This is a good article, and I like how he quotes Tom Eastman, a technologists out of NZ (who is interestingly is not strongly in favor of free speech, preferring the slightly more restrictive NZ policies).
There seems to be an appeal to both legislation and technological solutions: laws to break up and stop monopolies as well as people embracing and creating newer technologies to improve our ability to speak.
> Corrections & Amplifications
The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones urged Trump supporters not to attack police and to move to the east side of the Capitol. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Mr. Jones urged rioters attacking the Capitol to move forward. (Corrected on Jan. 8)
Buried at the very bottom of the Wall-Street Journal article.
This is his side of the story, but it sounds like you've already made up your mind and don't want to listen to any corrections:
The rioters didn't listen to Donald Trump or Alex Jones. Have you read what's come out recently?
Jones specifically told people not to riot and condemned violence. The people who broke in where already at the capitol steps while he was speaking. They literally couldn't have been incited by what Trump said.
I currently have Hangouts/Messenger/Telegram and Signal all connected via bridges to Matrix. I pump all my Facebook/Messenger/Hangouts traffic in my browser through a VPN to the server where the bridges are hosted so Google/Messenger won't flag them for security.
This took a couple of tries of logging in outside of the proxy to FB, getting the security warning and then switching back to the proxy with the same cookies so FB/Google algos learn the IP is safe. Hopefully when I move, if I keep all those same rules in place (using FoxyProxy for Firefox or Chrome-based browsers) and turning off location on my Android device permanently (will also move to a PinePhone soon), I can make it difficult for Google/FB to know my location after I move from my current city.
Singal and Telegram are great because they have standard APIs that make it easy for a Matrix Bridge. For FB and Google I have to trick them, which makes them hostile to developers and tech people. We've had to do this for years with libpurple plugins as well:
No, I mean those individual things. There may be some intersection between Alex Jones fans, Daily Stormer Fans and Reddit users ... but they're certainly not the same audiences at all.
You can replace them with anyone you want that's heterodox that's been banned honestly.
> I believe that companies are largely on their own team, neither right nor left
Wat? Dude, Twitter, Reddit and Facebook's moderation policies are clearly left to far-left. They've done no blanket banning for calls to violence from the left. None of these people have had their pages, accounts or posts censored:
Exactly, and weeks after the story broke, it was revealed the FBI was actively investigating Hunter Biden.
You can also download all the uncensored photos on many leak websites. The photos are clearly Hunter Biden in many sexually explicit positions (although none of them appear to be underage as was suggested by some).
I think there is a prima fascia case against Hunter for his ties to Burisma and his appointment being purely for political clout and a power move; a move that should be investigated for possible direct security risks to the American government and the American people.
It's not the usual way of things. They're not removing a few individually flagged post. FB is erasing massive numbers of communities, many just because they lean right. Reddit deleting over 2,000+ subreddits in the past year is just business as usual?
No, that's fucking targeted attacks against opinions they do not like. This is absolutely not business as usual. Everything about this is massive and it's morally reprehensible. It may not be illegal, but it's fucking wrong and insane.
It also shows that Big Tech is afraid. They're afraid and they're cowards. Regulating speech and language and blanket censorship are tools of authoritarians, not of people who believe in democracy and liberty.
Show me a single nation where censorship lead to a more free and open State.
It was a ride range to indicate how large it is and meant to illustrate a point. You're asking for a fact is really just a way to say "I don't like your opinion so I'm going to challenge something that's obviously intended as a hyperbole" to discredit your statement in some arbitrary way.
Alright, AWS may not own 80% of the market, but let's be fair; it's fucking massive. On top of that Cloudflair has taken down websites before. DigitalOcean and DreamHost have removed people's hosting with less than 24 hours notice[0]. NameCheap and GoDaddy have both revoked peoples domains with less than 24 hours notice[1].
Initial searches seem to show AWS owns 50% of the market by themselves. You add in DO, Azure and GCE and that number quickly climbs[2].
They came for Alex Jones and I said nothing
Because I didn't believe in gay frogs[1]
They came for Daily Stormer and I said nothing
Because I knew nothing about Daily Stormer and believed everything the media I said about them because their site was gone
They came for ever heterodox opinion on Reddit and I said nothing
Because I believed those opinions were wrong
and Reddit was within their rights as a private company to ban them
Then I had a heterodox opinion and lost my Google account, my Facebook account, my phone numbers I ported to Twilio because I thought that was safe, and all means of communicating with friends whose phone numbers I did not get.
