3 ms·

Implying non-Western search engines haven't been thoroughly censored already?

mindslight 5y ago
Well I know that when I'm searching for say torrents or cracks, Google and DDG (Bing) are absolute trash while Yandex returns useful links to assorted forums. I have no idea how sparse those results have become (heck I can't even read the language most of the time), but I know they continue to have at least some results whereas the western ones seem to have been thoroughly cleansed.
- jjulius 5y ago
  I think my response was speaking more broadly about censorship, not just specifically about torrenting.
  - mindslight 5y ago
    Is that anything besides whataboutism? While I'd love it if our society could straightforwardly rely on uncensorable systems, if two centralized systems censor disjoint sets of material that's a workable state of affairs. Your nit feels analogous to people criticizing Snowden for needing to flee to Russia. Despite Russia engaging in totalitarianism (like every other country), pragmatically they can help us mitigate our own country's totalitarianism. Thus even as a foreigner looking in, it's directly disappointing to see the content cartels firm up their grasp in another sovereign state.
    - jjulius 5y ago
      >Is that anything besides whataboutism? Sure! The way you worded your initial response was so broad that it implied that non-Western search engines aren't censored, and all I did was seek to clarify whether or not that was what you were saying. There's no "whataboutism" to simply seeking to understand a statement someone is making, nor do I disagree with the broader sentiment that you make at the end of the post I'm replying to now.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Yeah remember astalavista? Such a thing would be unthinkable now. For who doesn't know it, it was a search engine for cracks and serial numbers. The name was a pun on altavista which was one of the first search engines for the web.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- Terry_Roll 5y ago
  Search engines can control economic activity, there are so many ways to get at people now.

Well I know that when I'm searching for say torrents or cracks, Google and DDG (Bing) are absolute trash while Yandex returns useful links to assorted forums. I have no idea how sparse those results have become (heck I can't even read the language most of the time), but I know they continue to have at least some results whereas the western ones seem to have been thoroughly cleansed.

jjulius 5y ago
I think my response was speaking more broadly about censorship, not just specifically about torrenting.
- mindslight 5y ago
  Is that anything besides whataboutism? While I'd love it if our society could straightforwardly rely on uncensorable systems, if two centralized systems censor disjoint sets of material that's a workable state of affairs. Your nit feels analogous to people criticizing Snowden for needing to flee to Russia. Despite Russia engaging in totalitarianism (like every other country), pragmatically they can help us mitigate our own country's totalitarianism. Thus even as a foreigner looking in, it's directly disappointing to see the content cartels firm up their grasp in another sovereign state.
  - jjulius 5y ago
    >Is that anything besides whataboutism? Sure! The way you worded your initial response was so broad that it implied that non-Western search engines aren't censored, and all I did was seek to clarify whether or not that was what you were saying. There's no "whataboutism" to simply seeking to understand a statement someone is making, nor do I disagree with the broader sentiment that you make at the end of the post I'm replying to now.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
Yeah remember astalavista? Such a thing would be unthinkable now. For who doesn't know it, it was a search engine for cracks and serial numbers. The name was a pun on altavista which was one of the first search engines for the web.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
Terry_Roll 5y ago
Search engines can control economic activity, there are so many ways to get at people now.