[Air-L] studies on the limits of "free" speech on FB?

Charles Ess charles.ess at gmail.com
Sun Aug 17 22:44:09 PDT 2014


Hi all,

Apologies for a slightly irritated posting/inquiry - but I've discovered
that FB recently removed a comment from my timeline that I made regarding
events in Ferguson, Missouri, and Anonymous, which not only "doxed" the
alleged shooter, but also cut off Internet services within the local
police department.  (Going on memory here, sorry if all the details are
not exact or complete.)

My comment was something along the lines of:
The is the second time I've seen Anonymous out the wrong person (and I'm
not even keeping track very closely).  As unhappy as I am with corrupt and
over-militarized cops, etc. [really: my wife grew up some 15 minutes' walk
from where the shooting took place] - I'm even less happy with a hacker
underground that is neither transparent nor accountable to those of us it
claims to "protect and serve" (irony intentional).

I'm assuming it was FB that took this down, for whatever reason (i.e., not
someone from Anonymous or elsewhere)?

In any event: does anyone know of good studies - qualitative /
quantitative - that attempt to document this sort of behavior on FB's
part?  It would be invaluable both for its own sake, as well as for my
upcoming class on Internet regulation as caught between several poles,
including freedom of expression as critical to democratic discourse, etc.

Many thanks in advance,

- charles ess





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