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posted by janrinok on Monday August 20 2018, @11:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the demanding-the-impossible dept.

From the BBC.

The European Commission is planning to order websites to delete extremist content on their sites within an hour to avoid the risk of being fined. The regulation would affect Twitter, Facebook and YouTube among others. The crackdown would lead to the EU abandoning its current approach - where the firms self-police - in favour of explicit rules.

The shake-up comes in the wake of high-profile terror attacks across Europe over the past few years.

Julian King, the EU's commissioner for security, told the Financial Times [Subscription required] that the EU would "take stronger action in order to protect our citizens".

The BBC has confirmed the details of the report.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Knowledge Troll on Monday August 20 2018, @11:42PM (14 children)

    by Knowledge Troll (5948) on Monday August 20 2018, @11:42PM (#723966) Homepage Journal

    Does this mean that any competition to Tweetbook or Facer is going to require this as a minimum capability? That's going to make it very hard to start a competitor to the incumbents which can already afford to pay for 24x7 staff to man this or the machine learning system that can handle it.

    I appreciate the sentiment but wow this seems dangerous.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by isostatic on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:02AM (6 children)

      by isostatic (365) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:02AM (#723970) Journal

      I wonder if it applies to soylent news. Or usenet for that matter.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by legont on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:34AM (4 children)

        by legont (4179) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:34AM (#723988)

        It probably does.

        In Russia where a similar set of laws were introduced a few months back there are already people in prison for clicking "like" on an extremists content.

        --
        "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:52AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:52AM (#723998)

          But more difficult to enforce because SN doesn't have offices outside the US.

          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:54PM

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:54PM (#724188) Journal

            It would be possible to create Linode instances in various data centers including Europe and Asia. That would make it possible to come under these requirements for no apparent purpose or benefit.

            --
            The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Captival on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:27AM (1 child)

          by Captival (6866) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:27AM (#724011)

          Sure. In Russia they arrest you if they think you might be an Islamic terrorist. In Britain, they arrest you if they think you might be saying bad about Islamic terrorists. [rt.com] I'll take my chances with the Russians.

          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:36AM

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:36AM (#724033) Journal

            I'll take my chances with the Russians.

            Good luck, with your loud mouth, you'll need it.

            PS get yourself thick clothing, even with the global warming the weather in Siberia is still fucking cold.

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:47PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:47PM (#724185) Journal

        Soylent News does not seem to have any terrorism. Or violently imposed contracts. Or taxation at the point of a gun.

        --
        The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:07AM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:07AM (#723974) Journal

      Europe tried to create a competitor to Google [wikipedia.org] back in the day, but they failed miserably. Maybe they could back another failure.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:18AM (1 child)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:18AM (#723979) Journal

        Quaero was not intended to be a text-based search engine but was mainly meant for multimedia search. The search engine would have used techniques for recognizing, transcribing, indexing, and automatic translation of audiovisual documents and would have operated in several languages. There was also a plan to have automatic recognition and indexing of images.

        Too far a jump, a heck too early in the technology context.
        Even today it would be too ambitious.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:18AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:18AM (#724046)

          Yet is a pale precursor to the requirements of this law.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:35AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:35AM (#724032)
      Many sites will choose to block EU at the webserver level. Mod_geoip to the rescue. EU is quickly building its own internet with their own laws. GDPR was grudgingly accepted, as it was a privacy-oriented idea. But this makes EU able to unilaterally close any web site, incl. those that are based outside of EU, just because they say so. Truly, they had been given an inch that was GDPR, now they want to take a mile.
    • (Score: 2) by rigrig on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:21AM (1 child)

      by rigrig (5129) <soylentnews@tubul.net> on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:21AM (#724087) Homepage

      Does this mean that any competition to Tweetbook or Facer is going to require this as a minimum capability?

      And maybe they should?
      Terrorist propaganda seems to work, or the terrorists wouldn't spend so much effort on it.
      This has a negative impact on society, so maybe the people running the social media should be held responsible for the downsides (instead of externalising the costs of all unwanted content that is more expensive more to clean up than the backlash it creates).

