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US Declines in Internet Freedom Rankings (techcrunch.com)
If you need a safe haven on the internet, where the pipes are open and the freedoms are plentiful -- you might want to move to Estonia or Iceland. From a report: The latest "internet freedoms" rankings are out, courtesy of Freedom House's annual report into the state of internet freedoms and personal liberties, based on rankings of 65 countries that represent the vast majority of the world's internet users. Although the U.S. remains firmly in the top 10, it dropped a point on the year earlier after a recent rash of changes to internet regulation and a lack of in the realm of surveillance. Last year, the U.S. was 21 in the global internet freedom ranking -- the lower number, the better a country ranks. That was behind Estonia, Iceland, Canada, Germany and Australia. This year the U.S. is at 22 -- thanks to the repeal of net neutrality and the renewal of U.S. spy powers. The report also cited "disinformation and hyperpartisan content" -- or fake news -- as a "pressing concern."
Drops mike.
Their concerns over "fake news" seems contrary to the notion of "freedom". Freedom means the ability for anyone, anywhere, to do what they will regardless of your opinions.
Their concerns undermine their credibility, although I do agree that the lack of net neutrality and continued surveillance are concerning.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
With shadow banning, FB jail, twitter censorship, deleted accounts due any number of excuses. And lets not forget the spy vs spy MAD Mag comic of the deep state. Julian Assange last interview he talked about those being born today will be the last generation to be free... I'm trying to get a head start of my unfreedom. May I be marked a troll for this.
How is the US behind countries that have actual laws on the books that jail you for saying offensive things? Germany and Canada BOTH have âoeanti-hate,â where hate is as liberally defined as using the wrong pronouns for someone, laws in place.
Also, how is censoring âoefake newsâ increasing freedom of speech? Doesnâ(TM)t matter whether itâ(TM)s crap or not. Censorship is censorship.
Where you can be arrested for posting a video of a dog with an up raised paw or for making an offensive comment online. Sounds very free to me!
None of that was cited as a reason. It's Net Neutrality and Government Spying that cut us down a notch. Facebook bans aren't the risk to your freedom. Losing Net Neutrality OTOH is.
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Australia has ISPs filtering out websites at the behest of copyright owners. How are they better than the USA?
We all suffer as long as internet monopolies such as Google and Facebook use their political leanings to determine if a user should be banned or blocked.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
How does the U.S. drop a rank after REMOVING regulation that made the internet less Free?
If the U.S. is at 22, who is higher - Germany or the UK where you can be arrested for tweeting the wrong thing?
What does "internet freedom" even mean if not that you can say what you want online?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Repeating the same statements with the support of purchased news organizations and paid shills and astroturfers does not make a country more free.
Restricting speech is bad. Restricting a company's ability to purchase media like Fox, Sinclair, and Clear Channel is good. The consolidation of media in the US is making propaganda very effective and good government harder.
You got me into this! You were the ideologue! I'm only a poor assassin! - Twenty evocations, Bruce Sterling
I believe the problem with "disinformation and hyper partisan content" is who is deciding what qualifies as such. Major platforms Facebook, Youtube, Google, and Twitter have come under intense criticism for the way they decide what is fake news, whether through algorithms, hiring third parties (that could be partisan), or having real people do the job who mislabeling without consequence and thus preventing people from seeing the news, real or fake. Many reporters believe their real news is being mistakenly called fake or being included in a vague undefined definition of hate speech. The corporations try to use an excess of caution on the subject of hate speech that results in even preventing real statistics from being published by organizations if the statistic includes ethnicity or race in any negative light. While it is not the government doing the limiting, there is an only a handful of large tech corporations that decide how many people you can reach with your message and/or whether your message is appropriate. People can create their own websites but it is a bit like shouting in an empty room, you have free speech but no one can hear you.
Not unexpected, especially with this Administration. But I have to ask; how does 'still in the top 10' and 'dropped to 22' make sense?
Freedom of speech must — in a society without the Ministry of Truth — include the freedom to lie.
But the targeting of "hate speech" ought to be a "pressing concern" — and for the same reasons. No one lamenting the demise of the "Net Neutrality" would agree, that the regulation would've prevented the persecution of Gab.com, for example. On the contrary, these same people claim "free speech" has become a very lazy excuse to tolerate hatred and the ignorance".
It immediately follows, US still has "too much" freedom — unlike the enlightened and sophisticated Europeans.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
You must find a way to circumvent the ISP. Until you do, the internet will remain just another TV channel on your cable box.
"you might want to move to Estonia or Iceland", said no one, ever, to no one in particular.
Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
"Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
From TFA. gab.com a libertarian true and true platform for the left and right. The open twitter - attacked by corporate democrats. Never Forget. Long live Gab!
Hi APK, you cuck.
ZIP
Tech is making the problem of "fake news" and hate speech worse, because as people retweet fake news and hate speech, or share offensive websites with others hoping to shine a light on the bad guys, algorithms watch and rank and push the fake news and hate speech up in the rankings, the opposite of what the people working to shine a light on the problem intended.
So your drunk uncle is not only just prone to believing weird crap, he's more likely to be fed weird crap.
People are starting to warn others to take a screenshot of the offensive tweet/website and post those, and not to retweet or link to it, to find away around what our devices and apps are doing.
Automating everything is a great idea until some feeble minded Alex Jones listener with an AR-15 shows up at the local pizza parlor and shoots off a few rounds because the interwebs told him Hillary Clinton was molesting kids in the basement.
Land of the free not so much.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.