7 ms·

I have great respect for Mozilla, and as an EU citizen I find it odd that a meeting that is taking place on behalf of the public is held for closed doors. Howev

I have great respect for Mozilla, and as an EU citizen I find it odd that a meeting that is taking place on behalf of the public is held for closed doors. However, I can't help thinking that this partition for openness lacks openness itself: The site contains very little information about to whom and how the signatures will be presented to drive this change. Also about the number of signatures collected, which is otherwise commonplace to have a counter for. ... Or am I missing something entirely?

zerostar07 8y ago
> I find it odd that a meeting that is taking place on behalf of the public is held for closed doors That is not at all odd in the EU. In fact most are, and this lack of transparency is by design: If EU was left to the caprices of the heterogeneous electorates of its countries, they would break it up.
- freeone3000 8y ago
  So Europe actually IS ruled by a shadowy cabal, furthering "the greater good" even if it's something no country wants, keeping citizens in the dark "for their protection"?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - hartator 8y ago
    The “common good”. EU will be the next buble. Institutions are sturated by debt while overflowing the “free” economy with new regulatio.
  - swsieber 8y ago
    Well, that seems like the only way to get things done for a large group of countries or states. An example of this: it is how the constitution of the United States was formed.
    - chatmasta 8y ago
      That doesn’t seem like the best counterexample, given that the US held a public hearing on the same topic.
  - zerostar07 8y ago
    No that is not the case. But EU is a special kind of union that is "united in diversity". Wide consensuses and vetoes exist to ensure that populism does not destroy it. It works well for as long as the integration is not too deep.
    - chatmasta 8y ago
      It works so well that the UK is leaving...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
atmosx 8y ago
> [...] and as an EU citizen I find it odd that a meeting that is taking place on behalf of the public is held for closed doors. This is how the EU works. There are WAY more serious discussions in Brussels behind closed doors[1] than this one, it's not by accident, it's by design. [1] https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/03/30/the-eurogroup-made-simple/ https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/03/30/the-eurogroup-made...
- petre 8y ago
  Well, Congress hearings are public. And Varoufakis is right.
- Mirioron 8y ago
  It would allow Zuckerberg to talk more candidly. Public perception and opinion is very important to any of these billion-dollar business leaders. If you have an open hearing then there is a snowball's chance in hell that you will hear anything that wasn't carefully planned by teams of PR guys and lawyers. A closed hearing won't be picked apart and (mis)interpreted ever which way, so the speaker can try to get their true point across. The speaker can also acknowledge faults and mention some sensitive issues without making their company's stock ride a rollercoaster.
  - jakelazaroff 8y ago
    > It would allow Zuckerberg to talk more candidly. This is exactly the problem. If he's not able to talk candidly in public, it suggests that Facebook is doing things to which the public would object.
    - Cpoll 8y ago
      > A closed hearing won't be picked apart and (mis)interpreted ever which way, so the speaker can try to get their true point across. In the same post, this is a very good counter-point, I think. Anything this high-profile will be cherry-picked and de-contextualized a million times. Including in Facebook posts, ironically. Speaking candidly is bad PR for anyone that visible, no matter how virtuous.
jessriedel 8y ago
I don't see how the political theatre of Zuckerberg testifying in the US Congress actually increased useful public information.
- hartator 8y ago
  At least our taxes were used in a fun way. Closed meetings won’t produce any new memes.
walterstucco 8y ago
I find it odd that they are still ignoring that English is not anymore an official EU language (Ireland chose Gaelic when they joined) and that French/German translation is no excuse for not providing at least one in Italian and Spanish (over a 100 million native speakers).

zerostar07 8y ago

> I find it odd that a meeting that is taking place on behalf of the public is held for closed doors That is not at all odd in the EU. In fact most are, and this lack of transparency is by design: If EU was left to the caprices of the heterogeneous electorates of its countries, they would break it up.

freeone3000 8y ago
So Europe actually IS ruled by a shadowy cabal, furthering "the greater good" even if it's something no country wants, keeping citizens in the dark "for their protection"?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- hartator 8y ago
  The “common good”. EU will be the next buble. Institutions are sturated by debt while overflowing the “free” economy with new regulatio.
- swsieber 8y ago
  Well, that seems like the only way to get things done for a large group of countries or states. An example of this: it is how the constitution of the United States was formed.
  - chatmasta 8y ago
    That doesn’t seem like the best counterexample, given that the US held a public hearing on the same topic.
- zerostar07 8y ago
  No that is not the case. But EU is a special kind of union that is "united in diversity". Wide consensuses and vetoes exist to ensure that populism does not destroy it. It works well for as long as the integration is not too deep.
  - chatmasta 8y ago
    It works so well that the UK is leaving...
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

atmosx 8y ago

> [...] and as an EU citizen I find it odd that a meeting that is taking place on behalf of the public is held for closed doors. This is how the EU works. There are WAY more serious discussions in Brussels behind closed doors[1] than this one, it's not by accident, it's by design. [1] https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/03/30/the-eurogroup-made-simple/ https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2016/03/30/the-eurogroup-made...

petre 8y ago
Well, Congress hearings are public. And Varoufakis is right.
Mirioron 8y ago
It would allow Zuckerberg to talk more candidly. Public perception and opinion is very important to any of these billion-dollar business leaders. If you have an open hearing then there is a snowball's chance in hell that you will hear anything that wasn't carefully planned by teams of PR guys and lawyers. A closed hearing won't be picked apart and (mis)interpreted ever which way, so the speaker can try to get their true point across. The speaker can also acknowledge faults and mention some sensitive issues without making their company's stock ride a rollercoaster.
- jakelazaroff 8y ago
  > It would allow Zuckerberg to talk more candidly. This is exactly the problem. If he's not able to talk candidly in public, it suggests that Facebook is doing things to which the public would object.
  - Cpoll 8y ago
    > A closed hearing won't be picked apart and (mis)interpreted ever which way, so the speaker can try to get their true point across. In the same post, this is a very good counter-point, I think. Anything this high-profile will be cherry-picked and de-contextualized a million times. Including in Facebook posts, ironically. Speaking candidly is bad PR for anyone that visible, no matter how virtuous.

jessriedel 8y ago

I don't see how the political theatre of Zuckerberg testifying in the US Congress actually increased useful public information.

hartator 8y ago
At least our taxes were used in a fun way. Closed meetings won’t produce any new memes.

walterstucco 8y ago

I find it odd that they are still ignoring that English is not anymore an official EU language (Ireland chose Gaelic when they joined) and that French/German translation is no excuse for not providing at least one in Italian and Spanish (over a 100 million native speakers).