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The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled
- r721 2y agoYeah, it seems like anti-anti-disinformation efforts are becoming one of focuses of Republicans. "One shouldn't research our methods of lying at scale".
- progressive666 2y ago[dead]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- jauntywundrkind 2y agoSemi related, one of the key things Musk is doing by eliminating Twitter likes is removing a core ability to monitor platform manipulation. It's wild what an intensely dark dark forest Twitter has been turned into. Really sad to see such an interesting noble effort to figure out what all is happening in this chaotic age dismantled by the powers that be. There seems like so many forces pushing to make social media chaotic & tolerant to truly hostile forces.
- ffhhj 2y ago> And in an actual weaponization of government, Jordan’s committee has included students — both undergraduates and graduates — in its subpoena requests, publishing their names and putting them at risk of threats or worse. 1984 at work.
- consumer451 2y ago> 1984 at work. This gets thrown around a lot, but here it is entirely appropriate. Jordan's "Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government" is in-fact, the weaponization of the federal government.
- progressive666 2y ago[dead]
- pseudo0 2y agoIs this supposed to be concerning? Most research groups publish a list of their staff online, including graduate students and undergrads. They contribute to and get credited in published work and attend conferences. If you're going to perform oversight of such a group, it has to include all the researchers, not just the people signing the grant paperwork.
- consumer451 2y ago> If you're going to perform oversight of such a group "Oversight"[0] is something that the government only does to itself in a free country like the United States of America. Why is the federal government performing "oversight" of Stanford, a private organization and university? As a child, my family brought me to the USA from an authoritarian communist country to escape things like government "oversight" of private universities. I understand that their findings were very uncomfortable for one political party, but that's how this type of thing works. One party is always going to be more uncomfortable. My mind is melting right now. How is this not setting of all of the alarm bells against government overreach, for every liberty-minded person? [0] https://oversight.house.gov/ https://oversight.house.gov/
- pseudo0 2y agoThe allegation is described in the article: > SIO and its researchers have been sued three times by conservative groups alleging that its researchers colluded illegally with the federal government to censor speech, forcing Stanford to spend millions of dollars to defend its staff and students. This is the government investigating whether the government colluded with this private entity to take actions that violate the First Amendment. We have seen a lot of that lately, with government agencies leaning on private entities to avoid scrutiny and limit legal relief when it comes to 1A cases. Stanford's involvement is peripheral, the oversight is limited to their interactions with the government. I suppose a liberty-minded individual would suggest that a private entity should not collude with the government, if it wants to avoid government oversight.
- consumer451 2y ago
- pseudo0 2y ago> Two of SIO’s major initiatives — the peer-reviewed Journal of Online Trust and Safety and its Trust and Safety Research Conference — will also continue. (The journal is funded through a separate grant from the Omidyar Network.) "Trust and safety" - brought to you by a left-wing activist billionaire megadonor.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- intended 2y agoTheres T&S / content-moderation on hacker news.