Here is where I net out on all of this as CEO of Epik and "public figure" whose opinions are apparently being watched more closely than I realized.
First, some absolute statements:
- Epik and I personally condemn violence and hate.
- Epik and I personally support lawful application of civil liberties.
- Epik and I personally believes that censorship should be
tempered.
That being said, here is where the gray areas start:
- There are bad actors in any major forum. In most cases, their actions would be
protected under US Law. If a site decides to stand for lawful free speech, it will have a higher concentration of content that hurts some people's feelings or runs counter to prescribed narratives.
- Specific to Gab, they have a ToS which they enforce. Problem posts are reported to
[email protected] and dealt with there. In particular, threats of imminent targeted violence and DOXing are quickly removed, probably even faster than Twitter deals with them.
- When users violate ToS at sites like Gab and BitChute, they are removed. I have seen it many times, and am certain that it is happening. They suffer backlash in their communities which is why you have sites like 8Chan pop up, because 4Chan booted them. Incidentally, neither "Chan" is a client of Epik.
- In response to concentration of media, alternative news has filled the gap through a sort of citizen journalism. As a direct result, one great challenge is Fake News. Unfortunately, fake news cuts both ways, e.g. Covington Catholic. We are all being
propagandized. As such, we must
choose to discern.
- Specific to NZ, there was a horrific incident. That incident led to
immediate changes in public policy. I questioned the censorship standard and the maniacal effort to enforce it globally. In that area I crossed a line and should not have done that. Epik is a
utility and we should work to stay in our lane.
So what will Epik do? Here is what I propose, subject to input and refinement:
- We have
[email protected]. If there is objectionable content where someone wants assistance with bringing it to the attention to site admins, please send it there, and we'll get it to the right people. We do this already but most people don't know about it.
- We will continue to cooperate with law enforcement. As free speech sites grow in number and grow in quantity, it is conceivable that more of them will come to Epik. The recent addition of
BitMitigate and the growth of
Anonymize as VPN provider make Epik the obvious choice as technology partner.
- The online personas called
#Epik,
#Anonymize and
#BitMitigate will restrict their engagement to technical matters and not engage in commentary that could be construed as being inflammatory. Our function is to be a utility. We provide technology. It is battle-tested and open to all who engage lawfully.
- Epik will conduct a review of its client practices relative to its terms of service and determine what interventions are needed. It is conceivable that some clients will need to be dropped. This process will be orderly and will not be determined by coercion, brigading or other forms of mob rule.
- Epik will continue to be engaged in the dialog about the future of the internet. We will continue to advocate for lawful free speech and privacy, tempered with civility and accountability.
My hope is that a balanced approach to censorship and privacy will serve to both sustain and enlarge the internet name industry as we know it while preventing further acceleration of human tragedy such as the one that we saw happen in ChristChurch this month.
