General Monitoring is not the Answer to the Problem of Online Harms

Sun, 4 Sep 2022 05:34:34 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/08/general-monitoring-not-answer-problem-online-harms>

"Even if you think that online intermediaries should be more proactive in
detecting, deprioritizing, or removing certain user speech, the requirements on
intermediaries to review all content before publication—often called “general
monitoring” or “upload filtering”—raises serious human rights concerns, both
for freedom of expression and for privacy.

General monitoring is problematic both when it is directly required by law and
when, though not required, it is effectively mandatory because the legal risks
of not doing it are so great. Specifically, these indirect requirements
incentivize platforms to proactively monitor user behaviors, filter and check
user content, and remove or locally filter anything that is controversial,
objectionable, or potentially illegal to avoid legal responsibility. This
inevitably leads to over censorship of online content as platforms seek to
avoid liability for failing to act “reasonably” or remove user content they
“should have known” was harmful."

Via Rixty Dixet.

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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