4 ms·

Random thought from a Texan who is a resident of Germany, but still only a US citizen (and one who votes in Texas, because that was my last US residence): how’s

Random thought from a Texan who is a resident of Germany, but still only a US citizen (and one who votes in Texas, because that was my last US residence): how’s that going to work if one of my cousins posts something Nazi-adjacent enough on Facebook that Germany’s well-known (but apparently not well-known enough) law against publishing Nazi-supporting materials kicks in, which obliges Facebook and other services to block said posts being displayed to users in Germany, even if those users are not Germans, but Americans?

Out_of_Characte 4y ago
Thats indeed an intractable problem with cross-border legislation over the exact same content. My guess is that facebook is not allowed to share nazi content on german IP adresses but can be sued for removing content for texans. Freedom of speech remains our greatest blessing and curse
Vladimof 4y ago
> law against publishing Nazi-supporting materials kicks in If you want to be able to see their content from Germany, just use a VPN located in Texas?
trompetenaccoun 4y ago
Your example demonstrates how broken the current system is and why it's good that there are states in the US that are at least trying to kickstart change. Starting with the early days of the internet, which was about connecting the world and the free flow of information/knowledge, we've ended up with a global censorship machine controlled in places like China by totalitarian states and in the US by dystopian megacorporations that remove everything governments in various jurisdictions tell them too plus some extra for their own agenda and politics. That German law is wrong (as are most other such laws) and it's done nothing to prevent political calamity. On the contrary, it can be argued the overly protected German public sleepwalked into another war on European soil, one that could have possibly been prevented if they'd realized the danger posed by Putin's regime earlier. Free expression can be difficult and a struggle. Free repression on the other hand feels nice and safe for some folks initially. They don't have to deal with all those uncomfortable opinions. In the long run it almost always makes things much worse when you don't talk things out.

Out_of_Characte 4y ago

Thats indeed an intractable problem with cross-border legislation over the exact same content. My guess is that facebook is not allowed to share nazi content on german IP adresses but can be sued for removing content for texans. Freedom of speech remains our greatest blessing and curse

Vladimof 4y ago

> law against publishing Nazi-supporting materials kicks in If you want to be able to see their content from Germany, just use a VPN located in Texas?

trompetenaccoun 4y ago

Your example demonstrates how broken the current system is and why it's good that there are states in the US that are at least trying to kickstart change. Starting with the early days of the internet, which was about connecting the world and the free flow of information/knowledge, we've ended up with a global censorship machine controlled in places like China by totalitarian states and in the US by dystopian megacorporations that remove everything governments in various jurisdictions tell them too plus some extra for their own agenda and politics. That German law is wrong (as are most other such laws) and it's done nothing to prevent political calamity. On the contrary, it can be argued the overly protected German public sleepwalked into another war on European soil, one that could have possibly been prevented if they'd realized the danger posed by Putin's regime earlier. Free expression can be difficult and a struggle. Free repression on the other hand feels nice and safe for some folks initially. They don't have to deal with all those uncomfortable opinions. In the long run it almost always makes things much worse when you don't talk things out.