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Re:How Silicon Valley destroyed Parler by root_axis on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @01:48PM (#25751499)
Comparing social media access to electricity is the height of disingenuous absurdity.
Re:How Silicon Valley destroyed Parler by filoleg on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @05:56PM (#25755165)
I don't think the comparison is between social media access and electricity access. The comparison is between access to internet and access to electricity. You just picked a specific case of "internet access" to make it look more silly and easier to defeat.

Using that same technique, I can say "Comparing internet access to being able to use your toaster is the height of disingenuous absurdity". You can see why this technique isn't really legitimate and should be avoided in public arguments.

Re:How Silicon Valley destroyed Parler by sershe on Wednesday January 13, 2021 @12:43AM (#25758650)
Well, sure, how about access to electricity for the purpose of broadcasting? In some other fork I posted an example where Russian govt has extra-legally shut down a live opposition broadcast by cutting power to the studio.

This is not a switch, but a spectrum. Monopolies/oligopolies should be either broken down or regulated. Electrical companies should be more regulated, cloud providers less regulated, social networks perhaps much less regulated.

I frankly don't think social networks are that important at all, but I am trying to account for my biases. For many people and organizations, they are not really like a newspaper, a comparison many make here - they are more like a printing press, or a radio transmitter or something. If one company owns the entire radio spectrum or all the printing presses, it ought to be regulated.