Internet

Mark Zuckerberg Just Made the Case for Breaking Up Facebook

“Networked technology is often more prone to concentrate power than it is to diffuse it.”
 — Frank Pasquale, Professor of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Frank Pasquale
Source: Los Angeles Times
June 5, 2020

Trump vs Social Media

“it’s strange that people like Mark (Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook) and Jack (Dorsey, chief executive of Twitter) have as much power as they do—whether to promote or squelch speech across billions of posts and users per day, including the power to do nothing.”
 — Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law, Harvard University
Jonathan Zittrain
Source: Columbia Journalism Review’s: The Media Today
June 4, 2020

Trump vs Social Media

“Trump’s executive order is a multi-faceted attempt to get around the fact that he can’t actually force anyone to do any of the things he describes in the order.”
 — Eric Goldman, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University
Michael B. Abramowicz
Source: Columbia Journalism Review’s: The Media Today
June 4, 2020

Trump's Antifa Obsession Is an Unconstitutional Distraction

“It’s a crime to burn down a police station, but it cannot be a crime to be opposed to authoritarianism or associate with people who do.”
 — Neil Richards, Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis
Neil Richards
Source: Wired
June 2, 2020

Rare Cyber Libel Case Tests Fragile Media Freedoms in Philippines

"On balance there’s still space for media expression in the Philippines, but of course the feeling of media professionals is that they would be more careful in terms of crossing the line with Duterte, so to speak." — Eduardo Araral, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore

Eduardo Araral
Source: Voice of America News
April 24, 2020

Pelosi Clashes With Facebook and Twitter Over Video Posted by Trump

"It’s important for social media sites that have massive reach to make and enforce policies concerning manipulated content, rather than abdicating all responsibility." — Jonathan L. Zittrain, Professor of Law, Harvard University

Jonathan Zittrain
Source: The New York Times
February 8, 2020

One Year After Zuckerberg’s Testimony About Violent Content on Facebook, Has Anything Changed?

This article discusses how difficult it is to put a stop to violent online content such as the live-streaming of New Zealand’s mosque shootings. University of Maryland law professor Danielle Citron is quoted.

Danielle Citron
Source: MarketWatch
March 20, 2019

Tech Companies Scramble to Remove New Zealand Shooting Video

Facebook and YouTube were designed to share pictures of babies, puppies and other wholesome things, "but they were expanded at such a scale and built with no safeguards such that they were easy to hijack by the worst elements of humanity." — Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia

Siva Vaidhyanathan
Source: SF Gate
March 16, 2019

What Mark Zuckerberg’s New Vision Could Really Mean for Privacy and Propaganda

"When you look at the ways that WhatsApp has been abused and hijacked in India and Brazil, it’s clear that it’s a powerful engine for spreading dangerous propaganda. It’s also clear that there’s not much Facebook can do about that, because all the messages are encrypted. Facebook can’t measure the problem or filter for the problem." — Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia

Siva Vaidhyanathan
Source: Fast Company
March 11, 2019

Dear Mr Zuckerberg: the Problem Isn't the Internet, It's Facebook

"By turning the focus away from Facebook to "the internet" you try to fool us into conflating the two. The fact is that the structure and function of Facebook is antithetic to the ideology of the internet. The internet is open, configurable, distributed, and based on open code. Facebook is nothing of the sort." — Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia

Siva Vaidhyanathan
Source: The Guardian
February 4, 2019