Gregory's ServerNEWS: After sustained attacks from House Republicans, the Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled. A huge blow to academic freedom and our ability to understand platforms and influence operations https://www.platformer.news/stanford-internet-observatory-shutdown-stamos-diresta-sio/
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 It's no longer a question of *if* we need to regulate—by force if necessary—disinformation; it's now a question of *who* will be doing the regulating: do you want it done in an open, transparent manner by widely recognized subject matter experts acting in the public interest, or would you rather it be done arbitrarily and capriciously by Trumpy partisan hacks acting to advance the interests of right-wing billionaires? Right now we're decidedly heading in the latter direction  @aggualaqisaaq Forget rightwing billionaires - GOP openly want dictatorship and helps dictators such as putin and xi. It is not about serving to billionaires in some old fascioned way. One of US parties in 2-party system is full of Kremlin operatives. Literally. Yup. I wish people would realize that this isn't just a mere "academic" debate about the limits of free speech, but an outright existential, life-or-death battle for the future Unless we come to our senses and shut this crap down, the fascist cancer will only continue to metastasize—lying, cheating, misinforming, and manipulating its way into seizing absolute power. At which point they will undoubtably and brutally enact censorship of anything inconvenient to their political agenda Literally, the choice really is that stark: either we act to shut them down, or they will shut all of us down. @aggualaqisaaq Well, simply shut them up is not enough. People should be educated to get immune from far-right disinfo. They should understand why recognition/detection of a lie literally a skill necessary for humankind survival. I agree: I strongly think education about critical thinking and disinformation is really the only viable solution. But that's a long-term solution that will take decades to become effective. My concern is that we don't have that much time...I think something needs to be done in the short term @aggualaqisaaq Example of better short-term solution: Nuke Kremlin to make sure that Lenin Crypt with his mummy on the Red Square will boil down. This is simplest short-term solution I know about. @aggualaqisaaq Here is photo of their other temple, named "Main temple of Russian armed forces". Looks more like a temple of a demonic cult, IMO: @aggualaqisaaq Far-rights known for their love for banning books, contraception, aborts, and [name a random thing here] so considering far-rights as proponents of freedom, especially freedom of speech and thought, at least a logical mistake. Likely fatal one.  @caseynewton Truth is now considered liberal bias This shows the unfortunate success of the strategy of the "big lie" (which is literally Fascist, given Hitler coined the term in Mein Kampf)  Not much longer and all of us independent systems and all the data we have saved over the years, will be all that's left of the truth 😡  @caseynewton, that’s sad, but after reading the facts in your piece, it doesn’t seem that there’s a causal connection between the Republican attacks and the disbanding of SIO. I'm in academia. This could be part of the typical lifecycle of academic projects. This is especially the case if the leads are not tenure-track faculty or if the project’s grant concludes. I sincerely hope you're right. Because if a major university like Stanford caved under political pressure, that would not presage well for the future...  @caseynewton Stanford might be surprised how a future fascist government will impact operations and profits for a science institution.  @caseynewton Why didn't they let them finish collecting data for this election and then shut the program down? European Union - world power of knowledge In this case in particular, but also in general, there is a need to move "science"/"knowledge" to the European Union. Who will help me with this? https://trojkatretiho.cz/viewtopic.php?p=893#p893 (Translation help available.) Evropská unie - světová mocnost vědění V tomto případě zvlášť, ale také obecně, je potřeba přesunu "vědy" / "vědění" do Evropské unie. Kdo mi s tím pomůže?  #stanford endowment can cover the ongoing litigation cost, and they can countersue or request that the acku intercede. they can also ask alumni for grants specifically to protect this vital work. vile things loathe bright lights. don't let them go out! @caseynewton This is typical of fascists. They are enemies of education, science and anything which helps people instead of giving them more power over others. |
@caseynewton It’s been chilling to watch the attacks. How sad and disturbing 😞