"The New Editors of the Internet", 22 Aug 2014

In a small number of Silicon Valley conference rooms, decisions are being made about what people should and shouldn't see online—without the accountability or culture that has long accompanied that responsibility. Bowing to their better civic natures, and the pleas of James Foley's family, Twitter and YouTube [part of Google] have pulled down videos and photos of his murder. They had every right to do so, and in my view they did the right thing...[But] it's not clear what's too vile to host. And...Twitter and YouTube are among a tiny group of giant companies with greater and greater power—and less and less accountability—over what we read, hear, and watch online.  Who gave them this power? We did. And if we don't take back what we've given away—and what's being taken away—we'll deserve what we get: a concentration of media power that will damage, if not eviscerate, our tradition of free expression...We need...to re-decentralize the Internet... [also refers to Facebook, LiveLeak, DuckDuckGo, Comcast, Verizon]