This September, the U.S invested another $10 million toward helping activists in authoritarian regimes circumvent state censorship of the internet. But the goverment’s attitude to web freedom within its own borders suggests that what it wants for its …
Author: Allum Bokhari
SJW Reddit Admin Accuses Moderator of ‘Mansplaining’ for Criticizing Her
Tensions have once again flared between the administrators and moderators of Reddit, after an administrator accused a moderator of /r/videos, a Reddit community with over 9 million subscribers, of “mansplaining.”
I’m A Liberal, But Guns Are Awesome
I recently visited a gun range, and shot at things with not one, but two handguns. I’m told my aim was quite good for a rookie, but you can watch the video and decide for yourself. PS: I’m a liberal.
Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos Banned from University Debate About… Censorship
Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos has been banned by his own alma mater, the University of Manchester, from participating in a debate on campus about free speech.
The Authoritarian Left Is Getting Comically Desperate
For those who follow the unfolding battle between cultural libertarianism and nannying authoritarians, it has been an interesting few weeks. Late last month, a report from U.N. Women called on national governments to enforce censorship of the internet. It cited the worst research from the worst of the 1980s and 1990s conservative panics over obscene content in entertainment to make its case. One of the attendees, Anita Sarkeesian, sought to define comments like “You suck” and “You’re a liar” as “harassment.” In the following week, activists tried to draw a link between a mass-murderer in Oregon and the anonymous imageboard 4chan. They argued that violence proved the need for more draconian moderation of websites, with appointed elites monitoring and censoring the content of ordinary posters. This weekend, Breitbart senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos and Rebel Media broadcaster Lauren Southern were escorted out of a feminist “SlutWalk” by police officers. Their crime had been asking questions like “Do you believe in rape culture?” and “Should victims always be believed?” Just a few weeks earlier, political commentator Steven Crowder was ejected from a similar event. Like Southern and Yiannopoulos, he had done little more than ask questions before he was asked to leave. Meanwhile, in
Oregon Shooting Leads To Speculation About 4chan
State officials have estimated that between 7 and 13 people have been killed at a mass shooting the Umpqua Community College in Oregon. Media outlets have drawn a link between the shooter and /r9k/, a board for social recluses on the 4chan imageboard, based on an anonymous post made there the day before the shooting. A number of outlets including Ars Technica, Jezebel, and the UK’s Daily Mail have drawn attention to posts on the 4chan imageboard the day before the shooting, in which an anonymous poster warning board users “not to go to school in the northwest tomorrow” because “some of you are alright.” Aside from the coincidental timing, there is no evidence to link the anonymous post to the shooter. With the shooter now reported to be dead, it is unlikely that any such evidence will be forthcoming. Nonetheless, federal law enforcement officials are currently looking into the 4chan thread, according to the New York Times. Some commentators and journalists have taken the opportunity to launch an attack on 4chan as a whole. The Daily Mail’s report, for example, calls the site an “internet cesspool” used to spread “the most vile material.” The article also links the site to
Progressive Columnist Arthur Chu Wants to Kill Web Freedom
Radical cultural authoritarian and Salon contributor Arthur Chu has called for the repeal of a key legal foundation of free and open discourse in the U.S, which protects web hosts from legal liability for third-party comments on their sites. In an article for TechCrunch, Chu called for the end of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which allows website owners to be treated as platforms rather than publishers. Whereas publishers like newspapers can be sued if they publish slanderous articles about other individuals, Facebook or Twitter cannot be sued for hosting slanderous comments. Section 230, in other words, is what allows website owners to take a hands-off approach to the speech of ordinary web users. Online news sites like Breitbart have legal responsibility for their published articles, but not for anything that’s said on the Disqus commenting platform that appears below our articles. Without Section 230, speech on the internet would be tightly managed by web hosts keen to avoid lawsuits. But Jeopardy! champion and occasional cupid Arthur Chu wants that to end. Writing in TechCrunch, Chu says it is “past time” for Section 230 to be repealed, complaining that digital publishers can’t be sued for “harassment” on their platforms. According to Chu,
Hellraising website 4chan under new ownership
The anonymous imageboard 4chan is under new ownership. Christopher Poole (aka “moot”), its founder and long-term administrator, has announced that the site has been sold to Hiroyuki Nishimura, the Japanese imageboard pioneer who inspired the creation of the site. 4chan has attained legendary status in the history of web culture. Famous for its uninhibited, freewheeling users who say and create what they want, safe from the prying, politically-correct eyes of mainstream society, it has become famous for political incorrectness and depraved humour. If one thing bucks the trend of the “coddling of the American mind” currently taking place on US campuses, it is the hellraising millennial culture that developed on 4chan. Put it this way; you won’t find any “safe spaces” on the site. The site has also had a considerable impact on politics. The Anonymous movement was founded there, in response to what users saw as the Church of Scientology’s efforts to censor criticism on the internet. The site’s video games board was a major staging ground in the early days of the GamerGate controversy (long-term followers of ours might remember our editor, Milo Yiannopoulos, paying them a visit.) The reassuring safety of anonymity has led its usersbase to develop a cultural
GamerGate: A Year in Review
One year has passed since the start of GamerGate, an online uprising of gamers against poor journalistic standards, political correctness, and moral crusaders in the world of video games. The gamers’ rebellion has had an extraordinary impact. In addition to its affect on the games industry, it has drawn the attention of journalism experts, political think-tanks, and celebrities. We asked game developers, political figures, journalists, and gamers themselves to give us their thoughts on the controversy one year on. ADAM BALDWIN Actor When I coined the GamerGate hashtag on Twitter, I had no idea what would follow, but I’m very pleased with the result. For over a year, gamers have been pushing back against a new wave of political correctness, media spin, and cultural authoritarianism. Propagandists tried to declare gamers “dead” — in response, gamers became their worst nightmare. Despite the atrocious things said about them in the mainstream media, gamers
Social Justice Warriors Attack Tabletop Gaming, Get Their Facts Hopelessly Wrong
DriveThruRPG, one of the largest online distributors of role-playing games, is embroiled in controversy because online social justice activists discovered the site was selling an RPG entitled Tournament of Rapists. RPGs often describe gory battles in fictional settings, and aren’t known for avoiding violent themes. Rolemaster, for example, describes characters being scraped off the ground with a spatula if they are victims of a particularly powerful magic spell. Nevertheless, Tournament of Rapists struck a nerve with some online activists, who kicked up a storm on blogs and social media. “Glorifying rape is not OK,” wrote one blogger. In response to the outrage, the site removed the RPG from its store, in co-operation with the author, and has instituted a new “offensive content policy.” There’s just one problem: the “rapists” in Tournament of Rapists were, in fact, the villains of the story. In a frustrated blog post, the game’s publisher explained: The participants in these tournaments are the *BAD GUYS* that the