On 2012-02-07 19:51:16 +0000, Garvin Yee said:
>>> That's a sort of self-policing, mob-rules, democratic version
>>> of censorship, and yet it doesn't drive people away from Craig's, they
>>> just keep posting.
>>
>> They've been sued and relented to censorship too, by the way. For the
>> common good, of course!
>
> I think the flagging system is good actually, except when it's
> ME
> who is flagged!! haha
>
> But it's not a bad system of self-policing. If it showed up in
> Google
> Groups, it might be an improvement.
I'm not sure what system of self-policing you're advocating that Google
doesn't already make use of: None.
> There is always going to be
> some asshole troll that just needs to be shown the door.....
The problem is picking someone to make such decisions for the rest of
us; the authority to whom we're willing to cede our power for "the
common good".
>>>> Even worse is the concern that Google will use its knowledge of users'
>>>> identities to expose them to totalitarians.
>>
>>> Which "totalitarians" are you talking about?
>>
>> What d'ya got?
>
> I'm asking you!
Actually you were asking somone else. Nevertheless, It's a reference to
Brando's line as the misfit trouble-making motorcycle gang member in
"The Wild One".
"I don't understand. What are you rebelling against?"
"What d'ya got?"
But in the meantime I think China works as the best current reference
point, though "the common good" is defined in a more narrow range than
most people in China would prefer. I don't know how you spell such as
d*mocr*cy in ideograms.
During the Bush regime, the telephone companies were more than glad to
cede access to dangerous elements in journalism, just as many agencies
illegally procured information on individuals during the "crisis" of
Communism, and all it's hundreds of proxies generallly known as
Anything-Power; black power, Brown power, SDS, hippie newspapers,
student uprisings, et al.
AOL among others, has been more than glad to provide user identity in
trapping criminals, possible criminals, or future potential part-time
wanna-be criminals.