Comment by kiawe_fire
4 years ago
Moreover, there is evidence that Google (along with Twitter and Facebook) frequently take actions to suppress opposing views on behalf of, and in collusion with, one side of the US government, including removal of information from one side and amplification of misinformation from the other.
In some cases, it conforms more to classical fascism than many realize.
That said, in this particular case, I’m still not sure it applies.
When it comes to stopping the distribution of child abuse material, there’s no reason to believe that anyone’s acting in bad faith. We can certainly see where they have everything needed to do so (access to people’s personal data, ability to mobilize law enforcement, and a relationship with government that is amenable to suppressing criticism as “dangerous”).
But in this specific case and others like it, we actually see that law enforcement did their job - they did not overreact, they investigated as appropriate, and nobody was charged.
Google continuing to be a dick about it and holding someone’s account hostage isn’t exactly fascism yet, but it is a great demonstration to people how easily big tech can become weapons of fascism, and why it’s important to opt out of centralized big tech (while they still have the chance), to discourage public/private collusion, and reason to support efforts to keep their powers in check, the same as they would any government.
> Moreover, there is evidence that Google (along with Twitter and Facebook) frequently take actions to suppress opposing views on behalf of, and in collusion with, one side of the US government, including removal of information from one side and amplification of misinformation from the other.
This is a highly loaded paradigm, carrying an extremely misleading framing. From my perspective, US corporations and US government are indeed colluding, against an outside attack trying to tear them down to replace with a different power structure. I've had no love for the US power structure and have myself often wished to wholesale replace it, but the vision that attack is offering is so regressive that I've become extremely conservative for the time being.
> no reason to believe that anyone’s acting in bad faith
Of course nobody is acting in bad faith. Bad faith actions are decently punished by our society, so the structures that have built up operate on good faith, and produce constructive bad outcomes in spite of it.
> but it is a great demonstration to people how easily big tech can become weapons of fascism
This feels like it's missing the ultimate dynamic, by falsely asserting that fascism can only flow from the bona fide government. Whereas actually, Google's actions within Google's currently-limited sphere of influence are fascist in nature, and that sphere is growing. As I said, "similar end state, but coming at it from a different direction".
> it’s important to opt out of centralized big tech
I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I think it's important to describe the fundamental dynamics of these centralized surveillance companies before they have grown to be truly all-encompassing. Even presently, using Google is a mandatory requirement to interact with many government services (Recaptcha), and the more you make yourself known the Google the fewer roadblocks they hit you with. It's not a stretch to think as non-Google browsers ramp up their surveillance protection, that logging into a Google account will become default mandatory to pass such checks, giving Google account status the bona fide force of law.