ISPs Should Not Police Online Speech—No Matter How Awful It Is.
ISPs Should Not Police Online Speech—No Matter How Awful It Is.
This one is a tough nut to crack, because generally I agree, but holy fucking shit we’re talking about Kiwi Farms here.
There is nothing not one fucking thing that place produces that isn’t a garbage fire of harassment, abuse, and violence.
Usually the EFF is spot on, but I find their argument in this case pretty weak. While I think there are better ways to handle this as well than straight censorship, like give me a break, EFF, no one is doing anything about these scumfucks. I would give one shit about such an argument if I felt there was anything that would happen to stop this, but I’m pretty fucksure it won’t. If I felt like law enforcement was closing in and as was going to charge everyone involved in the site under some sort of gang-harassment law (which probably doesn’t even exist), then maybe this argument would hold weight. But I don’t feel like that, and I feel like the more people make weak arguments for horrendous places like this, more vulnerable people will continue to suffer Kiwi Farms abuse, harassment, and violence.
but you’re willing to allow ISP’s, like Comcast (the most hated company in the US), to regulate what speech can be used online?
Where did I advocate for that? This is a small ISP, and I am in no way arguing that what they’re doing is the best solution. What I am arguing is that there is no political movement to create laws to police this, especially an international political movement, since not all KiwiFarms users are from the US. I’m saying that the EFF’s argument is that we should expect no one to do anything, and let them keep ruining people’s lives, because our solutions for stopping this mess currently aren’t perfect. It’s one of those, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good situations. I am in no way endorsing what the ISP has done, but I am questioning an argument to argue for laws to handle this when we can’t even seem to get our politicians to do anything, especially when it comes to policing some of the worst of our society. Republicans claim guns aren’t the problem, mental health is, but they also want to take away all the money for support and mental health services, like dude, we have an entire political party not operating in good faith and who is happy to let this kind of this keep happening. The idea that we just have to sit by idly and twiddle our thumbs while they ruin lives is a fucking farce.
I don’t think it is fair to characterize their position as “let these guys run rampant”. The fact someone points out something that is unacceptable, does not automatically make them responsible for downstream effects and the solutions to these problems.
While I wholeheartedly agree these people (the online abusers) should be dealth with and the behaviour should have consequences.
ISPs and other commercial entities should either: curate the content and be liable for the content… or stfu and leave it to a government entity.
I favor the latter, realizing that this would require the entity to have proper funding.