Olives @olives@qoto.org
Software Engineer. Psy / Tech / Sex Science Enthusiast. Controversial?
Free Expression. Human rights / Civil Liberties. Anime. Liberal.
Joined May 2023
https://reason.com/2024/02/09/new-report-measures-attempts-to-impose-and-evade-internet-repression/
"This week, government officials in both Pakistan and Senegal cut public access to the internet in moves clearly meant to crack down on political debate. Pakistan severed connections to limit information coinciding with a general election of questionable credibility while Senegal's action occurred after the government postponed a presidential vote to the end of the year. The restrictions come amidst global concern about increasing online censorship and surveillance."
If you think about it, QAnon type nonsense has been involved in child abductions (to "save" them), disrupting the ability to carry out sex research, videos being doctored to make the president look like a predator, random people being accused of being predators, a random furniture company being accused of being a sex trafficking enterprise, nonsense with drag shows / libraries. It is so toxic, and I've had enough of it.
Textbook QAnon type nonsense too.
Hmm. When it comes to the book bans in libraries, it seems the spectrum of it is actually pretty broad, and not sexual at all. Also, just because a...
Hmm. When it comes to the book bans in libraries, it seems the spectrum of it is actually pretty broad, and not sexual at all. Also, just because a book contains something "sexual" or some drawing of nudity, doesn't make it devoid of value.
It is worth mentioning that book bans don't just hit "school libraries" but "public libraries" too, so that might impinge on the rights of adults.
In any case, I think the more "provocative" content is probably a red herring for broader censorship.
@Damon@mozilla.social @kissane Large platforms are also inherently brittle.
A good example of this is 2018 / 2019 / 2020 where a bunch decided they didn't like sexual expression, or subsets of such. Some blame uncertainty in the immediate passage of FOSTA[1]. Some blame Christian fundamentalists misrepresenting science [2]. Some blame Apple, or even the fact that Steve Jobs historically did not like porn. Imagine you're relying on a platform to maintain a particular standard, then they decide for good reasons, or not, that they want to inexplicably change that one day. Usually, completely out of the blue.
That could be your livelihood which you rely on to make money (how you pay bills, how you eat), or otherwise a vehicle for expression.
1 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/02/fosta-already-leading-censorship-we-are-seeking-reinstatement-our-lawsuit
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Center_on_Sexual_Exploitation
Olives
boosted
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/04/25/data-centers-drought-water-use/ Another problem with giant services which do everything.
Alright, let's say it. The Church of Scientology is a cult.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiqDZlAZygU Rowan Atkinson (who plays Mr. Bean) talks about the importance of free expression.
@freemo "safety" always seems to be a red flag huh
It's not as bad as was initially conveyed to me but it is still monitoring people under the assumption they're criminals with no basis for doing so.
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-government-from-spying-on-all-of-our-bank-accounts "The Government is sneaking in new powers to spy...
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-government-from-spying-on-all-of-our-bank-accounts
"The Government is sneaking in new powers to spy on all of our bank accounts on the premise of dealing with welfare fraud and error.
It will force banks to flag people who meet secret criteria to the government."
When a platform tries to fact check something in isolation, when they really should be thinking of how it ties into QAnon, and debunking that.
I judge Bluesky by what they do, not what they promise to do, and so far, it's been a mess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiqDZlAZygU Rowan Atkinson (who plays Mr. Bean) talks about the importance of free expression.
@onrust The U.K. Home Office has never really been known for their adherence to human rights, but they've been especially bad over the past five years.
While it would be nice to take a more radical approach to cutting down copyright terms, repealing this corrupt law would be a good start.
Repeal the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
@ploum A site ran by a billionaire has foul content. Well, you know how things go, policy and moderation is impossible to get right at scale. You can't make everyone happy.
Oh boy, there is an obscure site (which happens to use the AP protocol) no one here is ever going to interact with (federation is lazy / conservative, as well as other things) which contains content which offends me. I am outraged.
I saw those very examples once from their circles. There is also nothing which can really change the calculus for them, they really don't want to use a platform not run by a Silicon Valley tech bro.
@ploum There is a passage in their policies which literally appears to have been lifted from QAnon (rather than being the consequence of a deliberate and well-thought out policy effort), and some of their behavior already points to such.
I think it's going to be another nest of out of touch Silicon Valley tech bros. It's unfortunate, but they can't seem to help themselves.
@ploum I've also seen people who practically behave like shills for Facebook which is... Weird to say the least.
Repeal the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
Software Engineer. Psy / Tech / Sex Science Enthusiast. Controversial?
Free Expression. Human rights / Civil Liberties. Anime. Liberal.
Joined May 2023
