David Greene

@davidgreene.bsky.social

@EFF's Senior Counsel, 1st Amdt prof @ USF, ex-SFSU. NOT any of the other David Greenes, like the ex-NPR host, the ex-UGA QB, or the 1 who directed Grease. Posts r mine only, so hands off.

@davidgreene.bsky.social

And fwiw, most European regulators I have talked to about it, and your experience of course may be different, support requiring platforms to carry government posts, and felt very theatened by the Trump 2021 account cancellations

@davidgreene.bsky.social

Of course not. The point is that if they applied their regular rules, they would not let it run. But they are bound to cave either under direct pressure or because of their own toadiness.

@davidgreene.bsky.social

or boasting of the killer's capacity to kill. This clearly seems, per Hegseth's words, to be in the glorification category -- and thus what typically would be banned from platforms. That's why I say here the government's intent matters (and tbc the platforms have the 1stAm right to carry or not)

@davidgreene.bsky.social

Companies typically will leave up (tho with lotsa restrictions) live killing depictions when they serve some broader human rights purpose like documenting atrocities, exposing government barbarity, etc., ... and typically take them down when they are for the purpose of glorifying the atrocity ...

@masnick.comReposted by @davidgreene.bsky.social

Part VI of @kkomaitis.bsky.social series on "the metric is not the mission." This one is on how the data big tech collects about us makes them think they know us, when it just shows how little they know.

The digital age inherited that ambition and expanded it beyond anything previous generations could have imagined. Never before have private organizations possessed such detailed knowledge of everyday human behavior. The major technology platforms know what captures our attention, how long we hesitate before making a decision, which conversations draw us back repeatedly, what time we wake, when we travel, where we shop, what we read, which videos we abandon after twenty seconds and which ones persuade us to remain for twenty minutes. Individually, these fragments appear almost trivial. Collectively, they amount to one of the most ambitious efforts in history to observe human behavior at planetary scale. The achievement is extraordinary. It is also deeply misleading. Observation and understanding are not the same thing. The distinction is easy to overlook because the predictive power of these systems has become genuinely remarkable. Recommendation algorithms often anticipate our preferences before we consciously recognize them ourselves. Navigation applications predict our journeys with astonishing accuracy. Streaming platforms learn our habits so quickly that their suggestions can feel almost uncanny. The practical success of these systems encourages a subtle but important assumption: if behavior can be predicted with sufficient precision, perhaps behavior itself has been understood. And this may be the most consequential consequence of the platform age. The more of human behavior platforms learned to measure, the easier it became to believe that human beings themselves had become legible. Clicks became preferences. Networks became communities. Attention became interest. Prediction became understanding. Metrics became meaning. The platforms could see more of us than any institution in history and gradually became less capable of seeing what their measurements left out.
Techdirt@techdirt.com

The Metric Is Not The Mission: The Illusion Of Knowing Us The Metric Is Not the Mission is a ten-part examination of how Big Tech moved from building and expanding the open internet to increasingly... https://www.techdirt.com/2026/10/08/the-metric-is-not-the-mission-the-illusion-of-knowing-us/

techdirt.comThe Metric Is Not The Mission: The Illusion Of Knowing UsThe Metric Is Not the Mission is a ten-part examination of how Big Tech moved from building and expanding the open internet to increasingly shaping it around its own metrics, incentives and assumptions. Across the series, the argument follows the evolution of the platform economy—from the optimism of the early internet to the growing tensions...
@davidgreene.bsky.social

As the Supreme Court said of Lafayette Park, "Although originally part of the White House grounds, President Jefferson set it aside as a park for the use of residents and visitors" and is in fact "visited by vast numbers of visitors from around the country" and the DC area.

Screenshot from the US Supreme Court case Clark v Community for Creative Non-Violence: "The network of National Parks includes the National Memorial-core parks, Lafayette Park and the Mall, which are set in the heart of Washington, D.C., and which are unique resources that the Federal Government holds in trust for the American people. Lafayette Park is a roughly 7-acre square located across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. Although originally part of the White House grounds, President Jefferson set it aside as a park for the use of residents and visitors. It is a "garden park with a . . . formal landscaping of flowers and trees, with fountains, walks and benches." National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, White House and President's Park, Resource Management Plan 4.3 (1981). The Mall is a stretch of land running westward from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial some two miles away. It includes the Washington Monument, a series of reflecting pools, trees, lawns, and other greenery. It is bordered by, inter alia, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art. Both the Park and the Mall were included in Major Pierre L'Enfant's original plan for the Capital. Both are visited by vast numbers of visitors from around the country, as well as by large numbers of residents of the Washington metropolitan area."
Brandon Friedman@brandonfriedman.bsky.social

Lafayette Square isn't "a historic protest site." It's a fucking park. And it's packed on nice days. Calling it a protest site is White House framing. They're closing a popular public park to create a presidential palace Saddam Hussein would love.

nytimes.comInside Trump's Plan to Fence Off a Historic Protest Site (Gift Article)The president’s proposal to enclose a park in Washington could alter how the space has been used for generations.
@masnick.comReposted by @davidgreene.bsky.social

We're now halfway through @kkomaitis.bsky.social's amazing 10 part series on "The Metric is Not The Mission" and each piece seems better than the last...

Techdirt@techdirt.com

The Metric Is Not The Mission: The Finished Internet The Metric Is Not the Mission is a ten-part examination of how Big Tech moved from building and expanding the open internet to increasingly shaping it... https://www.techdirt.com/2026/10/05/the-metric-is-not-the-mission-the-finished-internet/

techdirt.comThe Metric Is Not The Mission: The Finished InternetThe Metric Is Not the Mission is a ten-part examination of how Big Tech moved from building and expanding the open internet to increasingly shaping it around its own metrics, incentives and assumptions. Across the series, the argument follows the evolution of the platform economy—from the optimism of the early internet to the growing tensions...
@davidgreene.bsky.social

Sorry. Detached that quotation rather than use Bluesky to have a debate of you over whether the International Convention on the Rights of the Child actually confers "rights" and when such rights can be derogated

@davidgreene.bsky.social

Again, let's just stop & remember that age-based legal restrictions on access to social media/online services are a bad idea & infringe the rights of young people to speak, access information and arts & culture, find community and play. Then look at the madness involved in trying to make them work.

Sarah McLaughlin@sarahemclaugh.bsky.social

UK officials admit that they will do "hard checks" to enforce the under-16 social media ban after Australia's failures and will require platforms to verify via passport, license, or credit.

thetimes.comSocial media users face passport checks to enforce under-16 banMinisters seek harder line on ID verification after concerns that screening measures used in Australia have proved too easy for children to circumvent
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