Hacker Read

burkaman · 2017-05-03 16:34:37

I don't think government censorship is a step ahead or behind, it's more like a completely different path.

Goronmon | karma 4272 | avg karma 3.62 · | 2015-06-11 04:41:20+00:00

But censorship isn't limited to governments.

pr0ph3t | karma 13 | avg karma 0.65 · | 2017-08-20 21:53:48

As people usually say here: It's not censorship unless a government does it.

retox | karma 1890 | avg karma 2.51 · | 2018-11-15 11:03:53+00:00

"It's not censorship unless the government does it."

WillPostForFood | karma 8904 | avg karma 3.23 · | 2018-10-27 16:34:47

It is. Censorship is not solely a government action. We have concepts everyone should be familiar with like self-censorship that don’t involve the government.

JoshTriplett | karma 44606 | avg karma 4.76 · | 2020-12-09 21:55:53+00:00

There's a huge difference between government censorship/suppression, and a private entity deciding what they will and won't host.

Kenji | karma 2113 | avg karma 1.13 · | 2018-08-16 21:42:10

Censorship doesn't necessarily mean censorship by government. If an entity is powerful enough (Google, Facebook, etc.) they can engage in censorship just as well.

baby | karma 14476 | avg karma 1.71 · | 2021-01-10 01:15:12

It’s a bit different though, I find it more admirable when it is the people who censor the government, rather than the inverse.

wlesieutre | karma 23325 | avg karma 4.49 · | 2018-03-23 15:01:34+00:00

The word "censor" doesn't exclusively apply to government actions though.

smackfu | karma 10800 | avg karma 2.37 · | 2010-03-26 10:13:07

Are you really equating government censorship to self censorship?

bee_rider | karma 16765 | avg karma 2.35 · | 2023-11-13 20:34:30

It doesn’t necessarily assume citizens want censorship. They might not want it, but they might be better with it.

gadders | karma 9202 | avg karma 1.52 · | 2024-05-07 14:00:26

I think government censorship is more dangerous than censorship by a private individual, yes.

guard-of-terra | karma 5098 | avg karma 1.3 · | 2012-07-05 13:55:15+00:00

I'm just saying that there are multiple ways of having censored media. Some of which feature govt controlling said medias, some don't, some might be pure commercial, but the end result might look surprisingly the same.

toomim | karma 2616 | avg karma 2.98 · | 2018-08-16 21:44:10+00:00

Although censorship is particularly abhorrent when it's done by the government, it's still censorship, even when it's done by private entities.

mcphage | karma 6965 | avg karma 1.37 · | 2022-08-06 07:34:55

This is amazing, instead of censorship being something the state does, you've talked yourself around to a position where the state can't possibly do censorship.

lulmerchant | karma 136 | avg karma 1.43 · | 2018-02-08 20:08:08+00:00

My point is that it's still censorship, whether done by a private company or by a government, and whether they have the legal right to do so or not.

Fellshard | karma 2280 | avg karma 3.12 · | 2019-07-19 15:01:11

Governments and online communities are two very different things, and the key concern with government censorship is that there is no recourse or alternative.

pyre | karma 21143 | avg karma 2.37 · | 2011-11-24 10:39:22+00:00

I think the issue in this thread is that you seem to only view something as censorship if the law/influence/whatever comes from the government.

ceejayoz | karma 74610 | avg karma 3.33 · | 2019-08-05 13:43:27

Wait, you'd be more comfortable if the censorship came from the government?

jaywalk | karma 7082 | avg karma 2.71 · | 2021-03-31 13:16:40+00:00

"Censorship is just fine as long as it's not the government doing it!"