Academic Suffers The Wrath – IOTW Report

Academic Suffers The Wrath

Salil Mehta

Trying to work through this to get sorted out, but my thoughts for those who might be able to lend a hand. This afternoon by surprise, Google/Gmail shut all my accounts down (email, blog, university pages, etc.) for no reason and no warning. This is nothing short of attack on academic free speech, and a company unable to specifically differentiate between math education and those who are violent/hate, and one that doesn’t investigate before whimsically executing. 26 million reads outweighing a couple complaints and a well-recognized statistician, 150k overall followers, read by Buffett, many of you, and others. In addition to having been on boards, public servant, adjunct professor at three universities, and editorial board of the American Statistical Association. NYT article going out overnight citing it as well.

This system is shattered, unfairly disadvantages those who successfully do a lot of good in providing a thoughtful platform, and leaves me in a temporary limbo when I could be working for the better good right now. Anyone should know I own a valuable site that shouldn’t be shut down. I am not the haters protesting in Charlottesville or whatever, and I have no political nor social agenda. If you know someone at the company you can contact on my behalf then great. Many of my media and government friends already know and are shocked. If they get to me, then we know the system needs to work better before it gets to anyone on social media or relies on technology companies for their “free email”. This all happened out of the blue.

ht/ Rosalind J

12 Comments on Academic Suffers The Wrath

  1. Social media is run by progressive liberals. As is the media. How this is allowed to
    happen is amazing to me.
    You would think it’s like a RICO act. It should be broken up by trump.
    I’ve never used any google product or social media in my real name. Not even email.
    But my business has too.

  2. When the monopolies for cable tv providers were set up, that was the beginning of the crap era we now suffer in.
    Comcast, Charter et al, show such contempt for their customers, in their billing and their deceitful constant advertising that everyone hates them. And they could care less. They own all your legislators and have no fear of the FCC. The hosts of the internet are merely following their models.

  3. I am amazed that there is no competition to Google and Facebook and wonder why. These are low barrier to entry businesses that employ relatively few built on computer code and algorithms, not scarce minerals buried deep in the earth.

    I have been using Duck Duck Go instead of Google for a couple of years because it doesn’t track users history.

    I rarely look at Facebook but remember how it quickly overtook MySpace so we know it can be done.

    I use Gab as well as Twitter but each only occasionally.

    Why is there no real competition?

  4. Many of my media and government friends already know and are shocked.

    (Preface apologies to chiropractors, residents of Sesame, and the perpetually offended. Who may be offended. I had no intent.)

    “No! Yew paisents. I maint get that monstair! Ah Ah Agh.”

  5. Thanks for posting this, BFH. He’s still invisible to the digital world, except his fb and twitter.
    Comment on the same topic, different issue:
    “Google’s virtual monopoly will eventually be challenged and diminished – but a right delayed is also a right denied.

    If I can’t get my message out for a decade because the lords of Silicon Valley have taken it upon themselves to decide who is worthy to speak, that’s a decade out of my life in which I am unfree.”

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