Mike Masnick
Founder and editor of Techdirt; coined the Streisand effect, and writes on platform liability, speech law and copyright.
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What they believe
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Hosting other people's criminal behaviour should not by itself expose a platform's executive to criminal charges.
But, hosting bad behavior alone shouldn’t lead to criminal charges. Even ignoring law enforcement demands seems like it should lead to civil penalties before reaching criminal charges.
techdirt.comSaid 26 Aug 2024This on korrents
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The encryption-licensing charges against Durov are pretextual, a legal hook for prosecuting things France dislikes about Telegram.
But, here, it’s hard not to see that as totally pretextual: an excuse to arrest Durov over other stuff they don’t like him doing.
techdirt.comSaid 26 Aug 2024This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 7 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Hosting other people's criminal behaviour should not by itself expose a platform's executive to criminal charges.
But, hosting bad behavior alone shouldn’t lead to criminal charges. Even ignoring law enforcement demands seems like it should lead to civil penalties before reaching criminal charges.
Arrest Of Telegram’s Pavel Durov Raises Questions, But The Answers May Not Be Known For A While Said 26 Aug 2024
A platform's failure to moderate or to cooperate belongs in a civil proceeding against the company before it becomes a criminal case against its founder.
On top of that, leaping to criminal charges against an exec over civil penalties for a company… seems strange.
Arrest Of Telegram’s Pavel Durov Raises Questions, But The Answers May Not Be Known For A While Said 26 Aug 2024
Whether the prosecution of Pavel Durov is an attack on free speech cannot be judged until the actual charges are known.
Without the details, though, it’s really difficult to know if this is an attack on free speech, or legitimate charges over actual criminal behavior.
Arrest Of Telegram’s Pavel Durov Raises Questions, But The Answers May Not Be Known For A While Said 26 Aug 2024
Show 4 more
The encryption-licensing charges against Durov are pretextual, a legal hook for prosecuting things France dislikes about Telegram.
But, here, it’s hard not to see that as totally pretextual: an excuse to arrest Durov over other stuff they don’t like him doing.
Durov’s Arrest Details Released, Leaving More Questions Than Answers Said 26 Aug 2024
Most of what Durov is charged with is conduct almost any large platform could be accused of.
A lot of the things listed in the charge sheet are things that lots of websites and communications providers could be said to have done themselves, though perhaps to a different degree.
Durov’s Arrest Details Released, Leaving More Questions Than Answers Said 26 Aug 2024
Complicity is a dangerous legal standard for platforms, because every platform hosts some illegal material and stopping it entirely is impossible.
The list of “complicity” in various bad things worries me because every platform has some element of that kind of content going on, in part because it’s impossible to stop entirely.
Durov’s Arrest Details Released, Leaving More Questions Than Answers Said 26 Aug 2024
Telegram reports no child sexual abuse material at all to the clearing house that handles it, and that is indefensible even if no law compels a non-US company to.
I know from the report that Stanford put out earlier this year that Telegram does not report CSAM to NCMEC at all. That is very stupid. I would imagine Telegram would argue that as a non-US company it doesn’t have to abide by such laws.
Durov’s Arrest Details Released, Leaving More Questions Than Answers Said 26 Aug 2024
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
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Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Where they publish
Blog Techdirt The site he founded, on technology policy and speech. Has a feed; the card shows only his own posts.
Several writers publish there; the Recent list here is the subset bylined to him.
Recent
- Ofcom Admits ‘Highly Effective’ Age Checks At 16 Really Mean ‘ID Scans For Teens’ 4 Nov 2026 Last week, Ofcom, the UK regulator in charge of all this stuff, released its “rapid assessment of highly effective age assurance at 16.” That came right on the heels of its quietly released (only because the law require…
Link verified 20 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
About the English under a post
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