When removed from Google Play or the App Store, it means that potential new users can’t get it.
But yeah, AWS dumping it means that Parler needs to find a new network infrastructure.
Yep, it’s buried in some posts up-thread. But yep, they fully removed it today.
When The Daily Stormer got kicked by GoDaddy in 2017 (after the Charlottesville rally), it began a long and tortuous journey through dozens more hosts looking for a new home. It ended up back on the dark web, accessible only through TOR. At least, if wikipedia is accurate. Not like I’m gonna check.
So maybe this kills Parler, too. Hope so.
Vesper
3867
And since no one can get app updates this kills it completely. Huzzah.
Clay
3868
I used to do research around extremists and deradicalization. It actually is not a good thing, at all, for law enforcement when these sites are booted into inaccessible spaces. The people on them WILL continue to communicate. Law Enforcement’s job of tracking their actions is made vastly more difficult by the accessible platforms getting the boot.
Overall, it’s good for publicity but likely a net negative for tracking them and anticipating their next moves.
Menzo
3869
They can definitely find a host somewhere. Even Pirate Bay still lives.
Of course that host might be in Russia, and Parler requires a driver’s license to set up an account, so hopefully everyone who signed up is cool with that!
Menzo
3870
Possibly true, but it’s not Amazon’s job to care about that. If the Feds want to keep Parler alive they’d set up a secret shell company in some more permissive country and accept them there.
Houngan
3871
On the other hand, it effectively cuts it off from the casuals, so it depresses radicalization. I have a personal theory that social media and smartphones are probably the biggest factor in building a cohesive alt-right community, before they had to coexist with regular people and thus had the pointy edges of their theories worn down, I think it’s a net win.
Read about The Daily Stormer’s search for a new host, which I linked above. They tried damn near everything, from Russia to China to some of the most obscure domains in existence (quick, what are .cat domains?). They were never welcome for long.
This is far outside my expertise, and I am assuming Wikipedia has the whole story, of course.
Radicals are not a static quantity. These platforms radicalize people, we’ve clearly seen it in these last few years. They make new radicals. I’ll trade having a harder time tracking a small number of radicals to birthing a large number of new radicals.
nKoan
3874
Without the app, they could make it a PWA, but they probably wouldn’t because the P stands for “progressive”.
Well, you know more than I do then ;) Still, I have a hard time looking at the people who sacked the Capitol and thinking, “I bet these people are all tech-savvy enough to set up a TOR browser on their phone.” I was thinking most of them would stumble changing the lockscreen wallpaper.
I’m not sure how long ago this was, but at work we’ve been working with some folks who are very interested in this stuff, and they’ve told us that the main problem is the above-grounding, normalization of racist, white supremacist platforms like Parler.
The folks who are all-in on white supremacy are going to find their networks online. They’re going to work to do it. But the belief that the group we’ve worked with is operating under is that allowing white supremacy to mainstream is far more harmful than helpful.
It only takes a few very tech-savvy radicals to cause massive chaos.
The big danger isn’t even really people like zip-tie guy. It’s the person way in the background who blends in with everyone while everyone is all “look at zip tie guy.”
For a while, I was part of some Red Team planning. The smart actors just blend right in and use zip tie guys for the diversion.
Alstein
3878
Also, most of the MAGAs aren’t savvy enough to go to the dark web. The smart terrorists in the bunch are likely using smarter networks already. They know Parler could be a honeypot. Also, if the terrorists have a network- we can infiltrate it with the FBI/CIA.
Agree 100% with Triggercut on what is the real problem - and the solution finally being done now is what we needed, though I don’t think it could happen until Trump became a credible instant threat to the order above justice crowd.
We have to go after FOX as well though. They’re the ones who radicalized the most doofuses. Do whatever it takes, legal or not.
Clay
3879
You would be surprised. All it takes is for one of them to type up clear instructions. There are radicalized people in all walks of life. The deradicalization nonprofits work with LE to track and stop their work. It’s easier to see what’s going on when it is in the (relative) open. At least, this was all true for pre-Trump white supremacist groups. The PIs I worked with were majorly bummed when The Daily Stormer was booted. It’s a tricky issue and I absolutely see both sides of it.
OK, sure… I’m sure the hardcore folks are the biggest threats and also the most difficult to track and control. But the 10,000 doofuses surrounding them make it all look mainstream. We need to get those doofus numbers down!
My comment was around the idea they are too dumb to change their wallpaper. That is not the case. We just saw the ones dumb enough to go “hi mom” carrying a podium.
Menzo
3882
It’s definitely tricky, but I look at it like I do when cops, the FBI, DOJ, etc. demand that Apple put a back door on iPhone encryption so they can find terrorists easier: sorry, it’s not Apple’s job to make your job easier. Take the hundreds of billions of dollars you get and figure out another way.
And guess what? They can break into iPhones without a back door.
