TZUTC: -0700   
   MSGID: 697.fido_classicc@1:340/7 230c9d71   
   REPLY: 688.fidoclassicc@1:275/89 230c563c   
   PID: Synchronet 3.18a-Win32  Apr 25 2020 MSC 1925   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.10-Win32 r3.160 Apr 25 2020 MSC 1925   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   -=> Ron Lauzon wrote to Daniel <=-   
      
    -=> Daniel wrote to August Abolins <=-   
      
    Da> Even into the late 90s, it was the provider's liability if users did   
    Da> illegal activity using their systems. Sysops were forced to monitor   
    Da> user activity on their bbs's. My sysop watched everything I did. Sort   
    Da> of creepy. Less than a year ago, congress was threatening facebook adn   
    Da> all the other providers with taking the legislation away. The speaker   
    Da> said they were taking advantage of the law and it can be taken away. I   
    Da> thought it was funny as if she was sitting on top fo the government and   
    Da> was holding all the power. That threat fell flat. But anyway, the late   
    Da> 90s gave the provider relief from this liability.   
      
    RL> The law you are referring to was based on the argument that, "If we   
    RL> need to vet everything everyone says on our systems, we can't run our   
    RL> systems and people lose a way to communicate."  So the gov't basically   
    RL> extended a right already given to the phone company.  If someone   
    RL> commits a crime via the phone, the phone company cannot be held   
    RL> responsible because they are neutral 3rd party - or in the case of this   
    RL> law, a "platform" for communication.   
      
    RL> But then the big Leftie companies started suppressing non-Leftie   
    RL> communication.   
    RL>  Some people said "Hey!  Wait a minute!  You said that you couldn't do   
    RL> that and run your systems.  So, stop suppressing speech or we will   
    RL> revoke your protection."   
      
    RL> The big Leftie companies said "OK", but really didn't change much.   
    RL> They just gave their speech suppression better sounding names.  Like   
    RL> "keeping misinformation down" or "cracking down on Hate Speech".   
      
   Don't forget the buzzwords such as 'violent speech.' That's my favorite.   
      
   I'm really torn though. These companies have tons of power but are also public   
   companies. They're under no obligation to follow the constitutional free speech   
   protections because they're not the government. Nor should they. On the other   
   hand, their downfall will be the very act of censorship/discrimination that   
   they practice.   
      
   I'll defend their choice just as I defend the wedding cake baker who refuses to   
   bake for gay weddings. While I think his religious justification was about as   
   weak as the left's, it's his choice to limit the success of his business. So be   
   it if he hates gay people. That's small fries compared to the list of whole   
   groups the left hate. It's his choice to deny business to whomever he see's   
   fit. What I don't like is how the press picks and chooses who they define as   
   having a right to operate their business. If you're on the right, you have no   
   right. If you're on the left, different story.   
      
   It's disgusting that Alex Jones, a complete nutjob, has been silenced and   
   de-platformed. I don't particularly like the guy and I don't listen to him, but   
   I also don't agree with silencing him. The left has descended completely into a   
   deeply fascist pattern from which Idoubt they'll ever recover.   
      
   This is why I feel the democratic party is dead. I call them the democrat party   
   now. In another thread, I said that their ethos is fragile. AOC is evidence of   
   it. Her barside politics tore them to shreds and she didn't even try and she   
   did in a year what people haven't done in a century.   
      
   .    
      
   ... Visit me at: gopher://gcpp.world   
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