TBTop

When I hear "break down the silos," would this not also involve the currently independent censors working for the major platforms? Today, if Facebook pulls some politically correct bullshit and bans me for 28 days, I have alternatives. Combine everything, and what's to prevent a unified censorship juggernaut against people and ideas disfavored by the "progressives" of Silicon Valley? All in our best interests, naturally. I try to be careful what I wish for.

Put it this way: Let's imagine a type of content widely disfavored. Today, that content can be posted all over the place. Some challenges in formatting it for each place, but the platforms don't have unified standards so it's not very easy to block it either. Would your "reform" not make it far easier to block disfavored content and the people who generate it?

Could you write that in English? I don't speak Klingon. Thanks.

Looks to me like he's calling for further consolidation. That doesn't seem to be a very attractive solution. Also, his proposal would standardize a particular format, freezing continued innovation. Looks like what Microsoft tried to do with their browser and Windows.

You have not articulated in plain language your solution. Like so many techies, you speak Klingon and don't bother to translate. In that sense, you're really no different than your adversaries. If you want me to go on strike, Job #1 is to figure out how to talk to me without disrespecting me. This is the task that every specialist faces; you are no different, and no better.

I saw you on TV, and correct me if I'm wrong but I think I heard you call for data-sharing among those platforms. That sounds like the precursor to a Chinese-style "social credit" system of coordinated censorship and social control. Why on earth should anyone go on strike in favor of that? Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Amazon are bad enough by themselves; why would they improve if they could ignore antitrust principles and act in concert?

Also, considering what a shitshow Wikipedia turned out to be -- useful for anodyne World Book Encyclopedia entries but wholly unreliable on any controversial topic, and banned as a source in universities throughout the world -- why should we be following your prescription for the Internet as a whole?

Finally, as a retired professional journalist and later financial professional, I learned very early to follow the money. What are your financial interests here? Not in a strike itself, but in the "reform" that you seek?