News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by blueboo on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @01:54PM (#18285688)
The choice is: police hate speech or promote hate speech.

Observation: promoting is cheaper (even profitable). But they can promote it with plausible deniability.

Which is a more "dangerous" path? And to whom? Society? Shareholders?

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by chrisco255 on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @01:58PM (#18285720)
Speech isn't "dangerous". You know what you do about people that say stupid things: you call them out on it. The answer to hate speech is more speech.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by eganist on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:05PM (#18285800)
> Speech isn't "dangerous". You know what you do about people that say stupid things: you call them out on it. The answer to hate speech is more speech.

This worked to marvelous effect when legitimate, unique net neutrality concerns were buried under an avalanche of duplicate anti-net-neutrality letters sent on behalf of people who were very much deceased.

The solution to this challenge likely needs a much more nuanced approach to it than just burying hate speech in more speech, because look how well that turned out.

Time bears us many more examples where your proposal was successfully inverted to hideous ends. The loudest have a very pervasive tendency to win.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by Sir_Cmpwn on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:34PM (#18286657)
Your example has nothing to do with hate speech. Your example is fraudulent speech.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by eganist on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:50PM (#18286802)
In the end, what does hate speech do other than to defraud an audience into an unjustified view of a subject?

It's a relevant analogy. You're free to dispute it, but we might all benefit if you invest some effort explaining why this and other examples aren't relevant.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by marknutter on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:24PM (#18286584)
Unless of course you're the side of the debate that was opposed to Net Neutrality. Then free speech worked out quite well, didn't it?
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by jshevek on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @05:30PM (#18287675)
This is a good example of why free speech is necessary. I've always considered myself a strong supporter of "net neutrality". Yet there were instances in the last 5 Years where the policies or positions labeled by many, particularly in the media, as net neutrality were not those that I would support. It was only as a result of robust debate and the free expression of contrarian views that I was exposed to critical facts exposing the misleading use of the phrase "net neutrality."
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by danharaj on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:25PM (#18286037)
Like many tools, speech can be dangerous because speech can be useful.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by OmarIsmail on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:02PM (#18285770)
Do you have evidence for this statement? What if you're wrong? There's evidence that you're wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by archerface on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:08PM (#18285838)
Calling out something that one could refer to as "hate speech" isn't tolerating the behavior, it is criticizing it.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by pawelmurias on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:08PM (#18286424)
That's a wikipedia link, not evidence.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by natestemen on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:02PM (#18285762)
speech is dangerous. hate speech promotes and incites violence.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by jshevek on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:27PM (#18286609)
We already have laws that deal with explicitly inciting people to violence.

So called "hate speech" generally is not an explicit endorsement of violence.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by manfredo on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @04:35PM (#18287217)
Wrong. Hate speech, at least in the US, has no formal definition. All it takes for something to be considered hate speech is to call it hate speech.

Incitements of violence are already prohibited by law.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by lukifer on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:58PM (#18286874)
To the extent that speech is dangerous, it's pretty easy to pivot to defending it on 2nd Amendment grounds, in addition to the 1st. (Relevant: https://xkcd.com/504/)
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by irishloop on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:01PM (#18285755)
Speech can absolutely be dangerous. Much of the run-up to the Holocaust was in dehumanizing and characterizing the Jews as money-sucking leeches bleeding Germany dry.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by pnw_hazor on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @05:17PM (#18287572)
WW2 era Germans were dangerous. Speech didn't kill anyone.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by philwelch on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @12:09AM (#18289659)
Much of the run up to the Holocaust was in establishing and propagandizing an authoritarian worldview while silencing the opposition with whatever tools were available.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by onewhonknocks on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @01:55PM (#18285698)
Why are those the only two options available?
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by macspoofing on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @01:57PM (#18285711)
Indeed. Also who defines what 'hate speech' is and isn't?
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by dmix on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:00PM (#18285740)
If recent history is any example it's an ever expanding and often arbitrary list depending on an individuals sensitivity level (particularly when it comes down to the individual level like mod's on subreddits or employees at Twitter).

It seems many very vocal people on the internet are essentially pushing an idea that the most sensitive people should be defining what those boundaries are for everyone and the list of things people can be outraged could change at any time, and ignorance of these boundaries is not sufficient excuse.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by dx87 on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:19PM (#18285971)
A Google presentation titled "The Good Censor" was recently leaked where they talk about how themselves, Twitter, and Facebook, should censor free speach. They say that they want to move to a "European model" where civility is valued over freedom.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/10/17961806/google-leaked-r...

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by Tomte on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:42PM (#18286191)
I cannot speak for the whole of Europe, but the German model certainly isn't "civility over freedom", but practical concordance: you have several basic rights which unfortunately almost always collide in some form with each other, and you find a way to give maximum effect to all of them.

The difference between America and Germany — very broadly speaking — is that America goes for the local maximum (free speech trumps everything) and Germany goes for a global maximum.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by charlesism on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @04:24PM (#18287118)
Mod does. Don't like the mod, get out!

Social networks don't control the police and jails. They have always had the right - though they neglected it because they are lazy and delusional - to moderate content on their own servers.

It's so clear to me that "one size fits all" social networks will go away. They are inherently dysfunctional. Putting everyone from terrorists to toddlers on the same forums was never a good idea.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by nopzor on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @04:33PM (#18287201)
No, they neglected it because they originally wanted protections afforded to “common carriers”. Now they are trying to have their cake and eat it too.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by blueboo on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:53PM (#18286827)
The dead, at the very least.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by blueboo on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:54PM (#18286844)
Yes, there's a third: that the balance they strike is infinitely perfect and the net benefit is zero in all dimensions.

It struck me as childishly pedantic to address, so

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by thetrumanshow on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:01PM (#18285752)
Why doth [the suppression of uncomfortable opinions] never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by snackbugs on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:05PM (#18285799)
Hate speech is made in full faith by a group that has dominance and power to influence others to harm groups who live under that dominance and power. How many gradations do you think there are between the two?
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by macspoofing on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:19PM (#18285962)
I don't agree with that definition at all. It is an atrocious and immoral definition of 'hate speech' (and dare I say probably racist in practice).
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by snackbugs on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:29PM (#18286067)
What can be done to correct this definition? What should be adjusted?
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by macspoofing on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:47PM (#18286230)
For one thing, this definition eschews a common standard. Rather, violations are based on arbitrary criteria of "dominance" - which is popular with certain ideologues but has very little support in showing that this is actually a good metaphor for understanding our society. Anyway, in practice (and probably in your mind), this definition would entail grouping people by their skin color and labeling one group as extra susceptible for violating YOUR hate speech code and another group being completely exempt.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by snackbugs on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @02:55PM (#18286326)
>Rather, violations are based on arbitrary criteria of "dominance" - which is popular with certain ideologues but has very little support in showing that this is actually a good metaphor for understanding our society.

I'm fascinated with why people don't acknowledge power structures as having any influence in how one part of society views another; that there is currently no hierarchy in society.

You just haven't ever needed to interface with this idea and therefore believe it's not a defined concept.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by macspoofing on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:13PM (#18286464)
>I'm fascinated with why people don't acknowledge power structures as having any influence in how one part of society views another; that there is currently no hierarchy in society.

I didn't say anything of the sort. What I meant to communicate to you was that I don't see any evidence that the SPECIFIC (and arbitrary) power structures you choose to use, have any actual explanatory power. Typically, ideologues of your persuasion will attempt to explain any disparity in society like this. Those claims are almost always unfalsifiable and can be twisted and contoured to fit any data point.

Do you understand my point? There are many power structures and many hierarchies in our society. If you were to explain the particular status of a specific individual here are some characteristics:

- race

- ethnicity

- gender

- sexual orientation

- height

- IQ

- Extrovertness vs introvertness

- Disability Physical

- Disability Mental

- two-parent vs single-parent household

- household income

- geographic location of upbringing

- geographic location of present residency

- education level

- sense of humour

- religion

- political alignment

- marital status

- number of dependents

- hair color

- attractiveness level

- language

- athleticism

- etc. etc.

Ideologues of your persusain tend to argue, with ZERO evidence, that immutable genetic characteristics dominate all others, even though most evidence suggests the opposite. So it isn't about denying the idea that power structures and hierarchies exists, but rather denying the idea that the SPECIFIC power structures and SPECIFIC hierarchies you choose have any value for explanation.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by snackbugs on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:30PM (#18286624)
Every reply of yours so far has hinged on my definition of terms being arbitrary.

I'm strictly talking about well-defined terms.

Maybe you have never examined them because you never needed to interface with them in practice, or maybe you do understand them and are just arguing in bad faith to defend a more abstract belief. I won't make any assumptions about that.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by Sir_Cmpwn on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @03:35PM (#18286672)
If anyone's arguing in bad faith here, it's you. Power dynamics may lead to hate speech but they are not an intrinsic part of hate speech.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by snackbugs on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @04:18PM (#18287054)
Hate speech specifically comes from a position and perspective of power. Stop making up your own terms.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by macspoofing on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @04:48PM (#18287347)
>Hate speech specifically comes from a position and perspective of power.

That's not a universally accepted definition. You're simply asserting it to be true. It's very similar to the way the definition of 'racism' was contorted from a conceptually simple "somebody who hates someone based on their race" to "somebody who discriminates (usually in some abstract ill-defined, overbroad way) and who is part of some power dominance hierarchy (also arbitrarily defined) against a marginalized sub-group" or paraphrased: "If you're non-white, you cannot be racist". Sorry, you don't get a pass on that and you don't get to just assert this to be true. I also believe that this is a deeply immoral way of looking at the world.

Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by Chazprime on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @02:43PM (#18295180)
This here is a perfect example of a bad faith argument; asserting that your definition of hate speech is the only acceptable definition is disingenuous.
Re:Alex Stamos: Asking tech companies to police hate speech ... by macspoofing on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @04:41PM (#18287272)
>Every reply of yours so far has hinged on my definition of terms being arbitrary.

Not quite. I am fully aware that ideas like "privilege" or "dominance/power hierarchies" have well defined meanings. But thought they are well-defined, their applicability in explaining our society is controversial. Proponents of these concepts tend to be ideologically driven. I criticized these concepts because you used them to create a definition of 'hate speech'.

>Maybe you have never examined them because you never needed to interface with them in practice

I have no idea what you're talking about here.

>maybe you do understand them and are just arguing in bad faith to defend a more abstract belief

I disagree. I attempted to be very clear in why I disagree with your point of view and I tried to capture your position fairly. Where is this 'bad faith'?