[chipgap98]

How is this not a problem with the law rather than a problem with Cloudflare?

[tgsovlerkhgsel]

The growth of Cloudflare is what makes the law possible.

Several countries have stupid laws around online child protection, that are universally ignored and universally not enforced simply because there is no reasonable way to comply. Others might be tempted to introduce new stupid laws once they become feasible.

That doesn't make it Cloudflare's fault, but the centralization is still a problem.

[BHSPitMonkey]

I think it's being pointed out as an inherent weakness of greater centralization when it comes to the internet's resiliency against government interference and censorship. The internet used to be much more decentralized than it is today.

[Spivak]

Because human nature is what it is. The best way to eat better isn't to be a better person, it's to not keep junk food at the house. It's not Cloudflare's fault that they're successful, but it's now everyone's problem that they're an easy throat for governments to choke.

[ipaddr]

It is their fault they are successful. They worked hard to get there.

[godelski]

Also, remember that time that Cloudflare didn't take down a Nazi website because they didn't want to be arbiters of the internet but then everyone accused Cloudflare of supporting Neo Nazis. That this led to boycotts so they ended up taking down the site and wrote a blog post being like "fine, but this is dumb"

That didn't really have to do with the law. You could segue it was a free market action. Though there were definitely legal threats as well. (There's even people here in this thread making similar claims of Cloudflare supporting specific groups/content)

https://blog.cloudflare.com/why-we-terminated-daily-stormer/

[qmr]

Not a fan of XYZ service deciding what you can or can not say / host online.

Freedom of speech is not about protecting speech you find agreeable.

[71bw]

And yet then instantly threw a hissy fit when a certain trans individual started their crusade against the Kiwi Farms.

[wahnfrieden]

Or the time they knowingly employed a Nazi

[tavavex]

It's both. In allowing Cloudflare to grow so big, we now have one huge universal button for governments to push. If instead all of these customers were dispersed over hundreds of different services from different countries, good luck with trying to keep them all in line with your specific country's whims.

[otabdeveloper4]

Worse, governments can also just block Cloudflare's IP ranges wholesale - because Cloudflare is used to launder IP addresses for sites with shady and/or illegal content.

Legitimate sites get blocked too, but most governments probably won't care.

[egorfine]

It is a forbidden rule of discussion to refer to Hitler and Nazis but I still want to point out that holocaust was fully legal.

[estsauver]

So, interestingly, the places that actually did the worst in the Holocaust were generally the places where there were the least legal structures--even though you would expect it to be worst for Jews in Germany, it was often Poland and other states that had all legal structures and civil institutions destroyed who had it the worst.

https://www.amazon.nl/Black-Earth-Holocaust-History-Warning/...