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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday December 09 2015, @04:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-first-amendment? dept.

Google's chairman Eric Schmidt has written an op-ed to The New York Times calling for tools to disrupt speech on social media:

Technology companies should work on tools to disrupt terrorism - such as creating a hate speech "spell-checker" - Google's chairman Eric Schmidt has said. Writing in The New York Times, Mr Schmidt said using technology to automatically filter-out extremist material would "de-escalate tensions on social media" and "remove videos before they spread".

His essay comes as presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton again called on Silicon Valley to help tackle terrorism, specifically seeking tools to combat the so-called Islamic State. "We need to put the great disrupters at work at disrupting ISIS," she said during a speech in Washington DC.

From the NYT editorial:

In Myanmar, connectivity fans the flames of violence against the Rohingya, the minority Muslim population. In Russia, farms of online trolls systematically harass democratic voices and spread false information on the Internet and on social media. And in the Middle East, terrorists use social media to recruit new members. In particular, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has harnessed social media to appeal to disaffected young people, giving them a sense of belonging and direction that they are not getting anywhere else. The militants' propaganda videos are high on style and production value. They're slick and marketable. In short, they are deluding some people to believe that living a life fueled by hatred and violence is actually ... cool.

This is where our own relationship with the Internet, and with technology, must be examined more closely. The Internet is not just a series of tubes transmitting information from place to place, terminal to terminal, without regard for those typing on their keyboards or reading on their screens. The people who use any technology are the ones who need to define its role in society. Technology doesn't work on its own, after all. It's just a tool. We are the ones who harness its power.


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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 09 2015, @04:47AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @04:47AM (#273794) Journal

    "Hey! It looks like you are writing a racist, misogynist rant! Would you like some help with that? I can throw chairs and suggest bad words!"

    [My God, now we know what Ethanol's last job was before he got sent to the turkey farm. Gobble, gooble.]

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   0  
       Redundant=1, Funny=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Funny' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:07AM

    by q.kontinuum (532) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:07AM (#273803) Journal

    That is unfair. I thought he made it clear he *applied* at the turkey farm as a real natural and didn't wait to be sent there. Stick to the facts, please!

    Also, who says he isn't still working for Google, field - testing their algorithms?

    --
    Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
    • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 09 2015, @06:37AM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @06:37AM (#273834) Journal

      Yes, of course, points taken. But on the other hand, you know what happened to the person responsible for Microsoft Bob? Some things cannot be removed by filters. The Horror, the horror! (Recommend to all Soylentils, read anything by Joseph Conrad. He was us before we were.)

  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2015, @12:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2015, @12:47PM (#273916)

    >In the United States, as late as the 1880s most States set the minimum age at 10-12, (in Delaware it was 7 in 1895).[8] Inspired by the "Maiden Tribute" female reformers in the US initiated their own campaign[9] which petitioned legislators to raise the legal minimum age to at least 16, with the ultimate goal to raise the age to 18. The campaign was successful, with almost all states raising the minimum age to 16-18 years by 1920.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:03PM (#274004)

    How can the very first post be redundant?

    • (Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:53PM

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:53PM (#274031)
      Not that I agree with the moderation in this particular case, but in general, 'redundant' is not limited in scope to a specific thread. See my sig for more details.
      --
      🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
    • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 09 2015, @06:22PM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @06:22PM (#274046) Journal

      How can the very first post be redundant?

      Only if it says "First Post!" Or Eric Schmidt.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:10PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:10PM (#274009) Journal

    Oh God! Please let Ethanol @ the Turkey Farm become a permanent meme!

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday December 09 2015, @07:13PM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Wednesday December 09 2015, @07:13PM (#274073) Journal

    You are making a funny but these past few years I've noticed a VERY disturbing trend, all those looking to block speech? Yeah they only seem to want to block the speech of one side and have no problem with that speech if it is on the side they support.

      For an example I use several new feeds that do not discriminate what site its coming from, I consider myself an adult and don't need to be "shielded" from the likes of a HuffyPo or Drudgey so I often go to sites on both sides of the aisle. Now the right will call you all kinds of names, stooge,idiot, dumbass, know what I've found they do NOT do? Keep you from talking, even if they do not like the talking you are doing. Now the left leaning sites, which coincidentally seems to be all the ones pushing for "hate blocks" and "trigger warnings" and the like? They'll block your ass in a heartbeat if you do not jump on board and guzzle that koolaid, seen it plenty times with entire conversations just disappearing on page refresh.

