4 ms·
> who argued that prohibitions would violate the free-speech rights of millions of Chinese-speaking Americans who rely on it for communication. By the same thi
by gist 6y ago
> who argued that prohibitions would violate the free-speech rights of millions of Chinese-speaking Americans who rely on it for communication.
By the same thinking Comcast should not be able to cut off someone's internet service (for not paying a bill) because doing so would violate that person's free speech rights (the ability to send email). Ditto for hosting providers, registrars and so on.
In this case the government sees a threat to the general public and believes it is right for getting rid of that threat. Really in a way like the classic 'can't yell fire in a crowded theater' argument.
- sudosysgen 6y agoISPs, as a utility, should not be allowed and indeed in most places in the world aren't allowed to cut service from people unless it is necessary to maintain their operations. The analogy breaks down here, allowing WeChat does not infringe on positive or negative liberty of much of anyone.
- publicola1990 6y agoBut government did not establish the precise nature of imminent "national security" threat by these apps, nor did establish that these apps violated American laws.
- acituan 6y agoJust to play devil’s advocate, I can imagine a game theoretic scenario in which revealing what we know about let’s say a deliberate cryptographic vulnerability will potentially make the other party switch to another vulnerability we don’t know, or reveal our capabilities in discovering the specific class of such vulnerabilities, therefore withholding information is advantageous. I.e they can’t go “nobody tell China, but this is the precise reason” in certain scenarios. Not saying that is necessarily the case here, but definitely a possibility.
- pishpash 6y agoThey can show the court in private. What it can't be is "trust us" because that's a wide gaping loophole.
- dtech 6y agoComcast users are not protected from Comcast by the first amendment.
- lotu 6y agoFree speech rights protect you from the government not private companies.