      Note that the report [europa.eu] specifically states that

      One-hour rule: Considering that terrorist content is most harmful in the first hours of its appearance online, all companies should remove such content within one hour from its referral as a general rule.

      And

      Special attention to small companies: The industry should, through voluntary arrangements, cooperate and share experiences, best practices and technological solutions, including tools allowing for automatic detection.This shared responsibility should particularly benefit smaller platforms with more limited resources and expertise.

      --
      No one remembers the singer.
      • (Score: 2) by Knowledge Troll on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:31PM

        by Knowledge Troll (5948) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:31PM (#724179) Homepage Journal

        Special attention to small companies: The industry should, through voluntary arrangements, cooperate and share experiences, best practices and technological solutions, including tools allowing for automatic detection.This shared responsibility should particularly benefit smaller platforms with more limited resources and expertise.

        I was wondering if that was in there but couldn't tell because of the paywall. Thanks!

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 21 2018, @03:09PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @03:09PM (#724198) Journal

      Minimum size for entry?

      The EU will have to insult with the US President to find out just how small of a minimum size is still workable for entry.

      It would be so unfair for the law to apply to smaller social media such as info wars.

      --
      The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:07AM

    by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:07AM (#723973)

    2 semesters college chemistry in the early 80s, plus another 40 years of just curiosity scratching, means I have the knowledge to shut down any website that has the audacity to allow me to speak freely.

    --
    When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
  • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:13AM (33 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:13AM (#723976)

    The EU brought this upon themselves, and now wants to pretend -- like a pretty homeowner association enforced by freedom-limiting rules -- that problems don't exist.

    Really, the EU is on the way to another big genocide, and they are just trying to ignore this fact.

    Not that the US is completely free of such trouble:
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-mexico-compound-man-training-kids-commit-school-shootings-prosecutors-court-documents-today-2018-08-08/ [cbsnews.com]

    Yeah... that is a recent case of children being trained to commit school shootings. A school shooting normally makes the news for weeks, but a whole training camp gets buried? Most news media didn't cover the story! This clearly is the year's biggest domestic news, yet we see nearly nothing. Care to speculate why? (hint: the narrative of the leftist mainstream news)

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:26AM (28 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:26AM (#723983) Journal

      The EU brought this upon themselves...

      Yeah, right, it was the Europeans that stirred the war in Syria and Lybia, to create the deluge of refugees.

      Sometimes I think US acted deliberately this way, to weaken the competition from Europe - but, nah, that would giving too much credit, that aphorisms with incompetence and malice is likely to apply.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:48AM (5 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:48AM (#723996)

        The EU could have done what Israel does with refugees. Israel meets the bare minimum treaty requirements by providing a miserable-but-safe camp in which refugees may stay. Unsurprisingly, this makes Israel an unpopular destination for refugees.

        Another option is just to invoke national security: reject the refugees.

        Merkle and many other European leaders fail to care about the future of Europe. They have no children, so why would they care? The fact that the EU is getting overrun by savages just doesn't matter if you are rich, childless, and old.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:16AM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:16AM (#724002) Journal

          Merkle and many other European leaders fail to care about the future of Europe.

          For some definition of "fail".
          It's likely the mentality of "Fuck you, I gotta get mine" is strong within some of the A/C Americans. Any rationalization you can offer for this?

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:36AM (3 children)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:36AM (#724034) Journal

          They have no children, so why would they care?

          Here's an idea: Those people who have no skin in the game shouldn't be permitted to hold high office!

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:22AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:22AM (#724047)

            Agreed. But we also gotta eliminate those with skin in the game as they are obviously biased and have conflicts of interest.

          • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:47AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:47AM (#724106)

            Those people who have no skin in the game

            What, the Americans are using napalm again?

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:56AM (17 children)

        by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:56AM (#723999)

        A lot of the A/C idiots that post on SoylentNews about Europe have obviously never been there, and get all their knowledge of the place from Fox News and Breitbart, so expecting them to understand things like the Syrian Civil War is a bit optimistic.

