5 ms·

Wow, I'm surprised the legal world is catching up to this so quickly. You would think that the law would be a larger barrier than it has been so far.

wavefunction 11y ago
There's a lot of money involved, and that always greases the skids.
- tyingq 11y ago
  Also worth mentioning that Hoover might be posthumously jealous regarding the amount of dirt Google might have on, well...everybody.
  - sangnoir 11y ago
    > Also worth mentioning that Hoover might be posthumously jealous regarding the amount of dirt Google might have on, well...everybody. No, it's not really worth mentioning, unless you're implying that Google is blackmailing government employees to expedite rule changes. If you are seriously suggesting that, own it. Hoover would be jealous of any tech companies, from Apple (remember the Fappening?), Twitter (how many Carlos Dangers are out there?), Mobile Operators to your garden variety ISP, but most of all - the NSA. In fact, if he were alive and in charge of the FBI today he'd wrangle up an ongoing "inter-agency information sharing" set up, and would not be jealous of anyone at all.
    - tyingq 11y ago
      Sure, they have not yet succumbed to the temptation. There is something unique about a company with their market share in internet search, browser, email, phone handsets, maps/gps, ad clicks etc, though. The sort of triangulated dossier you could put together would be impressive. Edit: "Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you’re signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services."
      - tyingq 11y ago
        I'll triple down on my sinking ship. I, personally, wouldn't be shocked if a company lobbying for something with potential controversy (Uber, an e-Cig company, whatever) used the data at their disposal to advance their cause. It might start short of blackmail, sure. My e-cig company is going to face a panel of government officials. Might I check my sales records to see if any of them are customers, to help identify someone on the panel that might be more sympathetic? If I had access to other data, might I push farther? It's not that I think Google is particularly more evil than any other corporate entity. It's the scale that scares me. Aside from the products I mentioned, there's also Google Fiber, a fleet of camera equipped cars, the Nest home products, and more. And not much in between all that and something scary other than corporate policy and personal ethics.
thrownaway2424 11y ago
This is progress, but not much. Driving, licensing of drivers, and regulation of auto insurance is almost wholly dictated at the state level. What the federal government considers to be "a driver" is nearly irrelevant.
- ajdlinux 11y ago
  It's relevant for the purposes of federally-mandated vehicle safety standards, is it not?
  - aidenn0 11y ago
    Pretty much all the NHTSA enforces is whether or not a safety feature is present in a vehicle. They could, for example, require that all new vehicles be equipped with an AEBS, but they don't typically tell states that they must allow certain vehicles on the road, and in fact individual states are generally allowed to adopt extra standards on top of the federal ones.
    - derefr 11y ago
      It's interesting that drug policy gets pushed to a federal level—because drugs "potentially cross state lines"—car safety policy doesn't. Are there really no states where the majority of traffic is from out-of-state vehicles?
      - jpatokal 11y ago
        Maybe D.C., but as is well known, their opinion generally doesn't count...
      - aidenn0 11y ago
        What can be federally regulated seems to be entirely a function of the supreme court makeup at the time that it is tested in court.
      - ams6110 11y ago
        Not sure that example works. We have states "legalizing" marijuana which is illegal at the federal level.
specialLaws 11y ago
It's because there are things happening, behind closed doors, that no one will ever admit to. This is being rubber-stamped into place, because there's a massive government program at work, underneath all this, and it's been going on for years, and this is just one piece of it. The names and faces attached to these events could be replaced with just about anyone, but the events themselves would transpire nonetheless, and here we'd sit, mystified by the news articles that continue to blow by, breathless and awestruck each and every time, day after day.
- gscott 11y ago
  I can't wait for my self driving car to drive me to the police station instead of my planned destination for questioning me why I was at a black lives matter demonstration.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

wavefunction 11y ago

There's a lot of money involved, and that always greases the skids.

tyingq 11y ago
Also worth mentioning that Hoover might be posthumously jealous regarding the amount of dirt Google might have on, well...everybody.
- sangnoir 11y ago
  > Also worth mentioning that Hoover might be posthumously jealous regarding the amount of dirt Google might have on, well...everybody. No, it's not really worth mentioning, unless you're implying that Google is blackmailing government employees to expedite rule changes. If you are seriously suggesting that, own it. Hoover would be jealous of any tech companies, from Apple (remember the Fappening?), Twitter (how many Carlos Dangers are out there?), Mobile Operators to your garden variety ISP, but most of all - the NSA. In fact, if he were alive and in charge of the FBI today he'd wrangle up an ongoing "inter-agency information sharing" set up, and would not be jealous of anyone at all.
  - tyingq 11y ago
    Sure, they have not yet succumbed to the temptation. There is something unique about a company with their market share in internet search, browser, email, phone handsets, maps/gps, ad clicks etc, though. The sort of triangulated dossier you could put together would be impressive. Edit: "Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you’re signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services."
    - tyingq 11y ago
      I'll triple down on my sinking ship. I, personally, wouldn't be shocked if a company lobbying for something with potential controversy (Uber, an e-Cig company, whatever) used the data at their disposal to advance their cause. It might start short of blackmail, sure. My e-cig company is going to face a panel of government officials. Might I check my sales records to see if any of them are customers, to help identify someone on the panel that might be more sympathetic? If I had access to other data, might I push farther? It's not that I think Google is particularly more evil than any other corporate entity. It's the scale that scares me. Aside from the products I mentioned, there's also Google Fiber, a fleet of camera equipped cars, the Nest home products, and more. And not much in between all that and something scary other than corporate policy and personal ethics.

thrownaway2424 11y ago

This is progress, but not much. Driving, licensing of drivers, and regulation of auto insurance is almost wholly dictated at the state level. What the federal government considers to be "a driver" is nearly irrelevant.

ajdlinux 11y ago
It's relevant for the purposes of federally-mandated vehicle safety standards, is it not?
- aidenn0 11y ago
  Pretty much all the NHTSA enforces is whether or not a safety feature is present in a vehicle. They could, for example, require that all new vehicles be equipped with an AEBS, but they don't typically tell states that they must allow certain vehicles on the road, and in fact individual states are generally allowed to adopt extra standards on top of the federal ones.
  - derefr 11y ago
    It's interesting that drug policy gets pushed to a federal level—because drugs "potentially cross state lines"—car safety policy doesn't. Are there really no states where the majority of traffic is from out-of-state vehicles?
    - jpatokal 11y ago
      Maybe D.C., but as is well known, their opinion generally doesn't count...
    - aidenn0 11y ago
      What can be federally regulated seems to be entirely a function of the supreme court makeup at the time that it is tested in court.
    - ams6110 11y ago
      Not sure that example works. We have states "legalizing" marijuana which is illegal at the federal level.

specialLaws 11y ago

It's because there are things happening, behind closed doors, that no one will ever admit to. This is being rubber-stamped into place, because there's a massive government program at work, underneath all this, and it's been going on for years, and this is just one piece of it. The names and faces attached to these events could be replaced with just about anyone, but the events themselves would transpire nonetheless, and here we'd sit, mystified by the news articles that continue to blow by, breathless and awestruck each and every time, day after day.

gscott 11y ago
I can't wait for my self driving car to drive me to the police station instead of my planned destination for questioning me why I was at a black lives matter demonstration.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]