Amazon shuts off Parler's servers

[JohnDB]

As in any cloud service, the customer "owns" the data, whereas the provider "owns" the infrastructure. I see your point, but it wouldn't hold up in court.

Remember how bakeries refused to make "adult" cakes?
Playboy and Penthouse magazines couldn't find printers?

Because most legitimate businesses refuse to have anything to do with adult materials.
Sure a printer doesn't mind Sunday School materials or Church Bullitans...but put a naked girl on it and none will touch it.

VF had to go to doing their own printing because of bathing suits and underwear....and they actually are just a clothing wholesaler for many brands.

 

[Albion]

Parler users say their goodbyes as site taken down: "FREE SPEECH WILL WIN"

Is this anti-trust? Another instance of a private company having all rights to simply deny service to another? Thoughts?

The blatant political bias of these media giants has at last been admitted by them through the actions taken by them against Parler and just plain ordinary individuals who are political moderates or conservatives. At the same time, the companies continue to accommodate much more provocative users who represent a political POV that the owners sympathize with.

There is no way anymore for them to make the argument that their companies follow rules and that the people they have moved against did not adhere to them.

So, to that extent, the end of the phony posturing that prevailed until now may be a good thing, even if what the companies did to the users they wronged is impossible to defend.

 

[Sparagmos]

Parler users say their goodbyes as site taken down: "FREE SPEECH WILL WIN"



Is this anti-trust? Another instance of a private company having all rights to simply deny service to another? Thoughts?

Parler wasn’t following the rules and was recently used to brainwash and mobilize domestic terrorists. Amazon is choosing not to host them.

 

[Hazelelponi]

I think the difference is that Amazon is concerned about the propagation of actual violent threats against other people, which is different than just owning distasteful objects.

In the event of criminal activity the law can (and will) step in and have content removed that is of a criminal nature.

Amazon has no legal issues concerning those who rent or buy their servers... if they did it would be a different story.

Back around 10-20 years ago there were websites being used to recruit people into Islamic extremism. I helped get a couple of those sites shut down because of their activity, only to see the CIA help them get immediately back up and running again.

Why? Because if you force these people so far underground that you can't monitor them, you haven't a clue what they are planning.

That's real extremism...

What do you think is going to come of forcing half this country underground? Literally half the voting population...

Do you honestly think removing people like me out of "polite society" threatening my income, making my speech illegal, threatening my very way of life, is going to produce some positive "Oh I think I'll be a Marxist now because the state has spoken and it's my master", type of reaction?

Do you honestly think this is going to have some positive result in any way shape or form?

I imagine anyone who thinks so is quite insane.

 

[Albion]

Here's the problem...
If Parler doesn't exercise any controls for age discrimination...then Amazon can get in real trouble for distribution of inappropriate contentography to a minor and be labeled as a sex offender.

You are merely thinking out loud, I realize, but the facts are quite the opposite of what you are guessing at. Read this:

Parents complain Amazon's Kindle Fire gives kids access to inappropriate content, accounts | AppleInsider

 

[RDKirk]

Which is what gab has done...

But that doesn't mean platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google, Apple etc. doesn't hold a monopoly on speech platforms in the U.S. and have now proven they have more power than the president of the United States.

You just named five services and then added "etc" to the list.

That is not a monopoly. That's the opposite of a monopoly. And you even left out Tik-Tok and Instagram.

The fact is that new social media platforms break out every year, and any one of them has the potential of surpassing the others. The social media field is not at all monopolized...it is, in fact, one of the most volatile industries around.

I'll point out, btw, that one of the largest host providers in the nation, Bluehost, is Mormon-owned. I use them myself, and they also have their rules for that are acceptable within their Mormon beliefs.

 

[JohnDB]

You are merely thinking out loud, I realize, but the facts are quite the opposite of what you are guessing at. Read this:

Parents complain Amazon's Kindle Fire gives kids access to inappropriate content, accounts | AppleInsider

And there's the whole enchilada.

But I will agree that the reason for censorship is really thin...and getting thinner.
And it is going to cost them all something... maybe not today...but the tax man cometh.

 

[lasthero]

What do you think is going to come of forcing half this country underground? Literally half the voting population...

That's pushing it. It's hard to get recent numbers, but Parler only had about 4 million active users at peak. It's hard to say that's 'half the country'.

Also, wouldn't you be in that half? Are you 'underground', right now?

 

[Sparagmos]

Then shouldn't you deal with those users who are "inciting violence"? Silencing millions of others who've done nothing illegal or unethical is hardly a solution. It's censorship and tyranny.

They asked Parler to do just that, and Parler refused. Amazon can’t moderate Parler, only Parler can do that. As an example, I saw child inappropriate contentography on Parler yesterday. Photo of a child dressed in lingerie. Disgusting.

Either this a free country with a functioning First Amendment or it isn't. You can't silence someone for their political views.

. What does the first amendment have to do with the actions of private companies? But if you feel that way about private companies, you should know that Parler silences liberals by shadowbanning them. They did it to me.

