
Political Censorship by Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube and Reddit [video] - rosalinekarr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ1evclAvME
======
rosalinekarr
Just to be clear, I don't agree with N-O-D-E's political leanings, and I think
the examples he used in this video were _very_ poorly chosen, but I still
think he has a strong point regarding censorship in general and the slippery
slope our society has been sliding down lately, so despite the heavy-handed
partisan overtones, I still wanted to share this video with you all. I'm
curious what HN's take on it all will be.

~~~
smt88
Is the US sliding down a slippery slope of censorship? If so, what examples
would you give?

~~~
rosalinekarr
I didn't necessarily mean the US exclusively. I was thinking more of the
internet in general, but I'll provide some specific examples anyway: in the
US, I believe [the efforts of our government to undermine net neutrality][1]
pose a serious threat to free speech online; in the EU, [well-meaning but
misguided laws regarding blocking hate speech and potential taxing internet
access][2] pose a similar threat; and in Australia, the government has already
[blocked some websites under the guise of copyright enforcement][3].

Outside the western world, the situation is even worse. In the past few
months, [the Turkish government has blocked thousands of websites and several
DNS servers including 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4][4]. While China has always
maintained strict censorship on the internet within their borders, lately
they've been stepping up their efforts by [replacing major websites with
state-run alternatives][5]. Further, [Russia has started following China's
model with aggressive, nationwide IP blocking][6].

I know censorship has been a big challenge to free speech on the internet for
a long time now, but lately, it feels as if the problems are escalating much
faster. Nations are locking down their citizens access to communication,
discussion is becoming ever more politicized, and partisans on all sides are
cheering along the erosion of our most fundamental rights.

I know I sound like a conspiracy nut and doomsayer waving around the classic
"End is Nigh" sign and wearing a tinfoil hat, but I can't help but feel like
the internet is inching ever closer to dystopia. I feel like we're on the
verge of something terrible, and I'm afraid that despite our best efforts, it
may already be too late to stop it.

[1]:
[https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2017/05/9-senator...](https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2017/05/9-senators-
proposed-bill-kill-net-neutrality-called-restoring-internet-freedom-act/)

[2]: [https://openmedia.org/en/leak-eu-commission-points-link-
tax-...](https://openmedia.org/en/leak-eu-commission-points-link-tax-and-
internet-censorship)

[3]: [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/06/australia-
passes...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/06/australia-passes-
controversial-anti-piracy-web-censorship-law/)

[4]: [https://turkeyblocks.org/](https://turkeyblocks.org/)

[5]:
[http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39779088](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39779088)

[6]:
[http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/0...](http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/04/russia_is_trying_to_copy_china_s_internet_censorship.html)

