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One interesting issue related to censorship and privacy that is coming home to roost lately is the dramatic movement over the last 5 years to hosted media (as opposed to physical copies of media).
Let's dig in, shall we?
Thread:
Let's dig in, shall we?
Thread:
So much of our music, books, movies, and television has becoming streaming.
We don't buy physical albums (records, CDs), you now buy access to stream the music to your device (Spotify, Apple music).
Same with books (Kindles), movies (netflix, HBO), and television (HULU etc.)
We don't buy physical albums (records, CDs), you now buy access to stream the music to your device (Spotify, Apple music).
Same with books (Kindles), movies (netflix, HBO), and television (HULU etc.)
The problem is that that the right to access those materials no longer is in your control.
Where you used to have a DVD of a movie on your shelf, it's now a steaming title on an app.
And those rights can be taken away by the content provider.
And they have been recently.
Where you used to have a DVD of a movie on your shelf, it's now a steaming title on an app.
And those rights can be taken away by the content provider.
And they have been recently.
For example, in the last month or so, streaming providers have pulled "problematic" episodes of the following shows:
30 Rock
Scrubs
The Office
It's Always Sunny
Golden Girls
The list goes on. And since you probably don't own copies of those shows, they're just gone forever.
30 Rock
Scrubs
The Office
It's Always Sunny
Golden Girls
The list goes on. And since you probably don't own copies of those shows, they're just gone forever.
And where does it stop?
The Post recently had an article about how we should also be cancelling "problematic" books.
Yikes.
And if you don't own physical copies of these books, there's nothing to stop, say, Amazon from scrubbing Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from your Kindle.
The Post recently had an article about how we should also be cancelling "problematic" books.
Yikes.
And if you don't own physical copies of these books, there's nothing to stop, say, Amazon from scrubbing Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from your Kindle.
And the gatekeepers of what is or is not "problematic" are now private corporations.
These entities have no requirement to abide the First Amendment.
Note: One of the reasons I like crypto so much is the promise of decentralizing control to make media censorship resistant.
These entities have no requirement to abide the First Amendment.
Note: One of the reasons I like crypto so much is the promise of decentralizing control to make media censorship resistant.
But more broadly, I find it troubling that we as a culture have decide to simply censor difficult topics and issues instead of confronting them head on.
Censorship is wrong.
We are a culture of ideas, and the free debate of those ideas is the cornerstone of democracy.
Censorship is wrong.
We are a culture of ideas, and the free debate of those ideas is the cornerstone of democracy.
The further we move towards cloud-based, hosted media, the more susceptible we are to private censorship.
We must focus on building digital media products that are censorship resistant.
The last thing I want is the mob telling me what I can watch or read.
/thread
We must focus on building digital media products that are censorship resistant.
The last thing I want is the mob telling me what I can watch or read.
/thread
