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It was about an hour and a half into a hearing with the Senate Intelligence Committee when Sen. Dianne Feinstein laid into Facebook, Google and Twitter.
"I don't think you get it," she began. "You bear this responsibility. You've created these platforms, and now they are being misused. And you have to be the ones to do something about it. Or we will."
The tech giants were being grilled by Congress over Russian trolls abusing their services to meddle in last year's US election, and the California Democratic lawmaker had had it.
It was just one of very public tongue-lashings the Silicon Valley companies received over the course of three marathon congressional panels last month, held over a two-day span. The hearings were anticlimactic, in part because the three companies only sent their general counsels instead of their famous CEOs -- a point several lawmakers bemoaned during the public questioning.
Is it Google, Twitter, and Facebook who don't get it, or Senators like Dianne Feinstein who don't get it?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @06:26PM (8 children)
Feinstein gives a number of shits asymptotically approaching 0. She's not standing for re-election. She can grandstand and stomp ground and fling poo like the political silverback she is.
She knows full well that the first amendment shoves her plans into a very small, tightly constrained box, and that all the companies she grimaces at can and will pay for a legion of lawyers to smack down her little tantrums.
(Score: 1) by insanumingenium on Wednesday December 06 2017, @06:40PM
You are correct, I had forgotten we are almost rid of her permanently. Good riddance.
(Score: 3, Touché) by meustrus on Wednesday December 06 2017, @06:59PM
FTFY
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 4, Informative) by krishnoid on Wednesday December 06 2017, @07:18PM (5 children)
Huh? [politico.com]? There's a bunch of articles around 2017-Oct-9 saying that she will run again.
Millenials were born into a world where these companies (and text messaging) formed their substrate of communication and information dissemination for the last decade. When they start taking office, wouldn't they consider these companies' mode of operation during their formative years as the shape of reality?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @07:36PM (2 children)
And all of us were born into a world based on electricity, cars, and modern medicine. That doesn't mean we can't think critically about those subjects.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday December 06 2017, @08:18PM
Nothing stopping you thinking
Nothing stopping fb/t/g users thinking critically. But they don't - think, or care, for those millisecond moments where the "ick" is obvious. Just move to the next post.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Wednesday December 06 2017, @08:57PM
Then what's all the commotion about electric cars, self driving cars, and medicinal pot? Outside of your social bubble, what evidence do you have that our society thinks critically? I interpret the GP as saying, society doesn't think critically and these business models were the norm during the millennials' formative years and thus they expect this to remain the norm even if it requires maintaining contradictions or imposing ludicrous mandates. At no point during their thought process does challenging or even questioning the norm is the natural course of action. It has become the norm to question what is in your bread and where those ingredients come from because industry has done some questionable things, but questioning the use of the major internet platforms is not yet natural as their abuse is not yet apparent.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @08:27PM
Good catch.
But seriously? She's running again? At what point does this approach farce? Is she trying to break some kind of record?
And politico describing her as a centrist? Holy crapweasels, she's no centrist to anyone I know. She's the poster child for hooking the democratic catfish and reeling it as far left as the voices in her head will help her get it. Bernie's maybe to her left, Warren's maybe a little to her left, but centrist? Nope.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday December 07 2017, @12:28AM
Thank you for posting that link, I hadn't heard about Feinstein's change of plans.
I had been planing on moving out of CA early next year but now I'm going to stick around in CA till after the next election. Just so I can vote against her.
Whoever has the best chance of beating her will get my vote, I don't care if I have to vote Republican or even Nazi. Hell's I'd even vote for Hillary if she ran against Diane and looked like she could win.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."