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posted by martyb on Wednesday January 29 2020, @10:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the speak-up-now dept.

The Growing Threat to Free Speech Online:

There are times when vitally important stories lurk behind the headlines. Yes, impeachment is historic and worth significant coverage, but it's not the only important story. The recent threat of war with Iran merited every second of intense world interest. But what if I told you that as we lurch from crisis to crisis there is a slow-building, bipartisan movement to engage in one of most significant acts of censorship in modern American history? What if I told you that our contemporary hostility against Big Tech may cause our nation to blunder into changing the nature of the internet to enhance the power of the elite at the expense of ordinary Americans?

I'm talking about the poorly-thought-out, poorly-understood idea of attempting to deal with widespread discontent with the effects of social media on political and cultural discourse and with the use of social media in bullying and harassment by revoking or fundamentally rewriting Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

[...] In 1996, [Congress] passed Section 230. The law did two things. First, it declared that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." In plain English, this means that my comments on Twitter or Google or Yelp or the comments section of my favorite website are my comments, and my comments only.

But Section 230 went farther, it also declared that an internet provider can "restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable" without being held liable for user content. This is what allows virtually all mainstream social media companies to remove obscene or pornographic content. This allows websites to take down racial slurs – all without suddenly also becoming liable for all the rest of their users' speech.

It's difficult to overstate how important this law is for the free speech of ordinary Americans. For 24 years we've taken for granted our ability to post our thoughts and arguments about movies, music, restaurants, religions, and politicians. While different sites have different rules and boundaries, the overall breadth of free speech has been extraordinary.

[...] Large internet companies that possess billions of dollars in resources would be able to implement and enforce strict controls on user speech. Smaller sites simply lack the resources to implement widespread and comprehensive speech controls. Many of them would have no alternative but to shut down user content beyond minimalist input. Once again, the powerful would prevail.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:43PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:43PM (#950637)

    Yeah, once it is clear you are one of those "sheeple"-throwing people, I tune you out. At least throw in a denigrating "Joe Sixpack" here and there to keep it fresh.

    It must be so frustrating for you every day to be surrounded by all those obviously mentally inferior to you people.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:16PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:16PM (#950655)

    It must be so frustrating for you every day to be surrounded by all those obviously mentally inferior to you people.

    How it makes me feel is truly irrelevant, it won't change how you behave even one iota.

    Yeah, once it is clear you are one of those "sheeple"-throwing people, I tune you out. At least throw in a denigrating "Joe Sixpack" here and there to keep it fresh.

    Now that's something slightly worrisome. Or it should be. For you, I mean.
    More precisely, your need of freshness to be able to tune in. Very similar with how pedos can't get an erection in the absence of youngsters.
    That being said, I might be playing the court's fool but rest assured I'm not a clown for hire to provide you with a fresh entertainment, sorry for that

    Otherwise, good riddance and may you enjoy it better than my comment. kthxb

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @05:36PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @05:36PM (#950733)

      How it makes me feel is truly irrelevant,

      I suppose so. The feelings of a rock are pretty irrelevant. Now, please sit and be quiet, you're obstructing my view.

    • (Score: 2) by Subsentient on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:26AM

      by Subsentient (1111) on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:26AM (#950939) Homepage Journal

      Patterns in the nature of people just keep repeating themselves. Ever notice how you'll meet 10-20 people in a decade who seem almost identical? Their beliefs, their story, their appearance, even their jobs.

      The real stupidity comes in the people who notice it in others but fail to notice it in themselves. Hell, I've seen probably 20 people like me in the last 3 years.

      People like you are common. People who think they know better while simultaneously being a giant pulsating tumor of a human being. Take a good, hard look in the mirror. If you look close enough, you'll see the same abhorrence inside of you.

      --
      "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti