Techdirt Podcast Episode 54: It Ain't Easy To Give Away $45 Billion

from the the-mechanics-of-philanthropy dept

Tue, Dec 15th 2015 12:45pm — Leigh Beadon

There's been a lot of back-and-forth recently over Mark Zuckerberg's announcement of the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, combining widespread praise with a lot of disappointment in the details and the fact that he isn't really "giving away" $45 billion. There's a lot to be said on both sides of this question, and this week we're discussing the new initiative and the wide variety of reactions to it.

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Filed Under: mark zuckerberg, philanthropy, podcast

11 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2015 @ 12:48pm

He could try going back to support his hacker roots and fund a foundation for absolute free speech on the Internet. Or perhaps set up an endowment towards that end.

Maybe he could set up an endowment to support CopyLeft institutions? Open Internet initiatives?

I would include pro-privacy foundations, except this is the CEO of Facebook we're talking about. He could start with his own website's Real Name policy.
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Blackfiredragon13 (profile), 15 Dec 2015 @ 1:09pm

Say mike/Tim/anyone else over at TD?
Out or random curiosity, what's your opinion(s) on GG Vs. Anti-GG? One of GG main focuses is ethics in journalism so I figured I'd might as well ask.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2015 @ 1:25pm

Re: Say mike/Tim/anyone else over at TD?
No one around here really buys the 'ethics' argument. That's a spurious smokescreen to try and draw attention away from the vulgar misogyny, harassment, death threats and general fuckwittery of the whole thing.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2015 @ 1:53pm

Re: Say mike/Tim/anyone else over at TD?
IIRC he already commented on that a while ago. And considering what happened to David Auerbach of Slate when he tried to get involved into what is the biggest and most sustained drama in Internet history, it's unlikely to be productive to cover the topic. *Especially* given that it's not publicly known to anyone why so many media outlets pushed an empirically false story so aggressively for such a sustained period of time.

Perhaps when more information is known and when emotions cool down more, it'd be safer for TechDirt writers to get involved. And I'm sure they will be extremely interested once some of the lesser known details come to light.

One last thing - GamerGate is about different things to different people. It's about "ethics in journalism" for some, but not for others. It's about fighting "political correctness" for some, but not for others. It's about fighting abusers masquerading as progressive feminists for some, but not for others. It's about fighting the "librul media" for some, but not for others. It's about being the WrongThink police for some, but not for others. It's about fighting WrongThink police for some, but not for others.

There's so many hands in the pot right now due to the various narratives that keep getting published about GamerGate that it's difficult to keep up with. And I'm saying this as someone been involved from the start and who has had friends severely hurt by abusers-pretending-to-be-progressives.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2015 @ 2:02pm

Re: Re: Say mike/Tim/anyone else over at TD?
That's not how human beings function. There's been a lot of interference and false flagging involved on all sides of GamerGate.

Why not read up on a troll that got arrested (for unrelated reasons) that had trolled both sides of GamerGate to keep it going?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/11/terrorist-troll-pretended-to-be-isis-white-su premacist-and-jewish-lawyer.html

Or what of the Bill Waggoner Crew that doxed a bunch of people at the start of GamerGate and then GamerGate got the blame?

What of the WLAE (We Laugh At Everything) Crew that pushes extremist rhetoric while pretending to be part of GamerGate?

And what of the Internet-unsavvy media who seem to be so easily trollable into thinking GamerGate is involved in mass shootings? (https://archive.is/RQDdk - look at the MARIE A. PARKER section)

There's so much information out there that's not well known about GamerGate that would radically change public understanding(?) of it.
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Mike Masnick (profile), 15 Dec 2015 @ 4:07pm

Re: Say mike/Tim/anyone else over at TD?
Out or random curiosity, what's your opinion(s) on GG Vs. Anti-GG? One of GG main focuses is ethics in journalism so I figured I'd might as well ask.

This is basically everything we've said about it and everything we will say about it unless something more interesting comes along that leads us to say anything else.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141024/06430028931/this-post-is-not-about-gamergate.shtml
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2015 @ 4:17pm

Re: Re: Say mike/Tim/anyone else over at TD?
Will likely take a few years if nothing new and big happens. There's an absurd amount of information out there to digest.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2015 @ 4:17pm

Re: Re: Re: Say mike/Tim/anyone else over at TD?
*for researchers and academics to digest that is.
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StuartL (profile), 15 Dec 2015 @ 4:29pm

Re: Say mike/Tim/anyone else over at TD?
Out or random curiosity, what's your opinion(s) on GG Vs. Anti-GG? One of GG main focuses is ethics in journalism so I figured I'd might as well ask.

Don't do it, just don't.
There is too much FUD around GG for anyone to have a reasonable discussion about it.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2015 @ 4:43pm

As for why I started listening more to the TechDirt podcast lately, it's because of the Copia foundation combined with my respect for the integrity of TechDirt writers.
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Blackfiredragon13 (profile), 16 Dec 2015 @ 2:09am

Re: Re: Say mike/Tim/anyone else over at TD?
Ok then, I regret asking though in retrospect, seeing as how I've gotten enough replies to fill the pacific ocean with. Or at the very least the Indian Ocean.

Also I mainly stay loyal(to quote yourself past self in the article) because I enjoy hearing about the stupid and laughable legal threats you guys always report on. Always makes me laugh and wonder how the next person with a poor understanding of the legal system will make an even bigger mess of himself.
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