Is Mozilla still a pure tech company, should one bother?

https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2021/0...-deplatforming

I know it's a tough one but I could imagine exploring alternative (multiple?) browsers being bundled with Slackware in the future like one of Firefox forks, Vivaldi, Chromium...

I don't know why you think Mozilla Firefox should be replaced because of that blog post which I found to be quite relevant and to the point. Please explain yourself.

What is happening worries me too. I don't much like the sort of people who use apps like parler, but if they are saying things that are hate speech within the meaning of the law, we have courts to deal with that. Let them be arrested and tried and let a jury decide the matter.

What is happening instead is that powerful companies like Google and Amazon are acting unilaterally to remove from the public sphere anything that they don't happen to like. No law applies, no defence is available and no jury is called upon to consider the evidence. That is not a civilised way to deal with dissent. It's indistinguishable from the way the Chinese do it!

Amazon started out as an online bookseller. Then it became a general sales platform. OK, that's the way capitalism works; successful firms have often expanded into new fields. But now, through AWS, it owns much of the infrastructure of the internet and can decide what can be seen by the rest of us.

A monster has been born.

It's as simple as reading their Terms of Service.

Hi,

I agree with Hazel. Social media outlets are becoming publishers and allow or disallow information as they see deemed viable as to their points of view. Censorship can be dangerous to everyone. When companies that gain power then use that power to control information are not something we should support. Free speech doesn't mean we should do damage verbally but responsibly present our views/speech.

Social media platforms are getting larger by take over of smaller venues to actually be a monopoly with power to control as they see fit.

Private companies are private companies. The owners call the shots. Nothing new - that's why the labour movement started their own printing and publishing facilities some 150 years ago.

That implies that if you don't like the ToS, you can go elsewhere. That's how capitalism is meant to work, through competition. But increasingly there is no competition allowed by any of the big companies. Competitors are either bought up (WhatsApp) or closed down (Parler).

So theoretically, if I own a car repair shop can I refuse the service based on political affiliation? hair color? religion?

Yes they are. I see lots of law suits and congressional hearings ahead.

If you are a public utility like company, that everyone relies upon, perhaps they should be forced to serve everyone, not just who they like.

Really, so the boy scouts can exclude who they want to? And the Roman Catholics can refuse to support birth control or abortion for their employees? Private schools can disallow boys in the girls bathrooms? Landlords can rent to whom they want to?

Same ol Double standard on display.

I, for one, would never use anything from Mozilla again, but as Hazel so aptly put it, our choices have become limited. However, I am going to immediately start looking for alternatives.

Not really.

In the USA, there are federal protected classes, which include race, religion, being a veteran, age and so on. You can't discriminate (or refuse service) against someone for their status in one of those groups. On the other hand, other classes - say, being a racist or an advocate of violence - are not a protected, so private companies can, if they choose, kick people off their platforms for being one of those.

(This is my understanding - if I'm wrong, feel free to explain nicely.)

Isn't that special. So you get to decide what is racist or violent? How about murdering a baby in the womb, is that violent? When black people attack and harm people just because they are white, is that racist?

You get free speech but not others? You get freedom of religion but not others? You get to decide what is special and protected but not others? So if "they" agree with you they are protected, if they don't agree with you they are not protected.

Some of that double standard I mentioned.

By the way, that is exactly what lead up to Jan 6 in the US. And Why Jan 6 is probably just one of the beginning skirmishes of what is to come.

Until the double standard hypocrisy ceases, and everyone is treated the same under the same laws, instead of some people being special classes of citizens, while others are automatically called bad people, then the rebellion will probably continue. Duh!

So, are all the white supremacy web sites closed or why are you talking this shit here in the Slackware forum?

No, teckk, you misunderstand. They are private companies and they can do whatever they want, whenever they want EXCEPT in some very specific cases.

Kicked off the platform for being Bahai'i? Not allowed.
Kicked off the platform for not being a veteran? Not allowed.
Kicked off the platform for having green hair? Allowed PLUS you get to define where to draw the line on how much green hair is too much.

Why is this thread in the Slackware forum?