Thread

US criticises Australia's proposed algorithm opt-out laws as 'censorship'

112 points · 148 comments · 1659447091

nomilk · 1790133002 · focus · HN ↗
As is common in political shenanigans, the draft bill has a euphemistic label ('algorithmic opt-out') - what it actually does is allow unspecified bureaucrats such as the Minister for Communications to designate any individual piece of content as 'harmful' and have it banished from the internet.
As an Australian who just wants relatively free access to information (and the ability to freely/easily discuss it), it's frustrating.
And it's not the first time the Australian government has done this; last year they banned U16 from social media, several weeks later everyone was alerted to Bondi by... social media.. so they could get the heck out of there, but U16... they were left clueless and unable to get updates (news sites ran 30+ minutes behind real-time events and official sites like NSW Police took 70+ minutes to even announce there was a shooter).
1. gregoryl · 1790133851 · focus · HN ↗
  We elected a central-left government, and somehow ended up with center right. Its deeply frustrating.
  1. maximus_01 · 1790134000 · focus · HN ↗
    The days of the left being more supportive of free speech than the right are long over
    linkregister · 1790135521 · focus · HN ↗
    Yeah, nah, the Australian right has been casting pro-Palestinian speech as anti-semitic.
    In the States, the right has been supportive of government suppression of speech, including the communications agency (FCC) threatening broadcasters into cancelling an interview with a politician in the opposition party. The right's free speech record is far worse in the US and Australia.
    Admittedly, neither side of the aisle have good free speech practices in most of the rest of the world.
    bamboozled · 1790135876 · focus · HN ↗
    [dead]
    linkregister · 1790138590 · focus · HN ↗
    > Being “Pro Palestine” would mean a reverse “genocide”
    No, that's not the popular viewpoint. You're expressing a niche viewpoint or the inaccurate viewpoint propagated by some political actors.
    RealityVoid · 1790140787 · focus · HN ↗
    It is a super popular viewpoint in certain populations. It might not be _your_ view point, but there are may people who want exactly this. They usually won't say it out loud because they want all the support they can get.
    Should I remind that Palestine is against the two state solution? What would happen with the Israelis if Palestine will be free from the river to the sea?
    Both sides are damnable in this conflict, but I don't buy this idea of the gazans "just wanting peace".

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