Well,
As far as net censorship goes, I can attest personally that it *DOES* exist. I
have been shadow banned on twitter for over a year (I have a viewpoint that is
apparently at odds with the corporate theology). I have tested this through
several sources, so it’s a verified fact from where I sit. The same thing has
been happening on other social media platforms.
Of recent note:
Twitter, Facebook and Apple have either banned or removed Infowars (and Alex
Jones) from their platforms. All of them have cited terms of service violations
as the reasons, yet others who have done far worse are still on those
platforms. So, free speech (and free software) are in danger. You might not
think that one goes with the other, but they do. Without free speech, authoring
software outside of “approved publishers” becomes vastly more difficult (as
those publishers could bring pressure to bear and possibly get you, the open
source author, arrested, jailed or silenced).
There is a reason why the world enjoys the fruits of the current technologies,
and it all comes down to the fact that we, here in the US, largely invented
most of it.
Firstly was the first telegraph that was electrically powered. This came about
in the very late 1820’s. It wasn’t long before the telephone came along (an
outgrowth of this technology). Combine that with The invention of the light
bulb, and also Tesla’s discovery of alternating current and you have the basis
for all that follows. Those 4 items were invented here in the US under a system
that allowed for technological innovation (and free speech played a large part
in this, even if not apparent). The first electronics? Invented here in the US.
The first solid state electronics… same thing!
So, yeah, I have trouble with large organizations that think they know better
than we do what information should pass and what is held back. We saw this play
out since 1991 with the invention of a new OS called Linux and the efforts by
which another large organization tried to have it killed (both by the courts or
by sabotage in the public space).
So, yeah, this problem is real and already has far reaching effects. What will
happen to free software should the big tech companies deem it a threat? That
question is no longer one of conjecture.
Btw, sorry if this sounds like a rant folks, but it’s clear to me that a lot of
people just aren’t seeing the problem (they are being distracted by a lot of
side issues, and deliberately so).
-Eric
> On Sep 6, 2018, at 8:21 PM, techli...@phpcoderusa.com wrote:
>
> On 2018-09-02 09:05, Matt Birkholz wrote:
>
>> I hear tell there is talk of decentralizing the Internet, maybe even
>> breaking up the NSA/Google/Facebook duopoly fnord. I am skeptical.
>
>
> I've been reading that some are upset and say that Google, Facebook, etc are
> using their technology to censor and some are calling for Google, Facebook,
> etc to be regulated as utilities so free speech can be reinstated. For the
> record I think all should have equal access to share their ideas no matter
> how adverse and no one should use technology to silence.
>
>
>
>> It was a journalist, and I had not heard anything like it from a
>> credible source (except maybe the Free Software Foundation, but
>> they're way fringe). MOST suspect: the efforts were credited to the
>> same Vile Offspring that just yesterday replaced the verb "search"
>> with a new verb: "Google(tm)".
>>
>> As a monk I am proud of my people's tradition of running away, so I am
>> naturally interested in decentralizing the ever-lov'n blank out of the
>> Internet. The more "dark" corners there are, the safer I will feel.
>>
>> Back before government-mandated-everything Americans banded together
>> in fraternal organizations that provided health/life insurance for
>> families, not desks. They also provided nosy brothers whom you were
>> rarely tempted to cheat. Again, as a monk, these kinds of
>> institutions seem natural, a necessary evil, like cooking. And they
>> seem a proper size for the autonomous entities of a decentralized
>> Internet.
>>
>> I'm talking about a LOCAL organization of real people, e.g. the
>> Escanaba Lions Club[1], NOT a pit of lobbyists like The Humane
>> Society of the United States (not to be confused with the many
>> hard-working local humane societies, despite The Humane Society's[sic]
>> best efforts).
>>
>> I have time to spend fanning the sputtering flames of demokrasy in
>> Amerika before I go, so I'm thinking about offering free technical
>> support to clubs that use a standard, KISS setup to offer their
>> membership federated services *just* like GMail, Skype, One Drive,
>> and Facebook.
>>
>> These would be icing for an existing cake of common interests, local
>> concerns, maybe even group health insurance. And if there is a club
>> house, it would be able to offer any member living within maybe 20
>> miles a volunteer who will
