You Can’t Say That on the Internet

You Can’t Say That on the Internet - NYTimes.com
►http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/opinion/sunday/you-cant-say-that-on-the-internet.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The limitations of algorithmic gatekeeping are on full display here. How do you teach the idea of “fair use” to an algorithm? Context matters, and there’s no rule book here; that’s why we have courts. From the perspective of sticky, amorphous human culture, semi-automation — pairing up humans with algorithms — beats full automation. Sometimes, gaps are productive. But will profit-driven Silicon Valley ever acknowledge this insight?

You Can’t Say That on the Internet - Evgueny Morozov NYTimes
►http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/opinion/sunday/you-cant-say-that-on-the-internet.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

#censure #internet #algorithmes

Thanks to Silicon Valley, our public life is undergoing a transformation. Accompanying this digital metamorphosis is the emergence of new, algorithmic gatekeepers, who, unlike the gatekeepers of the previous era — journalists, publishers, editors — don’t flaunt their cultural authority. They may even be unaware of it themselves, eager to deploy algorithms for fun and profit.

Many of these gatekeepers remain invisible — until something goes wrong. Thus, in early September, the online livestream from the Hugo Awards, the Oscars of the science fiction world, was interrupted with a cryptic copyright warning, right before the popular author Neil Gaiman was to deliver an acceptance speech.