I'm not sure Cloudflare are actually hosting 8chan ( I may be wrong) But I think they were  providing DDoS etc protection

I have no problem with 8chan being taken down, however I'm somewhat concerned about Cloudflare becoming an arbiter of speech. This is mainly because there are basically no competitors for CF in their most popular market - free, high quality DDOS protection/proxying. AFAIK, all other options in this space start at rather high prices, inappropiate for non-profit websites.

Of course they're justified in kicking off 8ch, but if they start to police their users more actively, I think a good number of sites could be kicked off the web permanently due to persistent DDOS attacks and no free protection willing to serve them.

They are not an arbiter of free speech, they are being selective about who they sell services to.

I used to have very libertarian free speech beliefs. Christchurch changed that. The latest atrocities in America just confirmed it. With the World Wide Web and the rise of social networking and instant global communications, something fundamental has changed and this has led directly to the spread of extremist racist ideologies and brain-damaged types who somehow see this as a calling to commit mass murder. 

Times of exceptional dangers call for exceptional responses. I no longer give a damn about anyone's free speech rights. These terrible people need to be squashed once and for all, and I am in favour of whatever it takes.

They should make up their mind

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/05/cloudflare-changes-abuse-policy-but-refuses-to-censor-the-internet/

They're a private company who can do whatever they want to. The racist pigs upset by that can still go talk about how much they hate other people somewhere else, no one is stopping them, people/companies just don't want to support them in doing so.

Rikkitic:

 

I used to have very libertarian free speech beliefs. Christchurch changed that. The latest atrocities in America just confirmed it. With the World Wide Web and the rise of social networking and instant global communications, something fundamental has changed and this has led directly to the spread of extremist racist ideologies and brain-damaged types who somehow see this as a calling to commit mass murder. 

 

Times of exceptional dangers call for exceptional responses. I no longer give a damn about anyone's free speech rights. These terrible people need to be squashed once and for all, and I am in favour of whatever it takes.

 

 

 

To be clear - are you talking about all free speech - or just the free speech you disagree with?

I'd never even heard of 8chan before the Chch massacre.

As for vile hate speech, you need not go further than many youtube video comments sections to see the full range of crap the human mind can vomit up.

I am talking about extremism of all kinds. It is difficult to precisely codify something like this in law. Attempts to define obscenity or distinguish it from art demonstrate that. But there is such a thing as common sense and community consensus, even if something cannot be precisely defined in a formal legal sense. Today's extremists hide behind free speech arguments and use those to justify their bile. I call BS on that. If someone starts shouting fascist propaganda they can go to hell as far as I am concerned.

Rikkitic:

 

I am talking about extremism of all kinds. It is difficult to precisely codify something like this in law. Attempts to define obscenity or distinguish it from art demonstrate that. But there is such a thing as common sense and community consensus, even if something cannot be precisely defined in a formal legal sense. Today's extremists hide behind free speech arguments and use those to justify their bile. I call BS on that. If someone starts shouting fascist propaganda they can go to hell as far as I am concerned.

 

 

 

 

 

When free speech becomes hate speech there are (or should be) consequences. I'd prefer to work on a partisan approach to agreeing exactly what "hate speech" is. For example humour and blasphemy are often mired in muddy ground. I would prefer to focus on restricting speech that calls for violence toward others. My concerns lie around where the line is drawn in this debate. Sticks and stones - not so much.

The problem is that is is impossible to draw a precise line, and the extremists use that to keep excreting their filth. It is like  arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. While everyone is busy discussing what exactly constitutes hate speech, the poison keeps spreading. Those who commit violence are inspired by hate speech that enables them, even if it doesn't directly call for violent action. Using that as a line just gives them a get out of jail free card. It is time to end this!