Re:Freedom of speech is in retreat
by JoeAltmaier on Tuesday June 07, 2016 @09:49AM
(#11854463)
But in its general form, its about the American ideal of the free sharing of ideas in public. That's entirely independent of Constitutional arguments. We can reasonably argue that Facebook is being fundamentally UnAmerican in their behavior, and should be censured for it.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Restricting a company from doing business as it likes within legal boundaries sounds pretty UnAmerican too.
Re:Freedom of speech is in retreat
by paulryanrogers on Tuesday June 07, 2016 @10:08AM
(#11854600)
True, but there is a middle ground. The users of the service could boycott or make their voices heard in other ways.
Of course when a single company has a near monopoly due to network effect they become a defacto government.
Re:Freedom of speech is in retreat
by SolaceQuantum on Tuesday June 07, 2016 @10:23AM
(#11854690)
A government is defined significantly more than the ability to maybe tell you you can't say X or Y thing in their virtual space.
Re:Freedom of speech is in retreat
by insickness on Tuesday June 07, 2016 @10:18AM
(#11854662)
I could create a website and delete any comments I don't like. Many websites do. It's not unAmerican if I do it, nor is it unAmerican if Facebook does it. I would detest the possibility of government censure of my website or of Facebook's.
Re:Freedom of speech is in retreat
by JoeAltmaier on Tuesday June 07, 2016 @11:26AM
(#11855116)
Facebook is not 'a website'. Its a hosting service for lots of collaborative websites. Clearly debatable whether its more like an ISP than a publisher.
Re:Freedom of speech is in retreat
by insickness on Tuesday June 07, 2016 @02:32PM
(#11856625)
So you think the government should regulate speech on Facebook. Google too? How about Hacker News? Where exactly are you drawing the line?
Not every action by a country must be taken by the government. Being un-American is in fact something that the government must tolerate under the First Amendment. However, if you believe that American culture and values creates a good society, and that freedom of speech is a cornerstone of that culture and values, then you can use your freedom of association to boycott Facebook for being un-American.
Re:Freedom of speech is in retreat
by insickness on Wednesday June 08, 2016 @08:01PM
(#11866672)
I'm not talking about boycott. Boycott all you want. He said that the government should censure Facebook. He's dead wrong. Can't even believe I'm having this argument on here.