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Google and Facebook May Be Suppressing 'Extremist' Speech With Copyright Scanners (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes this article from The Verge:
The systems that automatically enforce copyright laws on the internet may be expanding to block unfavorable speech. Reuters reports that Facebook, Google, and other companies are exploring automated removal of extremist content, and could be repurposing copyright takedown methods to identify and suppress it. It's unclear where the lines have been drawn, but the systems are likely targeted at radical messages on social networks from enemies of European powers and the United States. Leaders in the US and Europe have increasingly decried radical extremism on the internet and have attempted to enlist internet companies in a fight to suppress it.
Many of those companies have been receptive to the idea and already have procedures to block violent and hateful content. Neither Facebook and Google would confirm automation of these efforts to Reuters, which relied on two anonymous sources who are "familiar with the process"... The secret identification and automated blocking of extremist speech would raise new, serious questions about the cooperation of private corporations with censorious governmental interests.
Reuters calls it "a major step forward for internet companies that are eager to eradicate violent propaganda from their sites and are under pressure to do so from governments around the world as attacks by extremists proliferate, from Syria to Belgium and the United States." They also report that the move follows pressure from an anti-extremism group "founded by, among others, Frances Townsend, who advised former president George W. Bush on homeland security, and Mark Wallace, who was deputy campaign manager for the Bush 2004 re-election campaign."
Many of those companies have been receptive to the idea and already have procedures to block violent and hateful content. Neither Facebook and Google would confirm automation of these efforts to Reuters, which relied on two anonymous sources who are "familiar with the process"... The secret identification and automated blocking of extremist speech would raise new, serious questions about the cooperation of private corporations with censorious governmental interests.
Reuters calls it "a major step forward for internet companies that are eager to eradicate violent propaganda from their sites and are under pressure to do so from governments around the world as attacks by extremists proliferate, from Syria to Belgium and the United States." They also report that the move follows pressure from an anti-extremism group "founded by, among others, Frances Townsend, who advised former president George W. Bush on homeland security, and Mark Wallace, who was deputy campaign manager for the Bush 2004 re-election campaign."
you are to draw the line at "no censorship".
Apparently our brave and fearless leaders need to learn this the hard way, again.
Truth is, Freedom of Speech is dead. We have news organizations that purposely change the message of new stories to fit their agenda. We have big internet companies pushing their political agenda via their services. We have the government watching everyone, under the guise of "our security and safety".
Everything you say is watched, everything you post is noted. If it doesn't fit the agenda of who's in charge, it will be deleted, shadowbanned or you'll get a visit from the authorities, or just as bad, a DMCA/Court order.
America was a nice place to live. Soon it might not be.
Be seeing you...
I'm afraid you're correct. Once the framework is in place, we'll gradually see censorship moving from "radical ISIS propaganda" to "racist speech" to "questioning gender identity" to "consonants that make me uncomfortable today." It's already happening in some places; posting the term trigglypuff will get swallowed up by the memory hole on some sites, and get you outright banned from others.
"If there was a gay Afro-Puertorican Linux distribution, I'd give it a try" ~lucm