Slashdot Mirror
EU To Give Internet Firms 1 Hour To Remove Extremist Content (go.com)
European authorities are planning to slap internet companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook with big fines if they don't take down extremist content within one hour. From a report: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a speech Wednesday that the Commission is proposing the new rules as part of efforts to step up the bloc's security. He said that removing material within an hour is important because it's "the critical window in which the greatest damage is done." The EU's executive body said "propaganda that prepares, incites or glorifies acts of terrorism" must be taken offline. Content would be flagged up by national authorities, who would issue removal orders to the internet companies hosting it. Those companies would be given one hour to delete it. The proposal, which still needs approval from EU lawmakers and member states, would be a departure for the EU, which until now has allowed online companies to a take a voluntary approach to battling extremist content. The one-hour rule was among a series of recommendations the Commission made in March to fight the spread of extremist content online.
Yeah, good luck with that!
Why not just require companies to allow EU officials to log in and delete content they don't approve of themselves?
Go one better. Allow citizens to flag content as offensive and if the annointed EU officials don't log in and delete it within an hour, sentence them to shubbery hunts.
Of Europe.
"propaganda that prepares, incites or glorifies acts of terrorism" I guess most of the news will have to be taken down. This seems really easy to abuse. But Europe has a narrower version of free speech, so it's really no surprise.
Yeah, that is what I thought.
Personally I think it is insane that a search engine or indexing company should be in any way responsible for pointing to content that is publicly available on the Internet. I can see take down orders to ISPs hosting content (assuming the content is illegal in the jurisdiction where the servers are), but going after people telling you where the content exists is scary.
It's a slippery slope and not that far from making the statement "If you go to the library, you can learn out to build a bomb" illegal.
They can't define "extremist content", but it's banned.
2 much better laws, with the same lack of logic:
1) Everything bad is banned.
2) Everything good is required.
"He said that removing material within an hour is important because it's "the critical window in which the greatest damage is done...Content would be flagged up by national authorities, who would issue removal orders to the internet companies hosting it. Those companies would be given one hour to delete it."
So the hour after national authorities find it is this critical window? Everything before that is fine? The greatest damage is only done after the national authorities have flagged it?
If they keep going like this with those completely unreasonable demands and articles, basically all websites will block the EU countries completely.
It sounds good, but who defines "extremist content" or worse "incites acts of terrorism". It might be clear to you and me what this would be, but how about if you don't agree with what people say who are in control of this definition? You don't think a huge government entity will use it's power to remove content against it's view or agenda? Especially since in their point of view it could "incite acts of terrorism". How about the term "hate speach"? Say something someone doesn't like and it's "hate".
I hope people wake up soon. Rarely do rights get given back by a government body. They usually have to be ripped from their cold dead hands.
And since rerouting around damage is a feature that was part of the Internet concept from the getgo, then that would mean the Internt is operating as intended.
This space unintentionally left blank.
And to think, that as an American, I was feeling sorry for myself. Never again. I should have known, no matter how crazy America gets, Europe will always be worse. That doesn't mean I excuse or accept how hard we try to fuck ourselves, but I tell you this: the grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence. For all its blemishes .. America, fuck yeah!!! Our First Amendment will always make you people look like backwards cavemen.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
The countries the AC has listed are governed by right-wring governments, one of them more or less a dictatorship, and all of them take down terrorist content and incitements to violence as fast as they can right now, without the need of any EU directive. Turkey has put tens of thousands of citizens into prison under vague terrorist accusations and there are currently, as we speak, EU actions against Hungary and Poland, because their governments have stifled the press and interfered with the judicial system. Last but not least, the UK has enacted extensive internet surveillance laws and is known to barely protect journalists. In a nutshell, these countries belong to those within the EU that are for more censorship, not against it.
So yeah, the AC's post makes zero sense., even if some US Slashdot mods don't understand that.
In May 2018, Robinson was sentenced to 13 months' imprisonment for contempt of court after publishing a Facebook Live video of defendants entering a law court, contrary to a court order to prevent reporting those trials while proceedings are ongoing.
Not obeying a court order will get you sentenced in every single country on earth.
Attempting to hide behind the incorrect use of logical fallacies shows you not only don't understand fallacies, but the initial post your defending is pretty much shit (as is yours). Sorry your such a fucking idiot.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
And oh yes, I realize how many ways you can make fun of us. But we [still] have this.
And here, we still have "display of titties" not being considered as a terrorist act. To each his own.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Block all content from the EU commission. Block all email to and from members of the EU governing body and their employees. Do cell phones fall under these new regulations? If so, disable them.
They did say extremist content must be removed. Just following the rules.
-- Will program for bandwidth
You have to understand what is considered "extremist content" in those European countries (like my own) which already have similar regulation in their national law: criticising Islam, criticising EU-Migration Policies, reporting on crime, discussing non p.c. scientific findings, etc.
Essentially, anything can and will be deleted which the Government considers objectionable. A one-hour deadline guarantees that there is no possibility for carriers to even take a look at the material to be censored or raise objections. The requirement can only be met, if the deletion is essentially automatic.