←back to thread

1525 points garyclarke27 | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.601s | source
Show context
heinrichhartman ◴[] No.23221288[source]
This is the result of out-sourcing juristic work to private companies:

If we treat Android, Window, Twitter, Facebook, as public spaces/goods, then private companies should not have a say in what is allowed/not-allowed on their platforms. This is work for the courts and police to decide and enforce.

If we treat those platforms as private. Then we are playing in s/o's backyard. You are totally at their mercy. They have every right to kick you out if they don't like your face. It's their property. You are a guest.

I think we need constituted digital public spaces and platforms with:

- democratic footing (users are in charge)

- public ownership

- division of power (politicians =!= judges =!= police)

- effective policing

In such a system it would be for independent courts to decide which Apps can be distributed and which not. Those courts would be bound to a constitution/body of law, which applies to all parties a like.

Yes, this will be expensive. Yes, you will have to give up some privacy. But you will be a citizen in a society, and not a stranger playing in a backyard.

Maybe the current platforms can be coerced into a system which approximates the above. But I have my doubts. I hope in 200years people will have figured this out, and will look back to this age as the digital dark ages.

replies(17): >>23221309 #>>23221497 #>>23221572 #>>23221741 #>>23221897 #>>23222642 #>>23222646 #>>23222671 #>>23223166 #>>23223727 #>>23224123 #>>23224539 #>>23228931 #>>23229210 #>>23230754 #>>23231344 #>>23236648 #
scarface74 ◴[] No.23221572[source]
You really trust the US court system to be impartial?

Should Apple/Google be forced to carry pornographic apps? White supremacists apps? Apps that invade people’s privacy? Which government should hold this responsibility? Should we have an international committee deciding this?

replies(7): >>23221706 #>>23221717 #>>23221719 #>>23221975 #>>23222099 #>>23225584 #>>23229212 #
falcolas ◴[] No.23222099[source]
I expect them to be more impartial than a multinational for-profit company whose stakeholders care about little other than their bottom line.

Pornography and hate speech have plenty of legal precedent. And if I'm honest, if it's legal in a given country, why shouldn't it be available?

replies(1): >>23222140 #
scarface74 ◴[] No.23222140[source]
Are you paying attention to the actions of the modern judicial system in the US that votes along party lines?

You really think that judges with their own religious and political biases and with lifetime appointments “care about you”?

replies(1): >>23222183 #
falcolas ◴[] No.23222183[source]
By that same token, are you paying attention to the actions being taken by Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon?

There are no clean actors here, but the difference between the judicial system and the big companies is that the judicial system has people who care about more than just profits.

replies(1): >>23222229 #
1. scarface74 ◴[] No.23222229[source]
It’s even worse. They care about their own ideologies that are often at odds with mine.

The difference is that it is much easier to not be beholden to the private corporations you mentioned than the government. Private corporations don’t have the power of the state to take away my liberty, property or life.

replies(1): >>23223104 #
2. falcolas ◴[] No.23223104[source]
You do realize the context of this conversation, correct? We're not talking about your liberty, property, or life. We're talking about apps on a smartphone or tablet.

> Private corporations don’t have the power [] to take away my liberty, property or life.

No, they can only demand you come in for overtime, require you to move where they want you to, or force you to come in while sick, at the risk of taking away your job. A risk which is minor for some of us, but which is the equivalent of a threat of homelessness for others.

replies(1): >>23228956 #
3. scarface74 ◴[] No.23228956[source]
Yes and do you really think morality will never come into play if those decisions are made by the government? What are the chances that this government would go to bat for an app by Black Lives Matter as opposed to Focus on the Family?