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:18AM (3 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:18AM (#724003) Journal

          so expecting them to understand things like the Syrian Civil War is a bit optimistic.

          And yet they strongly project their ignorance.
          While I can understand the reason why they are doing it, it doesn't mean that I can accept it.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:43AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:43AM (#724019)

            And yet they strongly project their ignorance.

            Nothing new... so much of Africa was lost to Communist control because of such ignorant projections. Many of those countries were allies of the US or potentially in the same camp. No more. Many feel stabbed in the back, like Eastern Europe after WW2 when UK/US sold them to Stalin's slavery. History works like karma - what you sow, one day brings a harvest to YOUR doorstep.

          • (Score: 5, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:45AM (1 child)

            by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:45AM (#724020)

            No, fair enough. I do understand.

            No reason you should accept it either.

            Sometimes I wonder what would happen to Fox News or Breitbart, or even the US political system if the average American travelled as widely as the average European (or Australian, or whatever). I wonder how many eyes would be opened.

            • (Score: 5, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:52AM

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:52AM (#724023) Journal

              I wonder how many eyes would be opened.

              My guess? Too many (for Fox News or Breitbart).

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by archfeld on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:57AM (9 children)

          by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:57AM (#724070) Journal

          I can't disagree, but I'd also point out that a lot of Europeans get their entire view of the US from the same tainted news media. Having been a contractor for the financial industry and traveled and lived extensively in Europe, Asia, South America as well as around the US most people aren't that different and just want to live their lives quietly, and the news media in all those places makes money from over dramatizing anything and everything. Bad news sells and the Corps want money more than anything else...

          --
          For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
          • (Score: 3, Interesting) by kazzie on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:35AM (7 children)

            by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:35AM (#724125)

            I can't speak for the degree of "taint", but I am concerned that here in the UK, we are given far, far more news reports on the politics of the USA than of our immediate neighbours France and Ireland, for example. Why should the internal politics of a country a few thousand kilometers away be of so much more relevance?

            • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:08PM (6 children)

              by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:08PM (#724165)

              You're right. Why should you care about the internal politics of a violent and increasingly despotic nation that still stands unopposed as the world's only military superpower? Especially one that has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to manufacture false charges to justify the overthrow and pillaging of other nations whenever the mood strikes it?

              • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:10PM (2 children)

                by Freeman (732) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:10PM (#724236) Journal

                You realize, that Russian is definitely a military superpower. China may as well be defined the same way as well.

                --
                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: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:25PM (1 child)

                  by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:25PM (#724243)

                  That's certainly what they'd like the world to believe - however, from what I can find the general consensus is that the US military would likely clobber either (or both) those militaries in a toe-to-toe conventional conflict, though the real-world outcome would likely be heavily influenced by politics and terrain.

                  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:08PM

                    by Freeman (732) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:08PM (#724287) Journal

                    Just because, you're the top dog doesn't negate the fact that others have similar power. In reality, anyone attacking any of those 3 would have signed their own death warrant. Any real conflict between those 3 powers while likely that the USA would come out "on top", it would be bloody and definitely put the entire world on edge. When you have the kinds of power that a Nuclear Arsenal gives you, it really is too much.

                    --
                    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: 3, Interesting) by kazzie on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:01PM (1 child)

                by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:01PM (#724284)

                Oh, I fully appreciate that we should care about what big countries do, it's about how much we care compared to other things. I'm unsure why we (here) need to know every twist and turn in, say, a court case involving a US election campaign manager, details of a retired FBI director's memoirs, and accusations made by various prostitutes/$insert-preferred-term, yet were're lucky to hear more than a single bulletin per blue moon about current affairs in France? Or why we got to hear about ALL of the US presidential election from pre-primaries onwards, yet barely heard a snicker about the General Election in Ireland, a country we share a land border with?

