Why I am not feeling particularly “comforted” by this Mozilla announcement… “The Mozilla Information Trust Initiative: Building a movement to fight misinformation online”

Screenshot from the movie 1984, depicting Big Brother on the big screens.

[Update: the SGTReport article below writes, “Mozilla, the non-profit organization which runs the Firefox internet browser, said Wednesday it was launching an effort against “fake news,” as fact-checking software backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and George Soros got its first run-out in public to shape our Orwellian nightmare of future truth arbiters… Putting the future of what we believe in anyone’s hands, let alone artificial intelligence, seems reckless; but a system backed by Soros and Omidyar seems like a dangerously stupid idea that can only lead to a path paved toward Orwellian censorship the likes of which even George Orwell couldn’t have imagined.“]

And I’m not the only one. Just look at the comments on Mozilla’s FB post about this. I did not see a single supporting comment. I’ve placed a few links below to some other articles about this apparent attempt by Mozilla to “protect” us from that terrible “misinformation” and “#fakenews” virus.

My initial “gut” reaction to this was, “What a load of crap”. Another “protector of internet freedom”, and generally an organization I have thought was “open sourced”, does not appear to be doing anything but being “open”. My response to this (or anyone else purporting to “protect” me from misinformation, aka “fake news”), is to say, “Cut the crap… I will choose what data I will read, and what I will accept or not accept.”

MITI = another attempt to try to “dumb us down” = another way to bring “Orwellian 1984 Big Brother” to our information sources. So let’s go out and celebrate our “Internet Freedom” by burning a few books and blocking anything that gives us unfiltered information on the internet.

Guaranteed, all these things will quickly backfire on those who try to perpetrate them. As a collective, we are waking up, more and more and more and more and more and more.

https://www.facebook.com/mozilla/posts/10155498885447381
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2017/08/08/mozilla-information-trust-initiative-building-movement-fight-misinformation-online/
https://www.sgtreport.com/articles/2017/8/11/mozilla-joins-george-soross-efforts-in-launching-a-strike-against-fake-news
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-14-firefox-browsers-will-soon-block-fake-news-flagged-by-george-soros-linked-left-wing-groups.html
https://www.facebook.com/search/str/mozilla%2Binformations%2Btrust%2Binitiative/stories-keyword/stories-opinion

[Kp comment] ” Pardon my bluntness, but… MITI = CRAP. I don’t need or want a great “Information OverSeer” to tell me what is information or misinformation. Give ME the tools to browse the internet and organize my online email accounts. Then I’LL decide what is correct and incorrect data. You’re making a BIG mistake with this so-called “MITI”. There’s no need to “fight misinformation online”. Stop treating your customers like babies. Stop trying to be “Big Brother”. Once again… MITI = CRAP”

[Other comments] “So much for Mozilla being for an “Open and Free” internet huh? Perhaps you should change your philosophy to “Open and Free Internet for people who think exactly like us”.

“Nonsense. All of it. All information should be treated equal. As soon as you create the means to effectively decide what is true, you are venturing into totalitarianism. With all the sincerity I have in my heart: f— you. You do not get to have this power over people. Also, the way you are framing it to make it sound like you are doing this for our own good is a disgrace. The biggest thing that makes the internet great is that it is the only truly free marketplace of ideas. Anyone can share their views and everyone is a fair chance. Ideas should stand on their merits, not on what the Ministry of Truth you’re seeking to create deems worthy.

“Just like Facebook and Google, Mozilla will use this to block alternative sites (like Google is using the “fake News” mantra to block CounterPunch, Occupy Democrats, and World Socialist Forum). It’s a shame – I have used FIrefox for years; time to delete and find something else. By the way, here is what one of those “soon to be blocked as fake news” sites has to say about it.

“Sorry, Mozilla, but most of us are adults. We don’t need a nanny to help us decide what is or is not misinformation. From its dizzying heights, your browser offering is plummeting in popularity. Are you trying to kill it off completely?

“Oh geez are you serious? Thanks for making it clear that you’ve abandoned the last scraps of common sense you had left. Why can’t you people just stick to making browsers? Huh? You have to be historically illiterate and incredibly naive to think this is a good idea. And several miles up yourselves too.”