New Zealand’s prime minister has told her country she’s not going to use the name of the guy who killed 50 people worshiping in a pair of mosques in Christchurch. He even used Facebook Live to stream the murders, something Facebook says was seen by at least 200 people, none of whom bothered to contact the social media giant to say “something’s wrong with this picture.”
I’m not sure I would have either as I watched amid the many “WTF?” moments going through my head.
But the bigger picture is how can this dangerous stuff be stopped? The First Amendment voice in my head says everyone has the right to post what they want which is countered by the Responsible voice saying there are no absolutes.
Yes, it should never be available for viewing, as is true with a number of other topics.
Which, then, makes this a technology question: can something so horrible be kept offline? Is there a visual algorithm that hits “stop” when a gun is shown or when gunfire is made?
I think the NRA is knocking on the door…
One other issue: I agree with the prime minister about not using the idiot-wacko-nitwit’s name but, it was released by police. A former FBI profiler friend has told me the clowns have egos in need of applause from other clowns. No name-No applause.
That said, idiocy usually overrides “look at me.”