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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: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:23AM

    by jmorris (4844) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @05:23AM (#273808)

    Is anyone stupid enough to believe anyone promoting this evil crap has the slightest concern about ISIS? This is all about silencing the Enemies of the State and they ain't worried about goat humpers in Syria posting murder selfies.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2015, @11:21PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2015, @11:21PM (#274164)

    Why the fuck would anyone want to censor ISIS supporters?

    That's literally the opposite of intelligence. NSA does a "full take" on traffic. You need ISIS with a Facebook page and Twitter account so that idiots can "like" and follow them, and the FBI can then swoop in pretending to be extremists and entrap them with terror plots.

    "Here, hold this detonator. Push the button and the evil wester excess will be eliminated!" [CLICK] "Go directly to Jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect 42 virgins."