Hi Rob,
My intention with the blogpost was to shift the discussion concerning Google/Facebook etc. away from "free speech" i.e. what people are able to say, to "free thought" i.e. what people are able to think... Google with some 90% of the global search activity can, through its algorithms "unperson" someone or an idea etc. (for example by dropping their reference down several pages in the search ranking, or "disappearing" something from the search engine completely. q.v. In the George Orwell book Nineteen Eighty-Four, an Unperson is someone who has been vaporized. Vaporization is when a person is murdered by being turned into vapors. Not only has an unperson been killed; they have also been erased from society, the present, the universe, and existence. Such a person would be taken out of books, photographs, and articles so that no trace of them is found in the present anywhere - no record of them would be found. The point of this was that such a person would be gone from all citizens' memories, even friends and family. There is no Newspeak word for what happened to unpeople, therefore it is thoughtcrime to say an unperson's name or think of unpeople. This is like the Stalinist Soviet Party erasing people from photographs after death; this is an example of "real" unpeople. http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unperson M -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rob Myers Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2013 9:38 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] NYT: (Copyright) "Is Google like Gas or Like Steel?" Neither, it is like Nernst's Third Law of Thermodynamics (or the Nicene Creed. On 06/01/13 02:35, michael gurstein wrote: > *From:*Dave Farber [ <mailto:[email protected]> mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Friday, January 04, 2013 5:35 AM > *To:* ip > *Subject:* [IP] Google's Lawyers Work Behind the Scenes to Carry the > Day > - NYTimes.com > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/opinion/is-google-like-gas-or-like-s> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/opinion/is-google-like-gas-or-like-s > teel.html?_r=0 > > --------------------------------------------- > > I've blogged about this: > > /I'm wondering though whether the issue concerning Google is rather > misplaced when included under matters concerning free speech/free > expression. Whether a search algorithm propelling a robotic process of > information selection would be covered by free speech "rights" is > something for legal scholars to ponder at their leisure./ But "robots" don't decide to speak, the people that create them do. Anonymous's DDOS attacks, Facebook likes for controversial causes, and Generative Art are all affected by this. A more useful line in US law is between protected and commercial speech. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_speech> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_speech <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_speech> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_speech - Rob. _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] <http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
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