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Steem is still censorship resistant - for now.

avatar of @tarazkp
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@tarazkp
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Tired of Seeing the new Hive logo? You might not have to soon if you use Steemit.com, as it seems that Justin Sun is going to censor Hive posts on the Steemit front end. I am not sure what he thinks this will achieve other than more bad publicity, as Steem is still censorship resistant at this point and many users have moved over to other front ends like @Steempeak since the occupation of Steem began.

As has always been the case, once a post has been written and recorded by the blockchain, it is very difficult to actually get rid of it and as I and others have said many times earlier, downvoting is not censorship. That link is from @esteemapp, another front end to use other than steemit.com. The best attempt at censorship that can be made is if all frontend owners choose not to show posts, but that will still leave it available on the blockchain.

If Justin Sun does try to censorship Hive posts, it is an interesting move, because it will likely result in even more Hive posts, human nature being what it is. Tell someone they can't do or have something, and the desire to do it increases and there is nothing stopping people from doing this on Steem. I imagine that many of those who do still post on Steem after Hive launch will include Hive links that feed back to the Hive communities.

I am pretty sure that already, many of the frontends have already got their new Hive colors and websites at the ready. This creates a problem for Censoring a tag is going to be ineffective and censoring URL will likely cost userbase, as there will be lots of non-Hive-related content that will be crossposted onto Steem from the Hive interfaces.

So, what they have tried to do is to blacklist some authors and posts directly from showing on the steemit.com interface, apparently unsuccessfully as I seem to still be able to see them, such as this one from Bernie. It seems that Justin doesn't really know how Steem works, does he realise that Steemit.com isn't the only interface?

Well, perhaps if he spent more time using his investment he would have a better understanding of what he bought:

While most of the people who supported the centralization of the chain might not care about the security decentralization offers, I am sure that if it was their posts that were getting removed, they would be up in arms. But still at this stage, the Steem blockchain still holds its censorship resistance position and people are currently protected. I am glad that my content is being cloned onto Hive however because, I do not hold a lot of faith in the future of the censorship resistance, especially with Justin Sun at the helm, who only cares about profits, not ideals. That is a recipe for government intervention and he makes a very good target.

I do understand Sun's unwillingness to be supporting the advertising and exodus from the chain he thought he bought and it is his prerogative to do as he wants with Steemit.com as he did buy that, but it is likely going to amount to more bad publicity in the social platforms, and eventually, his friends and peers will recognize him for what he is, a wannabe tyrant with a large ego, but without the effective power to feed it. That makes him ineffectual as a crypto leader, and as a business leader. Being rich only gets respect for so long before actions speak louder than the money.

As I wrote this, this post by @mahdiyari, got dropped into a discord group with a notification which has a bit more information: https://steempeak.com/censorship/@mahdiyari/censorship-on-steemit-tron-episode-1

The comment from @ausbitbank is telling.

This extra blacklist check means they don't even need to update condenser in the future, they can just push out new censorship mandates direct from China.

So, those who have supported the centralization of the chain have now opened themselves up to control not only from a centralized rich-kid perspective, but also from a government known for censorship of digital media. Good job.

However, for those who are planning on using Steem in the future, please use another interface as if you use steemit.com, you won't know what you are missing. The omission of information is much harder to factor for than the inclusion of misinformation - as to the mind, it never existed.

Anyway, it does make for some interesting discussion and I hope that those who read and participate in it start to understand the importance of giving everyone a voice. Remember though, even though that voice might not earn a cent - it can still be heard.

You might want to mention this on Twitter ;D

See you always on Hive.

Taraz [ a resistant original ]