    I'm sorry but free speech is frankly too damned important to let the 21st century equivalent of the moral majority dictate what can and cannot be said. With technology making us more and more isolated the web is quickly becoming the town square of the new century and I don't know about you but I really find this "babyproof the world so they only get our worldview" trend disturbing as hell. I've already seen several YouTubers erased from that site NOT for breaking any guidelines but simply because their content offended a political group, is this REALLY what we want the web to become? The sanitized world that the moral majority dreamed of in the 80s, only with a left instead of right slant?

    --
    ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:24PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:24PM (#274150) Journal

      Confirmation bias.
       
      You post against the consensus on one site and notice that you sometimes get deleted. You post with the consensus on another site and never get deleted. You don't see any deleted posts on that site because they've already been deleted.

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:38PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:38PM (#274153) Journal

        See here, for example: sounds just like the Reddit thread the other day, doesn't it? [freerepublic.com]
         
          "Once censored for attacking FOX News for being watered down conservatism, and now twice censored for simply trying to link a source to some revealing info. Not up in arms yet, but feeling pushed... "
         
        "Put a sock in it. This isn't your site. You don't get to do whatever you want. No one is abridging your freedom of speech."
         
        Etc....

      • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Thursday December 10 2015, @02:37AM

        by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Thursday December 10 2015, @02:37AM (#274210) Journal

        Uhhh nice strawman you got there, don't mind this match...WHOOSH!

        Read my post again, did I say ANYTHING about me posting there? Anyone? Beuller? Nope afraid not I simply was watching the censor brigade as they happily erased dissenting opinions and again really not seeing that on the right leaning sites which just for the record (since the HuffyPo brigade treats everyone that isn't on board as "the dreaded other") I'm actually a fourth generation socialist, as in REAL socialism, not the "justice" kind. Oh don't get me wrong the right will call you all kinds of names, I've seen threads a good 50 posts deep just to tell one guy he is an idiot, but on the left sites? Yeah they just erase after calling the person an "ist" be it sexist, misogynist, racist, etc.

        As somebody who is getting run out of the democratic tent no differently than fiscal conservatives were run out by Falwell and his bunch in the 80s? Believe me I wish it weren't so but its high time we accept we have our very own moral majority, a group that calls for censoring, banning, and treating adults as idiots too fucking stupid to be exposed to words or pictures that do not fit the narrative. Hell they even are as pro big brother as Falwell and his ilk were, only its "big mommy" that will protect you from the big scary world. Is Brin a card carrying republican? I don't know but you wanna bet he's democrat? Its sad that this is the shit we USED to nail the right wing for, but its not the right calling everyone who doesn't agree an "ist!" and moving to censor and screaming for "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces"...nope sorry, that is the left doing that, though I really wish it weren't so.

        --
        ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by SecurityGuy on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:44PM

      by SecurityGuy (1453) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:44PM (#274155)

      You are making a funny but these past few years I've noticed a VERY disturbing trend, all those looking to block speech? Yeah they only seem to want to block the speech of one side and have no problem with that speech if it is on the side they support.

      I couldn't agree more. People need to realize that freedom to say what the majority wants you to say is not freedom.

      • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by aristarchus on Thursday December 10 2015, @05:39AM

        by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday December 10 2015, @05:39AM (#274283) Journal

        SHUT Up! Security Guy! Freedom to say factually incorrect, incoherent, and Hairyfeet challenge thing is not freedom either! Just because you are a racist misogynist microphallic internet troll does not mean that you should not be shut up! This is not censorship! Is is mercy. Every time we can keep Hairyfeet from doing another one of his "the right never censored me" rants, the more we are saving him public embarrassment. Some people, like Donald Trump, no longer have family members that can step in when the crazy takes over and save their relations from going full right-wing right in front of God and everybody.

        Besides, the majority does not want you to _say_ anything. They want you to shut up, since you are incapable of contributing to a rational discussion of policy. Have I make this adequately clear? OK, back to the kiddie table with you, along with Rick Santorum, Huckabea, and Chris Christy and Dick "Dick" Cheney.