sylver_dragon
@sylver_dragon@lemmy.world
- Comment on What If Free Speech Means Banning TikTok? 1 week ago:
A fair enough sentiment, but let’s get more precise. What defines “arbitrarily”? And are there topics a site isn’t allowed to, or must always, censor? And who gets to make up that list? Is it just a matter of the site having a clear Terms of Service delineating what is allowed on the site?
This is always the problem with these discussions is the devil is really in the details. And the more we dig at those details, the more commonly the answers end up being, “the government gets to make a list”. And there are dangers in both prevented and compelled speech, when directed by a government. This isn’t to say that this can’t be the answer, or that it’s always the wrong answer. But, I think it’s an answer we should always treat with a healthy amount of skepticism. Government control of speech can seem like a great idea, when we agree with the government. It often becomes less so when we don’t.
- Comment on What If Free Speech Means Banning TikTok? 1 week ago:
I would step back and ask if we would be considering such regulation, were this a newspaper? Should the government be allowed to regulate the speech of a newspaper, if it’s readership becomes large enough? That is essentially what is being argued for. That, once a form of media reaches some critical mass of influence, the government now gets to control what that media source publishes. That seems awful dangerous to me. The whole point of Free Speech as a concept is that people should be free to engage in speech which the government does not like.
Just because speech is online, doesn’t mean it should receive less protection from government control.
- Comment on What If Free Speech Means Banning TikTok? 1 week ago:
What a privately owned site does isn’t really a matter of free speech, online whining about it be damned. This is about government restrictions on speech. The whole point of the First Amendment was that the government should not get to the be arbiter of what speech is allowed and what is not. This has it’s limits (all rights do), and people can be held to account for the repercussions their speech has (libel, calls to violence, etc.). But, the government should not be in the position of deciding what speech is acceptable and what isn’t unless there is a very compelling reason. Stop and ask yourself, do you really want the incoming administration to get to decide what speech is OK and what isn’t?
- Comment on What If Free Speech Means Banning TikTok? 1 week ago:
So, Free Speech, so long as it’s speech the government is OK with. Yup, that seems to square perfectly with the First Amendment, no contradictions there. /s
Honestly, I see the whole line of reasoning “we make speech free by restricting speech” as complete bullshit. Claiming that a prior restraint on speech increases freedom requires some amazing mental gymnastics. This doesn’t mean that ByteDance shouldn’t be forced to divest from TikTok. It seems completely reasonable to look at TikTok and realize that it is being used as an arm of the PRC for propaganda, influence and data collection. Based on that realization the Federal Government has a valid, compelling interest in limiting the reach of ByteDance. And a law forcing the divestiture of TikTok by ByteDance is limited in scope and works to resolve the issue, without overly burdening Free Speech.
But, claiming that setting the Government makes speech freer by restricting speech is just Orwellian Double Speak.
- Comment on Avowed from Obsidian gets a release date, and pre-orders with earlier access if you pay £80 5 weeks ago:
And for those of us who are willing to wait a touch longer, it’ll go on sale eventually and we can pick it up for half the price.
- Comment on D-Link refuses to patch a security flaw on over 60,000 NAS devices — the company instead recommends replacing legacy NAS with newer models 5 weeks ago:
Any vendor is going to reach a point where they no longer are willing to support older devices. So you have three choices:
- Run with the vulnerability. This is incredibly stupid and I’d hope no one did this.
- Replace the OS on any such device with something open source. Probably the best option for those who already own such a device.
- Never buy a proprietary device in the first place. Unless you really, really need something the propriety device offers, a beige box running some flavor of 'nix is probably a better long term solution.
Ok, I guess there is a fourth option. Learn to enjoy that vendor bending you over every few years. This is what many businesses do and it can make sense. You just need to have lots of money.
- Comment on Square Enix invests in Playtron for their Linux-based PlaytronOS - first Alpha out now 3 months ago:
Playtron’s CEO, Kirt McMaster, added, “We are thrilled to join forces with such a legendary games publisher as Square Enix. The PC we know is morphing into new forms that require a purpose built OS for gaming that meets the demands of powerful new gaming hardware such as handhelds and new players who have grown up in a mobile 1st world with much more sophisticated UX sensibilities. This investment will accelerate the development and deployment of GameOS and create new experiences for players around the globe.”
Huh, so Playton’s CEO is an early example of an AI being used to replace people.
- Comment on Twitch lifts its ban on Donald Trump 5 months ago:
Ya, the guy is a walking case study in how to be a horrible member of society; but, he is now the official GOP nominee for President. Blocking him, but not Biden, might get into sticky territory around campaign finance. Not that Trump’s team or the GOP give a shit about that. But, other folks do, probably the Twitch legal team among them.
- Comment on The Chinese women turning to ChatGPT for AI boyfriends 6 months ago:
- Comment on T-Mobile hopes you’ll buy $30 “Home Internet Backup” for when cable goes out 6 months ago:
Yup, I actually live in one of those areas. I used the local cable internet provider, as they were the only option. They were actually really good, when they were locally owned. Then they got bought out by an large provider and went to shit. We ended up moving to T-Mobile’s Home Internet to escape that trap. While cellular based internet does have it’s own issues, it is breaking the stranglehold incumbent ISPs have on a lot of markets.
- Comment on Google acquires Cameyo to bring Windows apps to ChromeOS 6 months ago:
From what I’m reading on their website, it looks like Cameyo is really just virtualizating software and hosting it in a browser on the client. Which would mean it should work on an OS and not just ChromeOS. I wonder if Google plans to lock it down to try and push their failure of an OS?
- Comment on Oral-B bricking Alexa toothbrush is cautionary tale against buzzy tech 6 months ago:
Why the fuck would I want Alexa in my toothbrush? While I do think Oral-B should be on the hook for maintaining functionality of a product they sold, I also think that the target market for this product was idiots with too much money.
- Comment on T-Mobile hopes you’ll buy $30 “Home Internet Backup” for when cable goes out 6 months ago:
If your wired home internet is so bad you need a backup, maybe it’s time to just switch ISPs completely. I mean, this might be an interesting “try before you buy” option got T-Mobile’s home internet plan, but you can already kinda do that just by signing up for a month.
- Comment on Over 10 years later 7 Days to Die is going to leave Early Access 7 months ago:
One of the more recent updates added in a lot of new Points of Interest and helped make the random maps less “WTF” and more reasonable. Though the replayability is down to personal preference. My wife and I will spin up a new world, play until we reach a point of “well, we’ve basically done everything” and then move on to a different game. And then come back to 7d2d when we want to scratch that “crafting, zombie survival, base defense” itch.
In a lot of ways, 7d2d is like a comfy sweater. It’s not going to ever be radically different; but, it’s nice to wear for a bit. Personally, I’d be all for getting the gang back together. Unless you are all so saturated in other games to play, why not relive the fun? I’m also a sucker for survival/crafting games and have a Steam library full of them. There are only a couple which I keep going back to, Valheim and 7d2d being the top two. So, YMMV, but I’d say it’s a fun enough game and the official release is a good excuse to kill some zombies together again.
- Comment on Over 10 years later 7 Days to Die is going to leave Early Access 7 months ago:
I guess Satan decided on a nice frozen makeover for Hell.
Joking aside, 7d2d has been one of my ongoing favorites since I bought it back in 2016. I’m glad to see them take this (long overdue) step.
- Comment on Baldur’s Gate 3 studio will likely bring their next game to early access again, but admit it’s not for every dev 8 months ago:
Based on DOS:2 and Baldur’s Gate 3…
