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posted by janrinok on Saturday January 25 2020, @09:07PM   Printer-friendly
from the should-have-objected-by-writing-in-runes dept.

Rock Paper Shotgun reports:

As reported by PennLive, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has affirmed the district court's decision that a Pennsylvania man was not discriminated against by being "muted" in an online game.

Amro Elansari filed his original complaint against developer Jagex in July 2019, claiming they "violated his rights to free speech and due process of law." The suit was dismissed by the district court, a decision that has now been upheld by the appeals court for the 3rd Circuit.

Elansari was "muted" in an unnamed online game in March of 2019, according to his "largely handwritten" complaint, says PennLive. Given his suit names Jagex and that Elansari "claimed he had 2,000 hours invested in the game when he was booted out," it seems to follow that he had his account muted in some version of RuneScape.
...
The appeals court says that Elansari has not named a "state actor" for his Fourteenth Amendment claim. His complaint under Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was also dismissed with no evidence of a "public accommodations discrimination."


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  • (Score: 2, Troll) by Ken_g6 on Saturday January 25 2020, @11:12PM (22 children)

    by Ken_g6 (3706) on Saturday January 25 2020, @11:12PM (#948641)

    ...wants to block decisions like this by revoking section 230 [arstechnica.com] of the Communications Decency Act.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Saturday January 25 2020, @11:28PM (6 children)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Saturday January 25 2020, @11:28PM (#948644) Journal
    Look, Biden is an idiot, but there's no reason to be just as stupid. Revoking section 230 won't prevent people from being able to mute anyone, or ban them entirely.
    --
    SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Ken_g6 on Sunday January 26 2020, @04:31AM (5 children)

      by Ken_g6 (3706) on Sunday January 26 2020, @04:31AM (#948763)

      As I understand it, without section 230, a company can be held liable for its users' comments if it moderates them. This leaves a company two choices: No moderation or complete moderation - vetting every comment.

      If I'm misunderstanding, please set us straight.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Sunday January 26 2020, @05:46PM (4 children)

        by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Sunday January 26 2020, @05:46PM (#948927) Journal
        No, you have it right - and that's as it should be. Either don't moderate or moderate everything. The solution is to require users to provide their real identity, so that if they post, say, kiddie porn, it's easy to have them charged.

        At that point, you'll see a drastic reduction in posts that violate laws. It was the whole "anonymous posting is freedom of speech, and removing that infringes on freedom of speech" argument that required section 230 in the first place. It was the wrong decision. Just ban anonymous posts on the internet. You still are free to say anything you want, including making death threats and posting kiddie porn - but you'll also pay the consequences. Free speech doesn't mean free from consequences.

        --
        SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
        • (Score: 2) by Booga1 on Monday January 27 2020, @02:21AM (1 child)

          by Booga1 (6333) on Monday January 27 2020, @02:21AM (#949115)

          At that point, you'll see a drastic reduction in posts that violate laws.

          Well, duh! You'll see a drastic reduction in ANY kind of post that might be considered controversial. Many people will stop speaking their opinions and say nothing at all.
          The chilling effects of such policies are a boon to any government, group, or person that wishes to silence others that disagree with them. You forget that simply criticizing the government can land you in jail.

          A Moroccan court sentenced a rapper to a year in prison for insulting police. [moroccoworldnews.com]
          Insulting the king in Thailand could put you away for three to fifteen years, per count. [wikipedia.org]

          So sure, let's force everyone to put their real names on everything they've ever said. Let's sink people's careers decades after they said something stupid as a teenager. Let's punish people for daring to have a contrary opinion to the public at large. Silencing them isn't enough!</sarcasm>

          • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday January 27 2020, @03:07AM

            by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Monday January 27 2020, @03:07AM (#949137) Journal
            The examples you gave are without any ban on anonymity, so what's your point? All you've proven is what I've been saying for years - there is no such thing as online anonymity. So let's cut the crap, cut the pretence, and get over it already. You are not anonymous on the net, those days are long gone. So just use your real name and stand behind what you say - it's people like that who can't be controlled by threatening to expose their identities that people respect more:
            --
            SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
        • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday January 27 2020, @04:22PM (1 child)

          by Freeman (732) on Monday January 27 2020, @04:22PM (#949379) Journal

          That's just nuts, essentially, you'd be punishing the non-disruptive users.

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
          • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday January 27 2020, @05:34PM

            by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Monday January 27 2020, @05:34PM (#949415) Journal
            You have a very strange notion of punishment. There's no harm being done, no pain, no fines or economic sanctions. Next you'll say that people should be able to vote anonymously, not identify themselves when they get a speeding ticket . Just how is requiring people to post using their real name punishment? And don't give me the bullshit argument that people who are not out need anonymity - that just encourages the notion that being lgbt is shameful. It's not - but I can see why the white supreme state, etc want to remain anonymous, and I say they should not have the right to incite hatred anonymously. Let them show their faces, same rules for everyone.
            --
            SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
  • (Score: 4, Funny) by NickM on Saturday January 25 2020, @11:31PM (14 children)

    by NickM (2867) on Saturday January 25 2020, @11:31PM (#948645) Journal
    Wow, you Americans will have a tough choice if Bidet wins the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. The unpredictable orange pseudo-fascist bomb or the creepy crypto-fascist unsolicited kisser, the world's is cringing in anticipation!
    --
    I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday January 25 2020, @11:52PM (2 children)

      by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Saturday January 25 2020, @11:52PM (#948649)

      Sadly, it often comes down to which one will be easier to reign in. Usually the Dems are more responsive to public outcry, Trump isn't going to allow any sort of outrage from the poor and middle class halt his giveaways to the wealthy.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Sunday January 26 2020, @02:27AM (1 child)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday January 26 2020, @02:27AM (#948723)

        Trump isn't going to allow any sort of outrage from the poor and middle class halt his giveaways to the wealthy.

