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These platforms can do no right. If Facebook/Youtube leave a video online of a beheading of John Smith from <Country X> then <Country X> inevitably calls them o

These platforms can do no right. If Facebook/Youtube leave a video online of a beheading of John Smith from <Country X> then <Country X> inevitably calls them out for promoting and hosting this "illegal" content. Now, they're being chastised for taking it down too. Maybe, just maybe, these companies have internal processes for handing over such materials to the relevant authorities, and don't need to rely on armchair detectives to investigate war crimes.

AstralStorm 7y ago
The actual question is if the process is used to silence lies or uncomfortable truth. Or more Machiavellian, shape the discourse in ways favorable to rulers without regard to either. These processes are ran by greedy people, not out of anyone's goodwill.
megous 7y ago
Ok, what these processes are, and where are they docummented? Because I seriously doubt they exist. I've certainly not read any articles about tech companies having any such thing, and actually helping researchers and archiving organizations. Also there's no jurisdiction or relevant authorities for many war zones. So archiving and docummenting is the only option now, to help potential investigations and trials in the future.
Xelbair 7y ago
Maybe, just maybe, we can decide if content platforms are responsible for user content or not.. and stick to that decision. Quite frankly i am against any form of censorship.
- cr0sh 7y ago
  Let's say you make users responsible for the content they create; how do you intend to enforce that? Country A's User B uploads Content C that User D in Country E find's objectionable, or in Country E is illegal to view or possess, while in Country A is perfectly legal. How do you enforce that? Labels or tags aren't the answer, because Content C could be labeled/tagged as X,Y,Z where X,Y,Z are orthogonal to the content, and bear no relation to it. Do you allow it to be viewed by User D, and if it isn't legal, then put that on User D to be responsible to...what? Unview it? More than a few of these problems are all because we humans have decided without consensus or agreement that some information is "bad" while other information is "good", and even that "good" information is only viewable by certain people of that group who meet a certain age requirement. All of it is very arbitrary, and at odds with itself on the world stage. This issue won't be solved easily, if at all. Instead, we'll likely just continue to make more convoluted laws that can't be followed and/or all descend into totalitarian walled garden states isolated from each other while atrocities continue behind those walls, telling each other within that "we're the free and prosperous ones; those over there are not". Why does this narrative seem so damn familiar...?
naasking 7y ago
> Maybe, just maybe, these companies have internal processes for handing over such materials to the relevant authorities Trusting authorities is not a solution, which should be obvious from an analysis of any country's recent history of scandals. Journalism is critical for keeping abuse of authority in check, and so censorship is a very serious problem.
gambler 7y ago
>These platforms can do no right. Yes they can. Easily. Separate the part of the business that does content hosting and other technical services from the part of the business that's effectively a scaled up editorial board (curated recommendation service) into separate companies. Allow anyone to access the same services/data for the same fees so that people can get their own data and create alternative presentations. This will disentangle responsibilities, remove conflicts of interest and allow for real competition.

AstralStorm 7y ago

The actual question is if the process is used to silence lies or uncomfortable truth. Or more Machiavellian, shape the discourse in ways favorable to rulers without regard to either. These processes are ran by greedy people, not out of anyone's goodwill.

megous 7y ago

Ok, what these processes are, and where are they docummented? Because I seriously doubt they exist. I've certainly not read any articles about tech companies having any such thing, and actually helping researchers and archiving organizations. Also there's no jurisdiction or relevant authorities for many war zones. So archiving and docummenting is the only option now, to help potential investigations and trials in the future.

Xelbair 7y ago

Maybe, just maybe, we can decide if content platforms are responsible for user content or not.. and stick to that decision. Quite frankly i am against any form of censorship.

cr0sh 7y ago
Let's say you make users responsible for the content they create; how do you intend to enforce that? Country A's User B uploads Content C that User D in Country E find's objectionable, or in Country E is illegal to view or possess, while in Country A is perfectly legal. How do you enforce that? Labels or tags aren't the answer, because Content C could be labeled/tagged as X,Y,Z where X,Y,Z are orthogonal to the content, and bear no relation to it. Do you allow it to be viewed by User D, and if it isn't legal, then put that on User D to be responsible to...what? Unview it? More than a few of these problems are all because we humans have decided without consensus or agreement that some information is "bad" while other information is "good", and even that "good" information is only viewable by certain people of that group who meet a certain age requirement. All of it is very arbitrary, and at odds with itself on the world stage. This issue won't be solved easily, if at all. Instead, we'll likely just continue to make more convoluted laws that can't be followed and/or all descend into totalitarian walled garden states isolated from each other while atrocities continue behind those walls, telling each other within that "we're the free and prosperous ones; those over there are not". Why does this narrative seem so damn familiar...?

naasking 7y ago

> Maybe, just maybe, these companies have internal processes for handing over such materials to the relevant authorities Trusting authorities is not a solution, which should be obvious from an analysis of any country's recent history of scandals. Journalism is critical for keeping abuse of authority in check, and so censorship is a very serious problem.

gambler 7y ago

>These platforms can do no right. Yes they can. Easily. Separate the part of the business that does content hosting and other technical services from the part of the business that's effectively a scaled up editorial board (curated recommendation service) into separate companies. Allow anyone to access the same services/data for the same fees so that people can get their own data and create alternative presentations. This will disentangle responsibilities, remove conflicts of interest and allow for real competition.