I wonder how long till this kind of thinking is pervasive all over the world in regards to the internet?
Is this fair? On the one hand I think that maybe the media has enough control over our likes, dislikes, and how we think about things. Maybe keeping these talk forums out of the hands of publishers is a good thing. On the other hand I think that maybe regualtion of the internet in any form is a seriously bad thing.
What are your thoughts?
Was this really such a lame question as to rate 0 replies after 3 hours? Or am I just such a newbie that it doesn’t rate? Or did I ask for your opinions in the wrong thread?
Actually I think it’s a very good question, and particularly relevent to a message board. I think it could be helpful if you would paraphrase the specific aspects of this matter that you’d like to discuss. A quoted cite alone generates less interest.
Also, it’s a good idea to state an opinion. Some on this board are always happy to disagree, even if they’re entirely ignorant about the issue-- especially december. 
I read the article, and I think that allowing the government to start punishing people on a discussion board, or those who run the discussion board, for the opinions and viewpoints presented in the discussion is very dangerous ground.
That the government demanded the speech be removed is kind of frightening. Unless it was a terroristic threat, I can’t see the reason for removal of someone’s opinion, and I’d be very very dismayed if something like this were to happen in the U.S.
I’m not sure about how the law in Sweden works, but I am fairly sure I never read anything in the U.S. Constitution that indicated a right to not be offended.
Sometimes, catsix likes to spout off opinions.
I guess what I find scary about it is the thought that the people that run the forums would not run them anymore. And that a moral precedent could be being set here. it seems as though this could be but the first blow toward the regulation, then, dare I saw it, the taxation of the internet. Because with my natural distrust of the government I am sure that most governments would like nothing more than to both control and tax the internet. they just haven’t figured out how yet.
I thought I made my opinion clear, I am against this!
I am against regulation in most of its forms, and I truly believe in the right to free speech. I think that this is not a right in Sweden, and in fact it is not a constitutionally guaranteed right in most democratic countries, a fact I was surprised by.
Many countries have laws limiting speech when used for racial hatred. You may or may not agree with this, but that’s just the way it is.
Aftonbladet claimed that their forum was moderated in that all posts were checked before being put on the site. Whether they did this or not is questionable, but they said they did. Thus, by posting illegal material they did in fact publish it. The published material that contained and incitied people to racial hatred. This is against the law.
Aftonbladet broke the law.
What I do not agree with is that an employee, rather than Aftonbladet, is being held responsible by the law.
I would also like to know what the technical difficulties, that Aftonbladet used as an excuse as to why they couldn’t take the posts down as soon as they realised they were up there were. They, IIRC, were up for several hours when they should have been able to take them down in minutes.
IMHO this doesn’t affect boards like the Straight Dope as the moderation here is not pre-moderation. All posts are not read before appearing on the site. Aftonbladet claimed their’s were and it is this that has got them into trouble.
There are a few things you have to learn about the SDMB, if you want to avoid having your blood pressure skyrocket and make yourself crazy…
Learn not to take it as a personal insult, as rejection, if nobody responds to your thread. Maybe it just happened that nobody felt like talking about your OP. For whatever reason, your thread is just not getting responses. So okay, don’t sweat it. It’s not “you”. It’s not even “the thread”. It’s just–one of those things. Okay? 
We don’t habitually reject threads just because they’re started by a newbie. Plenty of newbies have jumped in with their first post, and immediately been jumped on by half the population of the SDMB. So maybe you should count your blessings… 
You have to give your thread enough time to attract responses. A few hours is really not very long to wait for a thread that’s not covering a hot topic, like Israel or abortion.
Generally, if your thread sits there overnight and nobody at all responds to it, that means–well, all it means is that nobody felt like talking about your OP, that’s all. Like I said, don’t take it personal.
Remember that the mark of a true Doper is not how many threads he starts, or many people post to his threads, or how many posts he has himself. The mark of a true Doper is the way he can handle having half the population of the SDMB jump all over him for a simple offhanded remark–and then come back again the next day.
Anyway, you sound like a halfway intelligent person, so stick around.
[/hijack]
Got a cite for that? I’m pretty sure Aftonbladet’s never made any such claims and that the ruling in fact affects all moderated boards. Which of course is crazy, no matter where you stand on the “hate speech” issue.
The Internet IS regulated and taxed, by the US as well as Sweden.
http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/ledare/story/0,2789,137740,00.html
“I en diskussionsgrupp om Mellanösternfrågan hade några rasistiska inlägg råkat passera nättidningens översiktliga förhandsgranskning.”
I believe (Swedish is not my first language) that this is translated to "In a discussion group about the Middle East, some racist posts had managed to slip through the web-paper’s general pre-screening. "
Man, I’m lazy. It’s all in the OP’s link: