Instead, I would advocate that you should read everything critically and that any news you accept must meet some evidence threshold and logically make sense in a coherent narrative. Learning real history helps.

I strongly suspect that we were lied to about the rationale for real names policies on Google, FB, etc. They wanted data for their advertising business and to help enforce political conformity (their businesses benefit from a politically stable base of operations). It clearly didn't help suppress hate speech or insane conspiracy theories.

I don't have a real problem distinguishing real from fake news, research and verification come naturally to me. But although I hear this recommendation frequently, it offers nothing to help with the tidal wave of gullible/dishonest people who spread false information. I would like to ignore them, but a) that requires additional effort, much like filtering spam and b) ignoring them is unwise to some degree, as such people can have a significant impact in the real world by spreading misinformation.

When I first expressed worries about the 'qanon' thing several years ago, friends and family asked me why I wasted time studying such nonsense. Now it's an international phenomenon with electoral leverage; and it's still hard to get people to give their time to study and understand it as a strategic problem rather than simply mocking or belittling the adherents. It's a bit like trying to explain to a clever developer that a brilliant architectural design can be compromised by idiots and that the user interface requires artificial friction or safety rails.

It's not that your preference for an educated polity full of critical thinkers is wrong, it would be delightful. The problem is that stupid and mean people are indifferent or outright hostile to such a long-term goal and are perfectly willing and capable of wrecking things in the short term for their own selfish ends.

For example, you might demand FB and Youtube stop using their divisive engagement strategies, but that would violate their profit motive so they won't. The only solutions are political organizing.

Watching Attenborough's new netflix film [0] last night, I think I said [1] almost exactly the same thing.

[0] https://www.netflix.com/title/80216393

[1] OK, yelled at the tv in a blind rage.

This would stop. This is what we want to stop.

I don't think "real name" policies are enough. FB, Google, and Twitter need to collect credit cards and take deposits that are lost when you use your account to spread lies and hate.

Also you will run into first amendment issues.

>Who defines lies and hate.

I would argue we need a much cheaper, more efficient court system, where a group of peers is gathered to examine evidence. In other words "society" does. They can also consider if the lie was deliberate or a mistake, leading to harsher penalties.

There are cases where it can be bad, but I would have problems giving any examples. Wouldn't change the point anyway.

In short, if you really are in a at risk group you need to stay off the internet, everything you do adds to your risk that you are tracked. It doesn't matter much effort you take to hide your tracks (which everyone should take anyway...), if you have a reason to worry you need to get off the internet.

I am far less likely to use a site that requires me to verify my identity than not, unless they provide a substantial service they don’t need to know who I am.

It only takes ONE lawsuit/stalker/arrest/accusation/divorce/etc... for people to learn this lesson.

Privacy is worth WAY more than comment/post/tweet visibility.

You can have a hack-proof office by ensuring that no digital devices are present, no computers, no cellphones. You can't hack Putin's emails because there aren't any. There are drawbacks, of course, but it's certainly possible to work that way.

I think if you "publish" something on the internet, you should be held responsible if it causes harm.

I would love to see a world where conspiracy nuts would throw their passion and enthusiasm into something that's real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H110vCGvTmM

Pizzagate and QAnon started because many people understand something is fucked up but lack the correct tools to understand the systemic problems of society (of which you and I would probably disagree as I blame capitalism and imperialism) so they invent conspiracies to explain the world around them. In many cases, their conservative, libertarian, or liberal ideology does not permit them to critique the systems around them, so they must find some other way to explain the situation, which revolves around (non-system challenging) elite conspiracies. It's difficult to disabuse people of the fake conspiracies because real conspiracies against the public are routine. Some are boring (such as the SV conspiracy to depress software engineer wages). Some are exciting, such as what the CIA is publicly documented to have done overseas by selling cocaine to fund their black operations in the Iran-Contra scandal.

Also, there was a kernel of truth to Pizzagate and QAnon. Look at the Clinton's relationship to Jeffery Epstein. However, the right was unable to metabolize real existing issues and started fantasizing about a fascist coup executed by the president (whom they say rejected Epstein after he found out what he was up to... but didn't do anything about it). They make up concepts like he's tagging and bagging hollywood celebrities and subjecting them to military tribunals but replaced them with clones.

You can't beat a political problem with a technocratic solution, especially one that is proven not to work and that harms real people.

Yes but my point is that, if the flat earth videos were clearly marked a joke or fiction, there wouldn't be a heap of people who really believe it and show up for a conference.

My objective is not to solve a political problem, I'd like to be able to believe what I read on the internet, and for the people around me to have the same basic understanding of what is happening in the world. If that also solves political problems it would be nice too.