Funny, how Antifa and BLM, those who call for murdering police officers and destroying cities, still have their platforms. You'd think that might be considered "inciting violence".

Show us where Antifa or BLM has called for murdering police and destroying cities on Twitter or FB.

 

[RDKirk]

Caring about whether or not only American citizens who are eligible to vote, voted, is not "right wing extremism"...

Do you even know whose being removed from Facebook right now? Yesterday morning a 2,600 member private group on Facebook, made up solely of veterans of the Coast Guard who speak among themselves in their little group, was taken down by Facebook...

They aren't right wing extremists who are being silenced... they are normal, average people... they just have more conservative opinions politically.

Remember the saying:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Be careful lest some day, there be no one left to speak for you.

The "they" in that quotation of Martin Niemöller refers to the Nazi government. When you can start taking about government actions, you can apply that quotation.

 

[Valletta]

Yeah, it's like a Christian baker not wanting to bake cakes for homosexuals, except gay folks just want to marry and live their lives together; whereas, some folks on Parler want to take over the democratic process, insert their own will, while executing elected leaders. So, they're not the same at all.

The right has a lot peaceful individuals who believe in the U.S. Constitution, that last part is really why they are being banned.

 

[JohnDB]

That's pushing it. It's hard to get recent numbers, but Parler only had about 4 million active users at peak. It's hard to say that's 'half the country'.

Also, wouldn't you be in that half? Are you 'underground', right now?

Parler was growing rapidly and exponentially...

They were on track to rival the other "big boys" in a hurry.

 

[Sparagmos]

Actually, in Knight First Amendment Inst. at Columbia Univ. v. Trump, 302 F. Supp. 3d 541 (S.D.N.Y. May 23, 2018), the court declared Trumps private Twitter feed to be "public forum" and declared his blocking of users suppression of 1st amendment speech.

Facebook is no different from Twitter... it's public forum.

They said that about Trump’s Twitter feed, because he is the President and therefore the government. They absolutely did not say that meant all of Twitter was subject to the first amendment.

 

[Albion]

Show us where Antifa or BLM has called for murdering police and destroying cities on Twitter or FB.

Why did you feel it necessary to alter what the poster had written before making your request?

 

[RDKirk]

They are alike in that Government has no business inserting itself into the business of anyone there: Parler, Amazon or the Baker. If there was a breach of contract, that is for civil court to decide. Otherwise, in every case there, the Amazon's business is Amazon's business, as is true for the others.

I don't hire unbelievers to serve in church business, and I don't hire believers to do things they might consider immoral. And it is not the Government's business to force anything in those matters.

However, the application of the law is the same in either case. A baker may not refuse service on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin (some states add sexual orientation and disability). The exact same provisions apply to Amazon.

 

[durangodawood]

In the event of criminal activity the law can (and will) step in and have content removed that is of a criminal nature.

Amazon has no legal issues concerning those who rent or buy their servers... if they did it would be a different story.

Back around 10-20 years ago there were websites being used to recruit people into Islamic extremism. I helped get a couple of those sites shut down because of their activity, only to see the CIA help them get immediately back up and running again.

Why? Because if you force these people so far underground that you can't monitor them, you haven't a clue what they are planning.

That's real extremism...

What do you think is going to come of forcing half this country underground? Literally half the voting population...

Do you honestly think removing people like me out of "polite society" threatening my income, making my speech illegal, threatening my very way of life, is going to produce some positive "Oh I think I'll be a Marxist now because the state has spoken and it's my master", type of reaction?

Do you honestly think this is going to have some positive result in any way shape or form?

I imagine anyone who thinks so is quite insane.

I dont see you making threats against people. You seem perfectly civil even if I might disagree with you. If you got tossed because of your behavior here, I think that would be very unfair.

Also, wherever half the country goes (I think its more like 20 or 25% thats interested in this extremist stuff, but whatever), almost by definition that wont be "underground".

 

[Sparagmos]

Parler was growing rapidly and exponentially...

They were on track to rival the other "big boys" in a hurry.

No way, their interface is absolute crap and they were shadowbanning liberals.

 

[RDKirk]

That will be up to whoever owns the servers Twitter and Facebook are running on and whether they believe that the content allowed by Twitter and/or Facebook breaches their terms of service.

OB

I suspect they're operating on the advice of their lawyers. I can see class action suits being levied against them for having enabled the president (and others) to foment deadly riots.

 

[Speedwell]

The right has a lot peaceful individuals who believe in the U.S. Constitution, that last part is really why they are being banned.

And people, especially if they are part of a like-minded group, always think they're more centrist, typical, normal, than they really are.

 

[lasthero]

Parler was growing rapidly and exponentially...

They were on track to rival the other "big boys" in a hurry.

Not really.

Parler was doing well for a smaller app, but you have to realize it’s appeal was mostly to conservatives, and a more extreme minority of them. One group in one country.

The ‘big boys’ appeal to countries and communities around the world. Twitter, YouTube and others are on an entirely different level.