                Tangentially, in the 1970s, my father lived in a house with two TV aerials; one for UK television, the other pointed across the Irish Sea. The variance in news bulletins (given the troubles in Northern Ireland) were very illuminating.

                • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Wednesday August 22 2018, @12:40AM

                  by Immerman (3985) on Wednesday August 22 2018, @12:40AM (#724488)

                  I can't argue against that. Without having seen your news, I would suggest asking "Who profits from the kind and degree of attention being paid to the U.S.?", and perhaps "Who profits from the attention NOT being paid to nearer countries?" as well.

              • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Tuesday August 21 2018, @08:04PM

                by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Tuesday August 21 2018, @08:04PM (#724336) Journal

                Yeah, it would be awful if the US government withdrew its' trillions of $$$ of foreign aid from all those countries. I'd like to see the CIA ground into nutrient paste myself, and I would love to see the US armed forces less used by the Petro-Chem industry but there are dozens of nations that derive huge amounts of support in the form of food and financial support from the 'despotic' USA.

                --
                For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
          • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday August 21 2018, @08:09PM

            by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @08:09PM (#724340)

            True enough.

            I was just making the point that in most Western nations people travel overseas, and will be more likely to have actually visited America, whereas the average American seems to view foreign countries as on another planet or something.

            I live several thousand kilometres away from the US across an ocean, but I don't think I know anyone who hasn't actually been there.

        • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:49AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:49AM (#724090)

          Fox News and Breitbart, so expecting them to understand things like the Syrian Civil War is a bit optimistic.

          Funny. From what I saw, Fox [thenewamerican.com] and Breitbart had more accurate coverage of the Syrian "civil" war than most news outlets. Saudi and the West provided financial backing for Islamist insurgents [theguardian.com] and worse. [telesurtv.net]

          If you believe that the majority of individuals protesting the invasion of Iraq and those objecting to intervention in Syria are demarcated on the grounds of left and "far-right", [theguardian.com] you are buying into the propaganda wholesale. Wake up! [twitter.com]

        • (Score: 1, Troll) by pvanhoof on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:21AM

          by pvanhoof (4638) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:21AM (#724099) Homepage

          Note. We stopped caring about (A/C) American idiots a long long time ago.

          /European

        • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:33PM

          by darkfeline (1030) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:33PM (#724299) Homepage
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:25AM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:25AM (#724048)

        Yeah, right, it was the Europeans that stirred the war in Syria and Lybia, to create the deluge of refugees.

        Yeah, they didn't do that. However, they do have the power to not make stupid laws that punish websites for leaving 'undesired' user-posted content up. So, they could start by not making such ridiculous laws.

        Europe is authoritarian, but often in different ways from the US.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:42AM (2 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:42AM (#724051) Journal

          However, they do have the power to not make stupid laws that punish websites for leaving 'undesired' user-posted content up.

          Well, unlike the Americans, they show remarkable restrain from making use of that power.

          (grin)

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:49AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @04:49AM (#724053)

            The laws shouldn't even exist in the first place, whether they are in the US or Europe.

            • (Score: 2, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday August 21 2018, @05:01AM

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @05:01AM (#724055) Journal

              What do you prefer, sir: a "humor impaired" label or a "Whoosh"?

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:39AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:39AM (#723993)

      Most news media didn't cover the story!

      Be afraid, you brave and free, be very afraid.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:32AM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:32AM (#724031) Journal

      School shooting camps are not the norm. Most school shooters seem to be nearly normal kids who are just a little "off", and manage to stay in low profile trouble. Some of them don't even get in trouble, until they make their fateful decisions to kill their classmates and/or teachers. There has not been one single school shooter documented who attended a school shooter's camp, school, or seminar. They don't graduate to some higher level, such as Martyrs of the Cause. And, no, that camp wasn't exactly "buried". People have short memories. The camp was exposed, shut down, and already forgotten.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by http on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:52AM

      by http (1920) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:52AM (#724036)

      Reading and context comprehension fail.

      Kostich believes prosecutors are not certain about the credibility of the foster parent, whom he has no way of reaching to verify the claim, he said.

