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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| British Lawmaker Worries You're Using Hate Speech |
| 2018-09-15 |
| [Reason] U.K. Parliament member Lucy Powell of the Labour Party wants to use her government authority to ban your private online group discussions. I'm not exaggerating here. Powell introduced legislation in the House of Commons this week that would ban secret, private, invite-only groups on Facebook. It would go so far as to hold moderators legally responsible for hate speech or defamation on the forums. Powell believes that secret online groups are responsible for radicalization (rather than the more logical likelihood that radicalization prompts people to seek out private online outlets). And she has this strange idea that outrageous ideas presented on social media outlets simply don't get challenged. She writes in The Guardian: Online echo chambers are normalising and allowing extremist views to go viral unchallenged. These views are spread as the cheap thrill of racking up Facebook likes drives behaviour and reinforces a binary worldview. Some people are being groomed unwittingly as unacceptable language is treated as the norm. Others have a more sinister motive. In fact, extremist views get challenged all the time, online and elsewhere, by people like Powell and by many, many others. But she doesn't really mean that these views aren't being "challenged." What she means is that these radical views aren't being punished. Powell notes that allowing private groups to exist "locks out the police, intelligence services and charities that could otherwise engage with the groups and correct disinformation." By "correct disinformation" she actually means "prosecute people." She doesn't say as much in her Guardian column, but her motion for consideration of the bill explicitly says that too few people have been prosecuted under the United Kingdom's Communications Act, which criminalizes online hate speech. She makes it clear that she doesn't think enough people are being punished by the government for saying bad things. This is not about correcting disinformation at all: Read the rest at the link |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #9 She aimed for teh heart, so we read, A family of servants her breed, Born Cornish, not nervous Far under the surface: uMkhonto we Sizwe, indeed. |
| Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 2018-09-15 22:24 |
| #8 Huh. Hobhouse was pretty cool. Who knew (outside of Sudnaziland, I mean)? It's almost like I wasn't told the whole story as a kid. Naaaah. The bounty of Africa's hot-house, Its cannibalistic-ass lobscouse, I'd trade (call me hasty -- I'm sure that it's tasty!) For the pen of Ms. Emily Hobhouse. |
| Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 2018-09-15 22:16 |
| #7 Dunno. Looks like fun, actually. Do NOT click this (much less the "Back to The Gang" button) unless you'd enjoy imagining an entire long-running sitcom, complete with two-tone/country soundtrack, in thirty seconds. |
| Posted by: Oscar Snusoper8219 2018-09-15 19:06 |
| #6 I suppose that banning people at the discretion of mere human beings is a horrible idea. But if one is going to ban people it would be a good idea to start by banning Lucy Powell. |
| Posted by: Daniel 2018-09-15 13:31 |
| #5 Or John Wilkes? |
| Posted by: charger 2018-09-15 12:00 |
| #4 Human rights? Free speech? They have obviously forgotten all about the work of Emily Hobhouse |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2018-09-15 09:24 |
| #3 I bow my head in thanks to George Washington and the Continental Army. |
| Posted by: Matt 2018-09-15 09:16 |
| #2 They really, really hate us - don't they? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2018-09-15 04:46 |
| #1 I don't get the feeling that she's talking about Muslims here. |
| Posted by: Raj 2018-09-15 00:36 |