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Comment by lettergram | Hacker News Reader

It may be controversial but I believe 3 things can be done:

1. Government grants for open source alternative development. Aka fed oversee and what not can apply for grants.

2. Label all social media and phones common carriers.

3. Require common carriers to be subject to FOIA and audits by citizens. This would include source code. They can still profit from being centralized for the time being, because of networking effects that likely won’t change.

My final thought is that social media shouldn’t be tied to ones public identity.

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"My final thought is that social media shouldn’t be tied to ones public identity."

That's called Twitter and as far as I can tell, more incognito it is, the more toxic it is.

Looking back, I remember that all you needed for flame wars was 300 baud. Bad Twitter, in my mind, is not that far from bad alt.talk.

Nah, the blue check real name journalists are more than capable of ginning up a hate mob, as the Covington incident demonstrated.

The Overton window is a form of group think that’s pervasive across what people think of as the political spectrum. Outsider views isn’t simply pro and anti X, or even flat earth whack jobs it’s the full realm of possibilities.

It’s easy to think of say communism in reference to the horrors of recent history, but it showed up before the US civil war. In the context of slavery and the often stated “need” to compensate people who owned slaves before freeing them it suddenly seems very different. Which just demonstrates how ideologies are shaped by the time period and why understanding history takes more than a history textbook.

Actually reading old newspapers or political speeches is eye opening in the way that’s hard to summarize. https://www.loc.gov/newspapers/?dates=1920-1929 first page of first newspaper The Evening Star (March 8, 1920) “Income tax on dividends held Invalid by Supreme Court Government To Refund Millions” alongside “President takes ride in Automobile” which was apparently newsworthy including the prohibition of taking his photo. Just as interesting “Woman instantly killed by an Auto” referring to a car accident was a front page story. Meanwhile “Democrats Figure Electoral Victory on “WET” plank” referring to a lighter version of prohibition while still prohibiting saloons and Whisky. “British to Sell no part of West Indies to the US” which shows the past wasn’t just a history timeline it was filled with unrealized possibilities.

It may be my bubble but this doesn't seem that controversial and instead fairly sensible. While I'd also love to see #1 and see it expanded toward infrastructural development (e.g. have a grant funded body research advancements with internet standards), I don't think it's as necessary as #2 and #3. The fact that social media can apply their own moderation standards but still be treated like common carriers is pretty ridiculous.

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