> literally rekindle the Neo-Nazi movement (reddit now has the biggest concentration of Neo-Nazis on the internet--the fanatical kind that even Stormfront won't tolerate on their website)
I guess it's a legal problem, not technological. Neo-nazis from European countries flee with their online activity to the 'land of the free', because around here their websites are banned, many of them would be hunted and some possibly locked up (depending of the case and specific country's law). It's one of those cases where free speech backfires in your face. Not like we don't have those problems around here, but at least spreading extremist views is a criminalized pathology, not a protected right.
> Whether technology will be used as a weapon in the hands of a selfish elite, or as a tool for liberation for the impoverished and underprivileged, is being decided now by how these technologists use their time.
Most Americans would tell you it's not a legal "problem" at all, but a clear homage to time-honored First Amendment rights.
On the other hand most of my friends from in the E.U. are quite willing to give up freedom of speech for neo-Nazis and extremists. They find it a worthy trade-off to avoid the possibility of widely spreading that form of hate and filth again.
I find it all kind of amusing, how a lot of the rights we find inviolable and those we find we can bend a bit depend as much on our national origins as it does on anything else.
On a funny side note, a few years ago hitler memes were very popular here in Poland, and even a few clubs advertised saturday parties with them. It was hilarious, but shit hit the fan when butthurts reported it to mainstream media and the topic got up to the evening news, lawyers argued if it's promoting ideology, etc. Borderline humor problems, lol. Recently a newly opened restaurant owner had his business shut down and evicted, all because of the name - Fritzl's Basement.
I guess it's a legal problem, not technological. Neo-nazis from European countries flee with their online activity to the 'land of the free', because around here their websites are banned, many of them would be hunted and some possibly locked up (depending of the case and specific country's law). It's one of those cases where free speech backfires in your face. Not like we don't have those problems around here, but at least spreading extremist views is a criminalized pathology, not a protected right.
> Whether technology will be used as a weapon in the hands of a selfish elite, or as a tool for liberation for the impoverished and underprivileged, is being decided now by how these technologists use their time.
Cyber-utopia.