> Big Tech will at least pay lip service to the idea of moderation
You are not really watching if you think that is what is happening. They are controlling the narrative. They are promoting some topics and pushing down other. Facebook deleted WalkAway, a group that had full moderation, did not allow any posts which called for violence, and which was pure political speech. Reddit is deleting each and every sub that goes against what their management believes; over 2000 have been banned last year only.
They are not paying lip service. They are directing narrative. They are banning things they don't like. They are deciding which scientific exports are orthodox and which are banned. They are controlling language. They are controlling thought. If you don't think that's happening, then they are controlling your thoughts as well.
This is the most dangerous time for us to be in and this will not end well. Censorship is the tool of cowards. Censorship is the tool of authoritarians. We are literally watching Big Tech and Big Media openly rewrite history. We are in 1984 + Fahrenheit 451 and half of us have bought so far into this narrative of protectionism we do not see it at all.
Do you remember the court testimony where Zuckerburge avoided the entire question about if they collude with other companies to make these decisions on the backend?
Apple may have banned Parler and then Google just decided to go with it, followed by AWS. However, it may also be equally valid they colluded via private channels to make this happen. BOTH ARE EQUALLY POSSIBLE.
Discovery in this kind of lawsuit may lead to the answers. If they did collude, that is a strong argument for anti-trust. Just because they're 4 different companies doesn't negate the fact they control over 80% to 90% of the American market for hosting, non-SMS text communication and mobile access.
It honestly doesn't matter what you believe about Parler's user contributions. That's the entire point of Section 230. From what I've seen they do make a good faith attempt to delete all illegal posts with direct calls to violence. Section 230 doesn't prevent Google/Apple/Amazon from being forced to have them as customers.
You are protected if you're a minority and a business refuses to give you service based on that status. Opinions and viewpoints aren't protected, and maybe they should be.
If you in any way praise this legal yet blatant corporate censorship because it fits your views, you will be next. We are not on a slippery slope. We are in a god damn free fall. If you don't see it, they will come for you next and no one will be there to speak for you.
The United States is the only country where you are still required to take off your shoes before going through the TSA line. They can still put their hands all over you and molest you (they do to me every time I fly). No one complains anymore. No one finds the body scanners invasive anymore, even though the millimeter wave ones have massive false positive rates and are basically million dollar machines just for show.
The patriot act is still in place. We have FISA courts. We have unlimited domestic spying.
> This is good, but we need a way to pick who does this for us,
No, no no. I'm not too stupid to think for myself. I don't want anyone 'thinking' for anyone else. It is the mark of a truth authoritarian when you embrace other people thinking for you.
The biggest problem with social media is that they ARE editorializing every single person's post by choosing where it appears in the list or by placing a little blue disputed badge on it or locking out an account if someone has conflicting opinions.
I don't want you, or anyone else, picking what the truth is. What you are describe is literally enforcing Thoughtcrime.
The US has used sanctions on Iran, Cuba and countless others. You can argue their effectiveness, and how they may just hurt the country's citizens..
but this has been a long standing problem. It's something Trump can do that might slow China growing their military presence. We are talking about a country with very restrictive freedom of speech laws and who reeducate certain ethnic minorities.
I wonder if this will affect civilian supply chains as well? Will some governments and their corporate counterparts be forced to decide if they want to supply consumer goods or build their military instead?
I'm sure China could eventually create shell companies to move some resources, but it would slow down military growth. It would also be something Biden would be foolish to try and undo, because it would give the impression of special interests in China. After the Swalwell allegations, it would provide a good check.
It's a very important thing to do. It's been a long standing problem. The CCP is a harsh and restrictive government and we don't want to be funding advancements in their military.
This may affect supply chains for civilian supply chains, and then China's corops and government will have to make a choice: Keep contracts to make tons of consumer goods or continue to supply the military side.
There seems to be an appeal to both legislation and technological solutions: laws to break up and stop monopolies as well as people embracing and creating newer technologies to improve our ability to speak.