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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: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:24PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:24PM (#274150) Journal

    Confirmation bias.
     
    You post against the consensus on one site and notice that you sometimes get deleted. You post with the consensus on another site and never get deleted. You don't see any deleted posts on that site because they've already been deleted.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:38PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday December 09 2015, @10:38PM (#274153) Journal

    See here, for example: sounds just like the Reddit thread the other day, doesn't it? [freerepublic.com]
     
      "Once censored for attacking FOX News for being watered down conservatism, and now twice censored for simply trying to link a source to some revealing info. Not up in arms yet, but feeling pushed... "
     
    "Put a sock in it. This isn't your site. You don't get to do whatever you want. No one is abridging your freedom of speech."
     
    Etc....

  • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Thursday December 10 2015, @02:37AM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <bassbeast1968NO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday December 10 2015, @02:37AM (#274210) Journal

    Uhhh nice strawman you got there, don't mind this match...WHOOSH!

    Read my post again, did I say ANYTHING about me posting there? Anyone? Beuller? Nope afraid not I simply was watching the censor brigade as they happily erased dissenting opinions and again really not seeing that on the right leaning sites which just for the record (since the HuffyPo brigade treats everyone that isn't on board as "the dreaded other") I'm actually a fourth generation socialist, as in REAL socialism, not the "justice" kind. Oh don't get me wrong the right will call you all kinds of names, I've seen threads a good 50 posts deep just to tell one guy he is an idiot, but on the left sites? Yeah they just erase after calling the person an "ist" be it sexist, misogynist, racist, etc.

    As somebody who is getting run out of the democratic tent no differently than fiscal conservatives were run out by Falwell and his bunch in the 80s? Believe me I wish it weren't so but its high time we accept we have our very own moral majority, a group that calls for censoring, banning, and treating adults as idiots too fucking stupid to be exposed to words or pictures that do not fit the narrative. Hell they even are as pro big brother as Falwell and his ilk were, only its "big mommy" that will protect you from the big scary world. Is Brin a card carrying republican? I don't know but you wanna bet he's democrat? Its sad that this is the shit we USED to nail the right wing for, but its not the right calling everyone who doesn't agree an "ist!" and moving to censor and screaming for "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces"...nope sorry, that is the left doing that, though I really wish it weren't so.

    --
    ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.