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Many find the alternative bone chilling: American sovereignty, or soon perhaps Chinese, an alternative I haven't seen much enthusiasm for on HN for some reason.

Many find the alternative bone chilling: American sovereignty, or soon perhaps Chinese, an alternative I haven't seen much enthusiasm for on HN for some reason. Sovereignty doesn't need to mean government control, censorship, firewalls, nationally isolated networks. It can mean having alternative tools which are free of foreign influence. The implementation can take a million form, one might be the enforcement of open protocols and interoperability to counteract network effects. I believe in the free internet (however nebulous) as much as anyone who has seen its origins and works in software, but it's clear the internet is not free anymore, we are all centralized on closed and carefully curated American platforms.

SllX 4y ago
Then I would advise looking for a different phrase because while I wanted to read it much like you were describing, there’s no way I can read “social media sovereignty” as anything other than “thought control”. Or: it reads like one of the worst aspects of American culture (from an American perspective): that human instinct to want to control how our neighbors think, live and breathe, and our incessant nagging about how other people in other parts of the State and Country are living wrong. Growing up here you’re immersed in it: farmers vs city dwellers, “right kind” of people rhetoric and other such nonsense I lost all patience for at a very early age because it’s all just provincialism and finding excuses to see the worst in people. This isn’t unique to America either. In my experience most places have some kind of dynamic like this because deep in our heart of hearts, we’re a xenophobic species and we need to keep the xenophobia in check. People who sound, think and act differently are much scarier to us than people who look different. Wanting to exercise “sovereignty” over someone else’s social media habits—the someone else being your fellow countrymen—just sounds like you want to control what your own people think and hear, basically the thing I’m criticizing Twitter and saying it’s probably best left as a smoking hole in the ground for. So please find a better phrasing, because you’re going to have to explain that one every time you drop it.
- ad404b8a372f2b9 4y ago
  It's just jargon you're not familiar with, it's a standard term and the digital strategy of many european countries is centered around that concept.
  - SllX 4y ago
    It might be standard in that part of the world but it’s also crap jargon for all the reasons I outlined and saying it’s the “digital strategy of many European countries” does nothing to alleviate any of my concerns, only increase them. Where “sovereignty” enters the picture so does “control” and “power”.
uni_rule 4y ago
Ah, with the previous comment and its diction I thought you were doing to start advocating for the great firewall outright as a means of internet protectionism.

SllX 4y ago

Then I would advise looking for a different phrase because while I wanted to read it much like you were describing, there’s no way I can read “social media sovereignty” as anything other than “thought control”. Or: it reads like one of the worst aspects of American culture (from an American perspective): that human instinct to want to control how our neighbors think, live and breathe, and our incessant nagging about how other people in other parts of the State and Country are living wrong. Growing up here you’re immersed in it: farmers vs city dwellers, “right kind” of people rhetoric and other such nonsense I lost all patience for at a very early age because it’s all just provincialism and finding excuses to see the worst in people. This isn’t unique to America either. In my experience most places have some kind of dynamic like this because deep in our heart of hearts, we’re a xenophobic species and we need to keep the xenophobia in check. People who sound, think and act differently are much scarier to us than people who look different. Wanting to exercise “sovereignty” over someone else’s social media habits—the someone else being your fellow countrymen—just sounds like you want to control what your own people think and hear, basically the thing I’m criticizing Twitter and saying it’s probably best left as a smoking hole in the ground for. So please find a better phrasing, because you’re going to have to explain that one every time you drop it.

ad404b8a372f2b9 4y ago
It's just jargon you're not familiar with, it's a standard term and the digital strategy of many european countries is centered around that concept.
- SllX 4y ago
  It might be standard in that part of the world but it’s also crap jargon for all the reasons I outlined and saying it’s the “digital strategy of many European countries” does nothing to alleviate any of my concerns, only increase them. Where “sovereignty” enters the picture so does “control” and “power”.

uni_rule 4y ago

Ah, with the previous comment and its diction I thought you were doing to start advocating for the great firewall outright as a means of internet protectionism.