facebook disabled my account

[t_a_c_k]

I guess this means I won't be developing any apps for their platform

Comments

I think the exclusionary thing can be good.

[neutron_x]

That is preposterous though.

and this:

The right to publish anonymously or pseudonymously is pretty critical for democracy to work.
YES! agree completely.

[elle_innuendo]

Screw FB. They couldn't fool you on the foolingest day of the year.

[t_a_c_k]

even if they had an automated fooling machine

[t_a_c_k]

I wasn't saying anything about the press. I used the word publish for lack of a better term. But we live in a world now where what I put on the internet is just as likely to pop up in search results as an article from NYT. If a person wants to participate in a forum where the topic of discussion may be embarrassing they should have pseudonymity or anonymity. For instance, who's going to join a support group for victims of domestic abuse on Facebook? Since you have to use your real name, doing so could get you killed. Same goes for pro-democracy activists organizing on FB. That'd get you killed or disappeared in myanmar or china.

If people are afraid of having 'the great discussion' they don't have democracy. And that discussion is inclusive of the traditional press. But it could still take place in the press's absence. Pseudonymity and anonymity are tools the press has because everybody has them. They aren't and shouldn't be reserved for the press exclusively.