Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Saturday July 01 2017, @05:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the "obviously-illegal"-is-as-obvious-as-"common-sense"-is-common dept.

The German Parliament has passed the "Network Enforcement Act" or "NetzDG":

The German Parliament passed a new social media law1, called the "Network Enforcement Act" ("NetzDG" in German), that punishes social media companies with fines ranging from 5 million to 50 million euro if they don't immediately remove "obviously illegal" content. Human rights groups have called the law rushed and harmful to free expression.

According to the German Federal Criminal Police Office, hate crime has grown by 300% in the past two years alone. In a speech1 today, Germany's Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection, Heiko Maas, said that freedom of expression is a great asset to have in an open society, but it ends where criminal law begins.

[...] At a recent hearing, of the 10 experts who were invited to testify, eight criticized the law that was still in draft stage at the time. Five of them said the law would be incompatible with the German Constitution. The Network Enforcement Act was slightly modified since then and, for instance, the mention of companies having to implement automatic content filters has been removed. However, a new "self-regulatory" body will have to be created, whose operation costs will be paid by the private industry. The companies will be able to send some content for evaluation if they are uncertain of its legality. It's not clear how transparent or accountable this body will be, according to the European Digital Rights (EDRi) non-profit organization.

A recent post on ProPublica has shown that Facebook's own censorship policies are inconsistent at best. For instance, the company would censor hate speech against white people, but not against certain Muslim groups that were considered radicalized by Facebook's low-paid contractors. It's also not the first time Facebook's inconsistent censorship rules have attracted the public's attention, whether it was about old and popular war pictures or blocking competitors' links.

1 Linked page is in German. --Ed.

Previously:
Germany Raids Homes of 36 People Accused of Hateful Postings Over Social Media


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:35PM (4 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:35PM (#533993) Journal

    Our increasing centralization of executive power has been happening for decades as each side cheers it on when 'their team' happens to be in office - as if it that will always be the case.

    What a preposterous notion! The jack-booted thugs with the white hats will ultimately prevail over the ones with the black hats! It's ridiculous to even suggest that this approach won't entirely work as we claim.

    More seriously, when the next group of would-be Nazis assume power, laws like this will expedite their rise to power. It is rare to see law with such a radically opposite outcome to the claimed purpose.

    It's worth noting that in the case of the Wiemar Republic, there were many powerful forces right up to the President of Germany, Paul Von Hindenburg who were outright hostile to its existence and working to end the Republic. Anti-freedom laws of that time were an attempt to control the public and violent, radical factions (like the Nazis and Communists) so that they wouldn't get in the way of the resurgent German military machine and the destruction of the Republic. What's the real reason this time? Is Germany pining for better days of yore?

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Touché=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Touché' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 02 2017, @12:15AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 02 2017, @12:15AM (#534037) Journal

    "Is Germany pining for better days of yore?"

    Almost certainly. Not openly. You don't have large groups of people openly discussing how to reclaim the power of the Third Reich, or any other period of German history. But, in small groups and individually, people wish that they could reclaim the power and the glory. That doesn't necessarily make them nazis, but some of them probably are nazis. TBH, I suspect that a lot of those wishing for the lost power and glory probably call themselves progressives or liberals. They think that they can guide Germany into a new era, without all the baggage of the older eras.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @02:02AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @02:02AM (#534056)

    when the next group of would-be Nazis assume power

    This has already happened! Merkel is Hitler (well more like Stalin, since she was a communist in East Germany). She wants to genocide a particular group of people: the Germans, and possibly ALL OTHER WHITE PEOPLE. It is retarded, but that's that.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @05:01AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @05:01AM (#534089)

      I hope World War 3 goes nuclear.

      • (Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday July 02 2017, @05:56AM

        by anubi (2828) on Sunday July 02 2017, @05:56AM (#534096) Journal

        I think that is what everybody on this planet fears. It *will* go nuclear.

        After which, life as we knew it will be changed drastically, as the factories which used to make all our stuff no longer exist.

        --
        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]