyone have any experience in this realm? Do they have to use CP to compare against? Wouldn’t that be illegal?

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#714

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google isn't spying on your private files This is false. All of the major services that host images scan them for child porn, regardless if they're private or shared. I don't know how they're going to apply these rules and, unless you work there and are involved in this, neither do you.

This is a point most miss. I’m curious how they know if something is/isn’t CP. Anyone have any experience in this realm? Do they have to use CP to compare against? Wouldn’t that be illegal?

Look up photodna. Basically they compare hashes of uploaded images to a database of known child porn.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#715

I see a lot of comments misinterpreting this. First, it's not about private files, it's about distributing content. Google isn't spying on your private files, but does scan them when you share them publicly. E.g. keep all the pirated movies you want on your Drive, and even give private access to friends, but the moment you make them publicly viewable Google scans them and limits access accordingly. So no, this isn't…

Mao in 1956: let a hundred flowers bloom ... Mao a year later: but watch out for the weeds. In those days the CPC apparently also has had a change in their 'terms and conditions'.

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#716

I see a lot of comments misinterpreting this. First, it's not about private files, it's about distributing content. Google isn't spying on your private files, but does scan them when you share them publicly. E.g. keep all the pirated movies you want on your Drive, and even give private access to friends, but the moment you make them publicly viewable Google scans them and limits access accordingly. So no, this isn't…

> Google isn't spying on your private files This is false. All of the major services that host images scan them for child porn, regardless if they're private or shared. I don't know how they're going to apply these rules and, unless you work there and are involved in this, neither do you.

[deleted]

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#717
post #659
post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is really bizarre. I get this kind of policy for some kinds of platforms, but not Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. Those are my documents, and I should be free to put whatever I want in them. What if I just like to collect and share old conspiracy theory stuff that I know is wrong? For whimsy, historical, whatever purposes...

This policy does not apply to private files. I just want to point out based on your comment that none of what you mentioned matters unless you share the document publicly.

> unless you share the document publicly

Based on Google's wording[1], it seems you just need to share that document with one single person; if that person flags it, at that point Google is allowed to investigate even if the document is not public.

[1] "After we are notified of a potential policy violation, we may review the content and take action, including restricting access to the content, removing the content, and limiting or terminating a user’s access to Google products."

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#718

I see a lot of comments misinterpreting this. First, it's not about private files, it's about distributing content. Google isn't spying on your private files, but does scan them when you share them publicly. E.g. keep all the pirated movies you want on your Drive, and even give private access to friends, but the moment you make them publicly viewable Google scans them and limits access accordingly. So no, this isn't…

You are assuming a professional is reading whatever the content is you are distributing and will make a rational, fair decision. No. It's going to be a minimum wage indentured Google servant that doesn't quite understand what they are reading but they have 17.5 seconds per case to make a decision. They will shoot first and ask questions later. What if the document is satire but they couldn't understand it? Oh well th…

[deleted]

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#719

I see a lot of comments misinterpreting this. First, it's not about private files, it's about distributing content. Google isn't spying on your private files, but does scan them when you share them publicly. E.g. keep all the pirated movies you want on your Drive, and even give private access to friends, but the moment you make them publicly viewable Google scans them and limits access accordingly. So no, this isn't…

> when you share them publicly

from the wording in the link[1], it seems even if you share the document with just one single person, and that person flags it, Google is then allowed to investigate. So, the pre-condition is not sharing publicly, just sharing.

> So no, this isn't applying to your private diary or privately shared documents.

Well this seems to be inaccurate based on the text cited below[1], do you have sources that back your claim? There is nothing saying that privately shared documents can't be reviewed. The only necessary condition seems to be just that someone flagged your content, which could be the one person you shared that content with.

[1] "After we are notified of a potential policy violation, we may review the content and take action, including restricting access to the content, removing the content, and limiting or terminating a user’s access to Google products".

Re: Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

#720

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something fundamentally flawed about the idea that censorship in the name of preventing misinformation is protecting the foundation of democracy. You cannot have true democracy if people cannot disagree with their governments, they must be able to disagree with any truth or opinion such a government might consider self-evident, just on the off chance they're right. I should at this point note that Google does…

The bigger problem that I have with the idea that misinformation kills democracy is that it seems to suggest that misinformation is some new phenomenon or that the average person has been well informed throughout the history of western democracy. Democracy thrived before the printing press. Democracy survived the invention of the printing press, which was mostly in the hands of magnates who could afford it. Democracy…

What I’m seeing is a disintegration of the narrative, with a relatively small group of disinformation plutocrats bombarding minds at scale with conflicting positions.

A compassionate view of humanity would say that humans are basically accepting. This openness can then be abused by viral misinformation. We could take the view that humans should just be self protecting and if they got duped that’s on them. But IMO that’s a depressing view of the world, and tends toward something like mutually assured social destruction in the limit. We need to protect our shared narrative.

Also personally I find the view that “democracy prevailed before, it’ll continue to prevail somehow” deeply unsatisfying. Democracy is not built into nature. It has to be proactively maintained and refreshed.

Post reply on HN