      Prosecutor's claims are regularly exaggerated (see also: false conviction problem). So, hyped third hand anecdote at best, with a confused and frightened child at the center. Yeah, the lying leftist press sure fuckied up by not taking that as gospel truth.

      --
      I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:58AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:58AM (#724111)

      In fact "take stronger action in order to protect our citizens" sounds like a bad joke.

      With this mindset, one of the two is gonna happen. Holy war disguised as civil war, or the rise of a totalitarian government (with the help of vladimir maybe?) to keep unrest in check. A lose/lose for us europeons.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:24AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:24AM (#723981)

    Unless you don't like the idea of people monitoring your phone calls.

    But calls are private, social media isn't!
    And now it never can be.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:12PM (1 child)

      by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:12PM (#724167)

      >And now it never can be.
      That's always been the case - that's the entire point of including "media" in the term. Media is public.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:33AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @12:33AM (#723987)

    Now you just need to expand the definition of it so it covers everything you don't like (opposition parties, racists, gypsies, jews and other deviants). Convenient isn't it.

    • (Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Tuesday August 21 2018, @08:02AM

      by Aiwendil (531) on Tuesday August 21 2018, @08:02AM (#724080) Journal

      Well, it worked for communism*

      (* the word communism)

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:00PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @02:00PM (#724157)

      German government places Socialist Equality Party on subversive watch-list [wsws.org]:

      Last month, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, added the Socialist Equality Party to its official list of “left-wing extremist” organizations subject to state monitoring in its annual “constitutional protection report.” It is a calculated political attack on the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party—SGP).

      In previous years, the annual report did not mention the SGP. Now it appears twice—as one of three “left-wing extremist parties” and as an “object of observation,” to be monitored by the secret service.

      The secret service has made no accusation that the SGP is breaking any law or is engaged in violent activity. It even explicitly confirms that the SGP pursues its goals by legal means—that it “tries to gain public attention for its political ideas by participating in elections and through lectures.”

      It justifies the monitoring of the SGP exclusively by the fact that it advocates a socialist program, criticizes capitalism and rejects the establishment parties and the trade unions. The BfV report states: “The agitation of the SGP is directed in its program against the existing state and social order, as a generalized disparagement of ‘capitalism,’ against the EU, against alleged nationalism, imperialism and militarism and against social democracy, the unions and also against the party DIE LINKE [Left Party].”

      They're not interested in deplorables, but maybe they'll snag some Gypsies for the hell of it, especially since it'd go over like a led balloon to do that to the Jews again. RWNJs for example are typically a bit paranoid of such things (not that paranoia isn't warranted... obviously it is), but RWNJs aren't a threat to the ruling class. No, what they're worried about is the increasing consciousness that the working class must organize to demand a fair share of the wealth they produce.

  • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:43AM

    by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Tuesday August 21 2018, @06:43AM (#724068) Journal

    As an alternative, Facebook and Twitter could just ban the EU commissioners and ignore all the other crap that gets posted regardless of left or right, hate or love, even Trump or Kardashian. Then the people would once again have to think for themselves and form their own opinions...

    --
    For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @07:52AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @07:52AM (#724079)

    They'll be enforcing borders and deporting millions of African migrants then?

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:50AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @10:50AM (#724109)

      They'll be enforcing borders and deporting millions of African migrants then?

      Why start picking on the Africans all of a sudden?

      What's wrong with us Irish? We were here first. Deport us. Come on.

      • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:37AM

        by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:37AM (#724126)

        It's a push-pop stack, not a fifo.

  • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @03:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @03:20PM (#724206)

    "and lastly, what can you tell us about your last position?"
    'I was the night shift guy who deleted websites with content deemed to be unacceptable by the government because all censored content had to be deleted by law within one hour'

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:13PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 21 2018, @11:13PM (#724449)

    https://www.xkcd.com/386/ [xkcd.com]

    That was supposed to be just a joke not what you are supposed to do.

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