        Why would there be any outrage (from GOP voters)? Trump's poor and middle class supporters love everything he does, including his giveaways to the wealthy. There's no outrage there at all. There's outrage from the Dem voters, but he doesn't care about them. Trump could declare himself dictator and his voters will back him.

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday January 26 2020, @03:22AM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Sunday January 26 2020, @03:22AM (#948749)

          Trump could declare himself dictator and his voters will back him.

          At this point Trump nearly is a dictator. Certainly he is above the law.

    • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday January 26 2020, @12:43AM (10 children)

      by Snotnose (1623) on Sunday January 26 2020, @12:43AM (#948675)

      you Americans will have a tough choice if Bidet wins

      Where do I go to nominate this at the best typo of 2020?

      --
      Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 26 2020, @01:55AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 26 2020, @01:55AM (#948703)

        Americans are loud and stinky assholes. A bidet would improve them. I am in favour.

        • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday January 26 2020, @02:43AM (1 child)

          by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday January 26 2020, @02:43AM (#948733)

          A bidet is indeed very useful for cleaning a stinky asshole, but the problem in America is that Americans just won't use them, and prefer to smear their feces around with wadded-up paper.

          • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday January 27 2020, @03:12AM

            by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Monday January 27 2020, @03:12AM (#949143) Journal
            And unfortunately there's skidmarks, indicating that some consider doing paperwork as too much of a hassle. Or when they run out of tidy-whiteys, going commando.
            --
            SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by NickM on Sunday January 26 2020, @02:11AM

        by NickM (2867) on Sunday January 26 2020, @02:11AM (#948712) Journal
        Don't misunderestimate me! The year is still in it's first month I still have time to outdo myself.
        --
        I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday January 26 2020, @02:30AM (5 children)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday January 26 2020, @02:30AM (#948726)

        I doubt that's a typo, unless NickM is typing on a Dvorak keyboard. (On QWERTY, t and n are two rows apart, nowhere near each other. On Dvorak, they're directly adjacent, on the right-hand home row.)

        The big problem with this misspelling, however, if you want to use it intentionally, is that, while it works great for text, it just doesn't work for speech because Biden and bidet aren't really pronounced similarly, so people probably won't get it.

        • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday January 26 2020, @03:02AM (4 children)

          by Snotnose (1623) on Sunday January 26 2020, @03:02AM (#948741)

          I doubt that's a typo, unless NickM is typing on a Dvorak keyboard. (On QWERTY, t and n are two rows apart, nowhere near each other. On Dvorak, they're directly adjacent, on the right-hand home row.)

          *cough* autocorrect *cough*

          --
          Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
          • (Score: 2) by NickM on Sunday January 26 2020, @04:09AM (1 child)

            by NickM (2867) on Sunday January 26 2020, @04:09AM (#948758) Journal
            do not talk about my secret weapon: a bilingual autocorrecting keyboard
            --
            I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
            • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday January 26 2020, @05:50PM

              by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Sunday January 26 2020, @05:50PM (#948930) Journal
              Yep, international keyboards are really "interesting". Having to switch languages mid-post because there's a bunch of characters not on the international keymap is a bitch. Unfortunately, the stores here no longer carry the el-cheapo indestructible standard keymap keyboards.
              --
              SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
          • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday January 26 2020, @05:52PM (1 child)

            by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday January 26 2020, @05:52PM (#948931)

            Yeah, I keep forgetting that there's actually people who use their phones to type comment on message boards like this. Personally I can't stand it. Typing a few sentences on a phone is an exercise in frustration for me because it's so slow, and autocorrect is so horrible. I'm debating turning off autocorrect completely and seeing how that works out, but it is really helpful for fixing common mistypes (which are so easy because the screen is relatively small, even on my phablet-sized phone), but when it screws up, it's such a PITA because it frequently won't even allow me to type something correctly without continuing to type more stuff, then going back and correcting the "autocorrected" word. It's amazing that after well over a decade of smartphones being commonplace that they haven't figured out how to make autocorrect work well yet.

            • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday January 27 2020, @03:18AM

              by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Monday January 27 2020, @03:18AM (#949147) Journal
              I tried to disable autocorrect on my Android, it said it was off, it lied. So now I'm stuck with autocorrect on iPhone, BUT while it insists on changing "fuck" to "duck", it has no problem suggesting fucké after I typed it once and clicked on it in the list of suggestions. Same with blockquote after typing 3 letters.

              There's always a way to game the machine. Even one that's all fucké.

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              SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.