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All the more reason tech companies should take a stand against any kind of censorship, especially along political lines (be it left/right/whatever)

by gormo2 9y ago

liquidise 9y ago
It saddens me how the discussion here is focused on what i will call "fair" censorship, where because X was censored, Y should also be censored to make it even. My American political bent surely influences this, but the censorship of ideas on the internet leaves a foul taste in my mouth. I would hope that was an opinion shared among the majority of tech folks, but comments lately on HN lead to me believe that is no longer the case.
- alexanderstears 9y ago
  It's come up at my firm. I spoke about it 1:1 with the decision owner and advocated for my employer to be less actively censorious(?). However, I don't think there's a risk free way to express that opinion in a meeting. It doesn't help that one of my cowokers has a big "#RESIST" sticker on their work laptop (nevermind that we agree not to put stickers on our work laptops when they're issued...).
- thomasz 9y ago
  This has nothing to do with ideas. The site was used as a dumping ground for letters claiming responsibility^1, doxxing of right wing activists, calls for violent protest and so on. The whole thing is a little bit odd because in the past, this kind of prosecution has been targeted way bigger threats: Jihadists, Biker Gangs, paramilitary Nazi groups and stuff like that. ------ ^1 for what may be best described as "petty terror": Torched cars, smashed windows etc.
to_bpr 9y ago
Tech companies are the ones accelerating censorship on political lines, not defending it in any manner. Tech companies, as a whole, are a social negative. Let's not appeal to them to position themselves as figures of social authoritiey or defender of rights.
lostlogin 9y ago
What do you think of tech companies doing the censoring themselves? Their service, their rules would be my view. Specifically I'm thinking of Cloudflare versus Daily Stormer.
- rpiguy 9y ago
  I don't think there is clear cut answer to that question. It may depend on the company in question. For Google that supplies 78% of all search results it is probably dangerous to allow them to decide what to favor and what to censor. For a smaller service provider like Cloudflare, I am not so sure. It will be interesting to see how it would go down in court. I am not a lawyer or legal expert by any means, but if the courts decided that business have to serve the public, for example forcing a baker to bake a wedding cake for a gay wedding, I can see a court forcing Cloudflare to host content they don't want to host. Now the interpretation of the law today would not support that because minority opinion holders are not a protected class, but the court extends its power all the time and I could see this leap being made, although it is unlikely. All in all interesting stuff to ponder.

All the more reason tech companies should take a stand against any kind of censorship, especially along political lines (be it left/right/whatever)

by gormo2 9y ago

All the more reason tech companies should take a stand against any kind of censorship, especially along political lines (be it left/right/whatever)

liquidise 9y ago

It saddens me how the discussion here is focused on what i will call "fair" censorship, where because X was censored, Y should also be censored to make it even. My American political bent surely influences this, but the censorship of ideas on the internet leaves a foul taste in my mouth. I would hope that was an opinion shared among the majority of tech folks, but comments lately on HN lead to me believe that is no longer the case.

alexanderstears 9y ago
It's come up at my firm. I spoke about it 1:1 with the decision owner and advocated for my employer to be less actively censorious(?). However, I don't think there's a risk free way to express that opinion in a meeting. It doesn't help that one of my cowokers has a big "#RESIST" sticker on their work laptop (nevermind that we agree not to put stickers on our work laptops when they're issued...).
thomasz 9y ago
This has nothing to do with ideas. The site was used as a dumping ground for letters claiming responsibility^1, doxxing of right wing activists, calls for violent protest and so on. The whole thing is a little bit odd because in the past, this kind of prosecution has been targeted way bigger threats: Jihadists, Biker Gangs, paramilitary Nazi groups and stuff like that. ------ ^1 for what may be best described as "petty terror": Torched cars, smashed windows etc.

to_bpr 9y ago

Tech companies are the ones accelerating censorship on political lines, not defending it in any manner. Tech companies, as a whole, are a social negative. Let's not appeal to them to position themselves as figures of social authoritiey or defender of rights.

lostlogin 9y ago

What do you think of tech companies doing the censoring themselves? Their service, their rules would be my view. Specifically I'm thinking of Cloudflare versus Daily Stormer.

rpiguy 9y ago
I don't think there is clear cut answer to that question. It may depend on the company in question. For Google that supplies 78% of all search results it is probably dangerous to allow them to decide what to favor and what to censor. For a smaller service provider like Cloudflare, I am not so sure. It will be interesting to see how it would go down in court. I am not a lawyer or legal expert by any means, but if the courts decided that business have to serve the public, for example forcing a baker to bake a wedding cake for a gay wedding, I can see a court forcing Cloudflare to host content they don't want to host. Now the interpretation of the law today would not support that because minority opinion holders are not a protected class, but the court extends its power all the time and I could see this leap being made, although it is unlikely. All in all interesting stuff to ponder.