Read on Twitter
I've said it before: I don't really remember where I was when Snowden happened, but I sure do remember where I was when the CDA happened (25 years ago today). It really was the thing that first made me think about why free speech matters.
So many of the questions people are still grappling with were right there. It's worth thinking about how it was about porn then, and a lot of the discussion is still about porn now. And unfortunately, people still sometimes ignore the workers in that discussion.
It also has this weird resonance for me since I was 15 when it passed. The debate was, ultimately, about kids on the Internet. The debate was about me. I didn't know much, but I knew I needed the Internet.
So we see these same speech debates again and again--be it about porn, sex, drugs, violence, whatever. Unfortunately, it often ignores the real power dynamics at play (and the ways that the most voiceless members of society are the most harmed by censorship).
Instead, people have these debates in an imaginary world in which all Internet users are the same. It was the mistake with SESTA. It's the mistake with all of the silly Republican "neutrality" bills, and the new silly Democrat bill.
You can't really talk about censorship without talking about power, and the directions in which power flows. It's not a zero-sum game.
Of course, this date also shares a history with Barlow's "Declaration," which has received a fair amount of backlash in recent years. https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence
Everyone knows JPB had his flaws. Right or wrong, it's become such a meme to use him as a symbol of the failure of the civil liberties movement or something.
And yet. What people miss is that he wasn't just declaring independence for funsies.
And yet. What people miss is that he wasn't just declaring independence for funsies.
He was talking about the failure of lawmakers to think about speech in context of how power works.
He was talking about the CDA, and people weirdly seem to miss that when they're talking about the declaration. That's what it was about.
He was talking about the CDA, and people weirdly seem to miss that when they're talking about the declaration. That's what it was about.
I worry that we're about to see the political spectrum align itself against free speech online. You've seen it for years with the Republicans' disinformation about Section 230, and I worry that the Democrats aren't going to help matters any.
The whole "bias" discussion misses the point so severely it's funny. Republicans make claims about how biased online platforms are against conservative opinions. Those claims are CLEARLY false, but that's not even the problem.
It's not about "opinions," it's about humanity. When LGBTQ people are victimized by "real name" policies, it's not because of their opinions about healthcare. When sex workers lose the safety of the harm-reduction communities they rely on, it's not because if their politics.
Real understanding of how censorship works requires a real understanding of how real-world power works. Otherwise, we'll keep making the same mistake again and again.
