Germany: Web giants pledge to delete hate speech in 24 hours
(AP): http://www.fox5ny.com/news/57535719-story
Facebook, Google and Twitter have agreed to delete hate
speech deemed illegal in Germany within 24 hours. The move
follows pressure from German authorities concerned about the
increasing volume of racist abuse being posted on social
networking sites.
- - -
The problem here of course, is that while there is some speech that any
reasonable observer would quickly deem to be unacceptable hate speech,
for example, a specific threat directed at a specific individual or
group, there are vast quantities of speech online that particular ruling
politicians and tyrants would consider to be hate speech that everyone
else would likely consider to be nothing more than "critical" speech. In
some countries -- note the Thailand story from yesterday -- citizens
face decades-long prison sentences for writing anything online critical
of leaders (or in the case of Thailand, even the king's dog). Hate
speech regulations therefore could quickly intertwine with abominations
like the EU's "Right to be Forgotten" to turn into yet another broad
weapon for pervasive politically-oriented government censorship and
repression.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently doing so.
My opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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