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So when China regulates the internet, it's a dictatorship; when a western-affiliated democracy does it, it's... good?

• rty32 2y ago
  I can't answer "whether censorship good or bad", but one thing I think is true and needs to be clarified is that there is a democratic process for such legislation -- representatives debate the topic and vote on them, and if they do become law, they may be challenged in the court. They don't just happen. By comparison, censorship in China is mandated by a number of different laws and "rules" with extremely broad and vague words, some of which date back decades, with the explicit intention to be able to arbitrarily enforce the laws based on whoever is in power to interpret them, and... good luck challenging them in courts. Of course there are lots of caveats here -- e.g. in the US model, what if the executive branch, legislation and the court are controlled by one person (which we'll see very soon), and in the other hand, in China there is actually a parliament and a formal process for many of the legislations (even though that doesn't mean much). Still, at a very high level, there is a distinction.
• sigmar 2y ago
  uh yeah, dictatorships are bad. Society determining their government and enacting laws through consensus is good. Is that controversial now?
  • self_awareness 2y ago
    It's only democracy if it's the government on which we have voted for, otherwise it's a disgrace and a Russian manipulation.
• stonethrowaway 2y ago
  [flagged]