Cryptodeletion

Until this morning I’d never heard of the word Cryptodeltion much less understood its meaning. David Zincavage has a blog called Never Yet Melted where he posted an article, SF Chronicle Indulges in Cryptodeletion. I recommend a visit there where he explained how the foundations of honesty have eroded a little more through the use of new technology and old time deception.

“The San Francisco Chronicle has recently activated a devious system by which it deceives commenters on its website, SFGate.com. Here’s how it works:

If you make a comment on an article posted at SFGate, and if the site moderators then subsequently delete your comment for whatever reason, it will only appear as deleted to the other readers. HOWEVER, your comment will NOT appear to be deleted if viewed from your own computer! The Chronicle’s goal is to trick deleted commenters into not knowing their comments were in fact deleted.”

Now go read the rest of the article and pay particular attention to the comment section where even more disturbing information is offered. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the San Francisco Chronicle couldn’t be the only large newspaper to have implemented such an insidious form of censorship.

I can understand the need to moderate patently offensive language which would include vulgarity, personal assaults which would include slanderous statements or otherwise inflammatory comments; however, the use of tactics such as have been unearthed in this article involving Cryptodeletion should be cause for alarm for anyone regardless of political leanings. When an opposing view is feared to such a degree as to be silenced without having the benefit of discussion then suppression of the truth has already come and gone and there is little hope for our society, at least in a democracy of free people.