4 ms·

I stopped reading after the first paragraph, couldn't get past the obvious slant from the authors. Genuinely curious, did EFF write a similar article when Bezo

by bavell 5y ago

I stopped reading after the first paragraph, couldn't get past the obvious slant from the authors. Genuinely curious, did EFF write a similar article when Bezos bought the WP? (I searched but couldn't find anything). I hope so because otherwise this is very hypocritical. I'd be glad to be wrong on this but I suspect I'm not.

daveoc64 5y ago
Why would EFF care about a newspaper?
- bavell 5y ago
  Literally the first sentence of the article: > Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter highlights the risks to human rights and personal safety when any single person has complete control over policies affecting almost 400 million users. Doesn't this apply to Bezos and WP? You could argue WP doesn't have the same reach in terms of raw numbers which is fair but I'd argue both their audiences have a lot of power and the overall point made by EFF applies in both cases.
  - wbsss4412 5y ago
    WP is neither of the same magnitude, nor is it the similar in kind. WP is not nor was it ever a platform in the sense that Twitter is.
MattRix 5y ago
In what way is it hypocritical? Surely you don’t believe they have to have an article about every media takeover before writing about this one.
- bavell 5y ago
  No, I certainly don't believe that. But if they report on one billionaire buying a major media platform / outlet, shouldn't they do it for the others? I mean, it's not like this stuff happens everyday.
  - sjtindell 5y ago
    Comparing the WP to Twitter is laughable. Twitter is so core to modern tech and the modern internet some people argue it should be public infrastructure. Although Bezos saved it, WP is one of many floundering newspapers, a dead format.
sha256sum 5y ago
The EFF is the Electronic Frontier Foundation. From their homepage: “The leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation.” So technology, privacy… not really newspapers. You might be thinking of the ACLU?
- bavell 5y ago
  Please see my reply to a sibling comment w.r.t. newspapers
- twoxproblematic 5y ago
dredmorbius 5y ago
EFF have addressed monopoly ownership in newspapers, though that is not their prime mission as noted by others. See: "An Antitrust Exemption for News Media Won’t Take Us Back to the Time Before Big Tech" https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/antitrust-exemption-news-media-wont-take-us-back-time-big-tech https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/antitrust-exemption-ne... That said, it's a fair oversight, though one that seems to apply reasonably to most of the non-digital media --- print, broadcast, and cable. As the line between these and the digital frontier increasingly blurs, perhaps EFF will step up to the challenges presented.

by bavell 5y ago

daveoc64 5y ago

Why would EFF care about a newspaper?

bavell 5y ago
Literally the first sentence of the article: > Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter highlights the risks to human rights and personal safety when any single person has complete control over policies affecting almost 400 million users. Doesn't this apply to Bezos and WP? You could argue WP doesn't have the same reach in terms of raw numbers which is fair but I'd argue both their audiences have a lot of power and the overall point made by EFF applies in both cases.
- wbsss4412 5y ago
  WP is neither of the same magnitude, nor is it the similar in kind. WP is not nor was it ever a platform in the sense that Twitter is.

MattRix 5y ago

In what way is it hypocritical? Surely you don’t believe they have to have an article about every media takeover before writing about this one.

bavell 5y ago
No, I certainly don't believe that. But if they report on one billionaire buying a major media platform / outlet, shouldn't they do it for the others? I mean, it's not like this stuff happens everyday.
- sjtindell 5y ago
  Comparing the WP to Twitter is laughable. Twitter is so core to modern tech and the modern internet some people argue it should be public infrastructure. Although Bezos saved it, WP is one of many floundering newspapers, a dead format.

sha256sum 5y ago

The EFF is the Electronic Frontier Foundation. From their homepage: “The leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation.” So technology, privacy… not really newspapers. You might be thinking of the ACLU?

bavell 5y ago
Please see my reply to a sibling comment w.r.t. newspapers
twoxproblematic 5y ago

dredmorbius 5y ago

EFF have addressed monopoly ownership in newspapers, though that is not their prime mission as noted by others. See: "An Antitrust Exemption for News Media Won’t Take Us Back to the Time Before Big Tech" https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/antitrust-exemption-news-media-wont-take-us-back-time-big-tech https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/antitrust-exemption-ne... That said, it's a fair oversight, though one that seems to apply reasonably to most of the non-digital media --- print, broadcast, and cable. As the line between these and the digital frontier increasingly blurs, perhaps EFF will step up to the challenges presented.