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yea, it's all very well but to say that this is bolting the door after the horse is gone is something of an understatement.

I imagine the russians are on a different generation of interference entirely

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sat Oct 28th, 2017 at 04:45:12 PM EST
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I'm still not quite sure what about this Russia story gets my blood pressure high but I have a few candidates:
For one it is a throuroughly xenophobic rightwing framing of events.
It goes full Red scare. Remember that the first Russia Stole the election paper from the spooks copied the part about RT from an older report. This report detailed Russia's dastardly plan to undermine democracy by giving fracking oponents a platform. And now Russian trolls promote Standing Rock protests? Convenient.
This story is brought to bear as an argument for arbitrary political censorship by private companies. Remember propornot?
by generic on Sat Oct 28th, 2017 at 05:46:19 PM EST
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re: "arbitrary political censorship by private companies"

"Political censorship" by "private companies" is not arbitrary. In light of historical facts and contemporary litigation between private- and public-sector corporations and a state's agents and divisions, one ought to discard the conceit of "free market" conditions in order to apprehend when or why a company's directors (people) enforce public law and which people exercise actual authority and means to compel compliance with public law.

Read for example Twitter's public policy statement again. A disclaimer therein acknowledges the authority and means of US government ("intelligence community") to compel its compliance with public law. That acknowledgment is not trivial.

That censorship expresses public law is not a trivial distinction from so-called common law, shunning, shaming, boycotting, and self-censorship said to restrain trade (of anything) between individuals.

Violation of the former imprisons and does sanction execution of the "offender".

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Oct 29th, 2017 at 03:22:03 PM EST
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I use "arbitrary" here only in the sense that there is no pretense of any kind of due process™.
by generic on Tue Oct 31st, 2017 at 10:12:56 AM EST
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yes, I think, I understand your meaning. If you would, elaborate.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Oct 31st, 2017 at 04:21:57 PM EST
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Come, now.

Your intuition offers a critical pathway to popular conceptions of the ways and means "arbitrary" censorship appears to violate freedom of the press (1st Amd., US Constitution only) and yet enforce sanctions against so-called unprotected speech (any origin). Let's begin by defining some relevant terms of authority --those socially acceptable and socially unacceptable-- to censor "speech."

With respect to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (definitions) is the business of "social media platforms" such as Facebook and Twitter publishing or common carrier?

With respect to EU CODE OF CONDUCT ON COUNTERING ILLEGAL HATE SPEECH ONLINE is the business of "social media platforms" such as Facebook and Twitter publishing or common carrier?

With respect to international reportage ProPublica | Protect White Men From Hate Speech But Not Black Children is the business of "social media platforms" such as Facebook and Twitter publishing or common carrier?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Nov 1st, 2017 at 04:39:13 PM EST
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re: gratuitous invocation of "black children"

This ProPublica article and other, recent reportage [1, 2, 3 ] implicating African American agitation and advocacy for civil rights with "fake" AA accounts maintained by Russian "meddlers" does not refer readers to germane, historical examples of US censorship of African American political organizations by associated with "communist" parties. Prominent among them is suppression of NAACP activities in the hysteria caused by HUAC interrogations and legislative acts.

Black Struggle, Red Scare

Instead of deliberating principles of civil liberty, reader's are given the spurious opportunity to judge what is "legitimate" and protected "black" speech.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Nov 1st, 2017 at 06:17:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"suppression" s/b ostracism and prosecution, to effect the more precise meaning of true facts

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Nov 1st, 2017 at 07:38:26 PM EST
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Peoples' petition called "net neutrality" has been one of the more ill-conceived goals of civil liberties advocates to date. "Net neutrality" is a misnomer of public benefit. It misidentifies agitators' true objective (to exercise gov prerogative to "fix" telecom owner/operator rates), true problem (carrier OR "publisher" monopoly rate prerogatives), true market structure and political constituents (differential carrier AND rate-payer types), thus true value of a natural monopoly (intrinsic utility), telecommunication.

Consideration due this human "right" is conspicuously absent among "net neutrality" arguments for gov mediation of trade, or interstate commerce. Its advocates might have been prepared to challenge so-called business needs of a privately-owned "system" directly with antitrust complaints by demanding "consumer" protection from monopoly pricing power exercised by both carriers AND publishers. But that would defeat common wisdom in the USA, that is, government is for naught. By now, since '96, it's difficult to deny the "level field" without appearing to play a team-favorite. Everyone with a game, a streaming network, a bitch, an ad [!], a geneology, a has executed a scheme to extract "value" from eyeballs. Yet another reason why "net neutrality" appeals to arrest censorship just now are all the more incoherent.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Nov 2nd, 2017 at 08:03:34 PM EST
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