Today, Cloudflare reversed its long-held policy to remain content-neutral and booted The Daily Stormer out from behind its DDoS protection service.
“This was my decision. This is not Cloudflare’s general policy now, going forward,” Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince told Gizmodo. “I think we have to have a conversation over what part of the infrastructure stack is right to police content.”
However, having policed the internet, Mr. Prince went on to complain about the hazards of policing the internet.
Prince explained in an internal email to staffers that he doesn’t think CEOs of internet companies should be in the position of policing content on their networks—he told Gizmodo he thinks that’s a job that should ultimately be left up to law enforcement if the content violates the law—but felt pushed to act because the operators of the Daily Stormer are “assholes.”
“We need to have a discussion around this, with clear rules and clear frameworks. My whims and those of Jeff [Bezos] and Larry [Page] and Satya [Nadella] and Mark [Zuckerberg], that shouldn’t be what determines what should be online,” he said. “I think the people who run The Daily Stormer are abhorrent. But again I don’t think my political decisions should determine who should and shouldn’t be on the internet.”
Reading between the lines, I get the sense that he would prefer Big Government step in and simply make it illegal for people with whatever the state decides are “Fringe” political opinions to be banned from the internet.
“Free speech for me, not for thee… So sorry.”
Someone says or write something he finds stupid and odious.
He claims (implicit in the act) superior intelligence and morality.
Therefore, he has to call for the force of the law to shut them up.
Because, of course, nobody expects him to point out where the stupidity and immorality of the content reside in the first place anyway.
Nobody was expecting from the tribe sorcerer to demonstrate the absolute necessity of his calls for sacrifice of the hunter who dared to challenge his lunacy, thousands of years ago, either.
Well, the Trump election has sure ripped the mask off the creeping totalitarians, they are no longer creeping but at a full gallop now. Prepare yourself as best you can. Either the “cold war” is about over and the fight begins or America is over and we are about to sink into submission….. what’ll it be???
IOW, he is fine w/ censoring, as long as he gets to point out the “assholes”.
EVERYBODY feels that way – which is why we have the 1st amendment.
alanstorm, a private enterprise can set their own rules, even if those rules don’t make sense. There is no 1st Amendment protection from a private enterprise.
The Moderators of this site can ban users and delete comments as they see fit.
However, if the Moderators of this site start banning users and deleting comments at the direction of local, state or federal governments then we have a 1st Amendment issue.
Most modern service contracts have “a**hole clauses” which essentially allow for cancellation (forced or otherwise) of the contract for difficult customers. Sometimes this is an escalated fee schedule for extended support inquiries or handholding or surcharges for excessive data transfer (such as repeated DOS attacks). Other times it’s out and out termination for elements which are a drain on resources.
As long as it’s done universally and not for any previously allowed content restrictions, most companies are in the clear against any retaliation, at least of the legal variety.
If we think a forcing Christian baker to provide services for a gay wedding/function is wrong, we can’t think forcing a hosting service to do business with a group they don’t agree with is right.
@7 – I agree with you with reservation: there’s a big difference between someone running a small bakery and a mega-size, quasi-monopoly. The small bakery can’t do squat to Apple or Google whereas Apple, Google, et al can squash the bakery like a bug.
The companies the operate the Internet infrastructure have little meaningful competition; the bar to entry is too high. Companies like Google can make or break a business and there is little oversight as to what they do, how they do it, and what information they collect on users.
My knee-jerk reaction is “no regulation” (and who thinks the gov’t, infested with SJWs, would do a decent job) but a regulation-free environment relies on people willing to do the right thing without being made to.
I wouldn’t really care what these companies do if they weren’t always lecturing on diversity, empowerment, free expression, etc. – the concepts they actively work to suppress.
Anything happening in private is fine with me, as long as it doesn’t infringe on someone’s inalienable rights.
What this hypocrite idiot CEO doesn’t understand is it’s very right to ban whatever content he doesn’t like from his infra(structure) — as long as the Daily Stormer remains free to go find someone else more tolerant to whatever is their stuff about, to do business with —
But, no, of course he had to invoke the ultimate man made power of law to enable his own discriminatory worldview to infringe on other people’s inalienable rights.
* it’s his very right to ban whatever content he doesn’t like
… from his infrastructure and only that.
Cyril, as my father taught me “having the right to do something, doesn’t make it the right thing to do”
@12 I hear you, I was raised with the same value.
But, discrimination out of stupid bigotry, or greed, or whatdoiknow, by very definition will never go far, in a free society — most people’s self-interest is informed by their common sense and learning from their mistakes. We all make stupid choices at some point, and society bites back at us because there is so little of self in the middle of everything and everybody else.
The bigot or intolerant or fraud will never get away with his stupidity or pride — early successes are only paving the way for much greater economic or social losses (eg, reputation) later, but then again, in a free society or free enough society.
The power of making the law is the constant and universal trait of the bigot and intolerant’s wet dreams to keep getting their way without having to face the consequences later.
Without that power, they are only idiots unaware they are only calling for their own demise later, once a natural society saner on average than they are, catches up on to them.