Cloudflare Defends Providing Security Services To Trans Trolling Site Kiwi Farms Technology

Cloudflare, which protects websites from distributed denial-of-service attacks, has come under pressure to stop protecting Kiwi Farms, a community forum site that frequently targets transgender people online – including repeatedly posting their personal information. More recently, forum members have targeted Clara Sorrenti, a Canadian Twitch streamer and transgender activist who has repeatedly posted her personal information on the site. Sorrenti has also been recorded – where pranksters call the emergency services to a person’s home. Kiwi Farms has been banned in New Zealand for hosting the Christchurch terror video and had been banned in Australia for the same reason – the Australian ban was lifted once the site stopped hosting the video. The targeting of Sorrenti, as well as other transgender people online, led to a campaign for Cloudflare – and the site’s host Fibrehub – to stop providing services to kiwifruit farms. In a blog post Wednesday, which did not mention Kiwi Farms or the campaign itself, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince and vice president of public policy Alissa Starzak said the company regretted taking similar action against extreme right. the websites 8chan and Daily Stormer in 2019 and 2017, stating that there was a “deeply disturbing” response afterwards from authoritarian regimes asking Cloudflare to take similar action against human rights websites. The pair argued that Cloudflare, which claims to provide service to 20% of the Internet, should be treated as a utility and should not be asked to take a stand by denying service to websites they personally find abhorrent. “Just like the phone company doesn’t terminate your line if you say awful, racist, bigoted things, we’ve come to a consensus with politicians, policymakers and experts that turning off security services because we think what you’re posting is abhorrent is the wrong policy,” they said. “To be clear, just because we’ve done it on a limited set of occasions before doesn’t mean we were right to do it. Or that we’ll ever do it again.” The couple justified their stance by saying that in one case where they provided DDoS protection services to an anti-LGBTIQ+ website, they donated 100% of the fees they earned to an organization fighting for LGBTIQ+ rights. “We don’t and won’t talk about these efforts publicly because we’re not doing them for marketing purposes. we do them because they align with what we believe is morally right,” the executives said. The pair also pointed to the company’s terms of use, which include Cloudflare’s right to terminate service for a website that includes “content that discloses sensitive personal information, incites or exploits violence against people or animals, or seeks to deceive the public.” . . Subscribe to Guardian Australia’s Morning Mail Our Australian morning news email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The post did not specifically address how Kiwi Farms users doxxing people did not violate these terms. Cloudflare had not responded to questions from Guardian Australia at the time of publication. Cloudflare’s stance is common among tech companies, which have had a reluctance to act as content moderators. The company’s position is similar to that of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, before they began to step up their moderation activities in response to the rise of the far right and the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizers of the Anti-Iranium Farms campaign responded to the post saying that by seeking to take a neutral position, Cloudflare was effectively taking a side. “There is no morally neutral policy … they made a choice based on their own personal morality and it’s a choice that allows them to escape another moral choice,” organizers said. “Cloudflare’s response to the growing pressure on them to sever their relationship with far-right harassment forum Kiwi Farms is inadequate, inconsistent and an abdication of their ethical responsibility.”

title: “Cloudflare Defends Providing Security Services To Trans Trolling Site Kiwi Farms Technology Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-06” author: “Pete Romaine”

Cloudflare, which protects websites from distributed denial-of-service attacks, has come under pressure to stop protecting Kiwi Farms, a community forum site that frequently targets transgender people online – including repeatedly posting their personal information. More recently, forum members have targeted Clara Sorrenti, a Canadian Twitch streamer and transgender activist who has repeatedly posted her personal information on the site. Sorrenti has also been recorded – where pranksters call the emergency services to a person’s home. Kiwi Farms has been banned in New Zealand for hosting the Christchurch terror video and had been banned in Australia for the same reason – the Australian ban was lifted once the site stopped hosting the video. The targeting of Sorrenti, as well as other transgender people online, led to a campaign for Cloudflare – and the site’s host Fibrehub – to stop providing services to kiwifruit farms. In a blog post Wednesday, which did not mention Kiwi Farms or the campaign itself, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince and vice president of public policy Alissa Starzak said the company regretted taking similar action against extreme right. the websites 8chan and Daily Stormer in 2019 and 2017, stating that there was a “deeply disturbing” response afterwards from authoritarian regimes asking Cloudflare to take similar action against human rights websites. The pair argued that Cloudflare, which claims to provide service to 20% of the Internet, should be treated as a utility and should not be asked to take a stand by denying service to websites they personally find abhorrent. “Just like the phone company doesn’t terminate your line if you say awful, racist, bigoted things, we’ve come to a consensus with politicians, policymakers and experts that turning off security services because we think what you’re posting is abhorrent is the wrong policy,” they said. “To be clear, just because we’ve done it on a limited set of occasions before doesn’t mean we were right to do it. Or that we’ll ever do it again.” The couple justified their stance by saying that in one case where they provided DDoS protection services to an anti-LGBTIQ+ website, they donated 100% of the fees they earned to an organization fighting for LGBTIQ+ rights. “We don’t and won’t talk about these efforts publicly because we’re not doing them for marketing purposes. we do them because they align with what we believe is morally right,” the executives said. The pair also pointed to the company’s terms of use, which include Cloudflare’s right to terminate service for a website that includes “content that discloses sensitive personal information, incites or exploits violence against people or animals, or seeks to deceive the public.” . . Subscribe to Guardian Australia’s Morning Mail Our Australian morning news email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The post did not specifically address how Kiwi Farms users doxxing people did not violate these terms. Cloudflare had not responded to questions from Guardian Australia at the time of publication. Cloudflare’s stance is common among tech companies, which have had a reluctance to act as content moderators. The company’s position is similar to that of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, before they began to step up their moderation activities in response to the rise of the far right and the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizers of the Anti-Iranium Farms campaign responded to the post saying that by seeking to take a neutral position, Cloudflare was effectively taking a side. “There is no morally neutral policy … they made a choice based on their own personal morality and it’s a choice that allows them to escape another moral choice,” organizers said. “Cloudflare’s response to the growing pressure on them to sever their relationship with far-right harassment forum Kiwi Farms is inadequate, inconsistent and an abdication of their ethical responsibility.”