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from the what-you-see-depends-on-where-you-are dept.
Silicon Valley is a uniquely American creation, the product of an entrepreneurial spirit and no-holds-barred capitalism that now drives many aspects of modern life.
But the likes of Facebook, Google and Apple are increasingly facing an uncomfortable truth: it is Europe's culture of tougher oversight of companies, not America's laissez-faire attitude, which could soon rule their industry as governments seek to combat fake news and prevent extremists from using the internet to fan the flames of hatred.
While the U.S. has largely relied on market forces to regulate content in a country where free speech is revered, European officials have shown they are willing to act. Germany recently passed a law imposing fines of up to 50 million euros ($59 million) on websites that don't remove hate speech within 24 hours. British Prime Minister Theresa May wants companies to take down extremist material within two hours. And across the EU, Google has for years been obliged to remove search results if there is a legitimate complaint about the content's veracity or relevance.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:11PM
That's changing in some ways: A majority of the country now supports legalization of marijuana.
That said, the main reason they support it is that they think of the Drug War as being aimed at people other than themselves. They never think that it's possible they'll be busted for drugs that were planted on them by a cop while they were walking down the street. They never think that they are the homeowner who will have the cops bust in on their family guns blazing. They never think that they'll be the ones roughed up on the side of the highway for exercising their Fourth Amendment rights. They never think that they'll be the one to lose everything they had when the cops seize it via asset forfeiture. They never think that they'll be the ones shot in a battle that has nothing to do with them.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin