Defending free speech in the modern age.

Dear Reader,



You have likely stumbled across this article among the chaos of news reports and social media from all sides expressing extremely strong views regarding the interpretation of free speech. While the roads that the public choose to take in response are much divided, one thing is very clear; we all envision the same goals for a meaningful society. That is we want to live in a society in which all people are free to express their ideas and feel safe doing so, no matter how unpopular or marginalized that they are. To ensure that we as a society take the most appropriate path to this honorable destination of retaining global liberty and freedom of thought, it is crucial to keep an open mind to discussion during this pivotal moment in history. The future of our beliefs and our ability to express them relies heavily on this moment. You are a part of history, and your actions now will decide the future fate of humanity.

In light of these recent events we have seen the level of power that large corporations have to not only regulate, but censor the content that we read and see on the internet. This in itself is a very important idea to be aware of despite your stance in regards to my decision. You must ask yourself; to what extent do we as a society want to enable such power within large corporations? With the evolution of technology; who can speak and what can be said is determined less by states, but rather more by the executives behind corporations that operate our global technological infrastructure. Therefore as the power of communication and knowledge shifts, the responsibility to defend the rights within our constitution also moves from governments to that of corporations. Just as our founding members of America fought with our government to defend their beliefs, it is important that we as a people stand with corporations that reflect these beliefs as well.

Built on a foundation of core values proven through the creation of America, BitMitigate was created to take on such responsibility and defend it in the modern age - even at the cost of much controversy. Consistent with these values of freedom of expression, BitMitigate has decided to continue offering DDoS protection to The Daily Stormer despite our extremely contrasting beliefs in regards to the content that they produce. It is important to keep in mind that we do not endorse, create, or even host the content at The Daily Stormer but rather protect their website from being taken offline in protest via methods such as DDoS attacks. The question isn’t whether or not the content at The Daily Stormer should exist, but rather whether or not it is the responsibility of technology companies to be consistent in defending the right to freedom of expression enshrined within our constitution. My answer to this question is clear: when the power of thought and communication lies in your hands it is your responsibility to defend it.



Sincerely,

Nicholas Lim



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