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>will our representatives actually give teeth to real data protection legislation No. The majority of them don't even understand what data is being collected,

>will our representatives actually give teeth to real data protection legislation No. The majority of them don't even understand what data is being collected, how it can be used, or the technology behind any of it. Until the people in office change, the idea that our representatives can or will protect us is toothless and spineless.

whatshisface 7y ago
What trouble Congress is in! They have to be experts in law, warfare, every industry from oil refining to adtech, science (at least as far as funding it goes), ecology, economics, medicine... In fact I would say that it's impossible to expect anyone to understand enough to know what they're legislating. Aside from being a powerful libertarian argument against the excessive involvement of government, I think it shows that we have to figure out a way to work around the fact that congressmen don't understand everything that they're in charge of, rather than trying to remedy it.
- vertex-four 7y ago
  Congress used to have an office which would inform them of how things work, but unsurprisingly, proceeded to dismantle it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Technology_Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Technology_Assessmen...
- acdha 7y ago
  This is why members of Congress have staffers and various groups like http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/ http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/ which have subject-matter experts on staff to offer advice and research arbitrary topics of legislative interest.
- Jach 7y ago
  A quick refresher on the details of how congress actually goes about their day-to-day plus the roles of the various permanent government and de facto government organs, shows "expertise doesn't scale" isn't really a problem. If it was, the whole thing would have come toppling down ages ago. So the libertarian argument is only "it's hard to do well", not "it's impossible". I'll leave you to find your own references to get a detailed picture, but in short two basic forms of organizing do a lot of the work: big teams/staff for each congressman to help out, and special interest committees and caucuses. On top of that at least some take the idea of "representation" somewhat seriously, so if they need to know about a topic they're not experienced in, they tend to meet with supposed experts in those topics (which can come from a dedicated pool, lobbyists, state university department, and occasionally private industry owners or high level employees) for information and sometimes policy recommendations.
- dkonofalski 7y ago
  That's a cop-out. Data use and technology are major issues that are required understanding going forward. Understanding the oil industry is not at all the same as having a basic understanding of technology. Technology usage is only going to grow in scale.
tomaskafka 7y ago
Yes, because that's what they are - representatives. Of a general public. The only way to make these chameleons (pretend to) care about an issue is to make the general public (aka voters, source of their wellbeing) care about the issue.

whatshisface 7y ago

What trouble Congress is in! They have to be experts in law, warfare, every industry from oil refining to adtech, science (at least as far as funding it goes), ecology, economics, medicine... In fact I would say that it's impossible to expect anyone to understand enough to know what they're legislating. Aside from being a powerful libertarian argument against the excessive involvement of government, I think it shows that we have to figure out a way to work around the fact that congressmen don't understand everything that they're in charge of, rather than trying to remedy it.

vertex-four 7y ago
Congress used to have an office which would inform them of how things work, but unsurprisingly, proceeded to dismantle it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Technology_Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Technology_Assessmen...
acdha 7y ago
This is why members of Congress have staffers and various groups like http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/ http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/ which have subject-matter experts on staff to offer advice and research arbitrary topics of legislative interest.
Jach 7y ago
A quick refresher on the details of how congress actually goes about their day-to-day plus the roles of the various permanent government and de facto government organs, shows "expertise doesn't scale" isn't really a problem. If it was, the whole thing would have come toppling down ages ago. So the libertarian argument is only "it's hard to do well", not "it's impossible". I'll leave you to find your own references to get a detailed picture, but in short two basic forms of organizing do a lot of the work: big teams/staff for each congressman to help out, and special interest committees and caucuses. On top of that at least some take the idea of "representation" somewhat seriously, so if they need to know about a topic they're not experienced in, they tend to meet with supposed experts in those topics (which can come from a dedicated pool, lobbyists, state university department, and occasionally private industry owners or high level employees) for information and sometimes policy recommendations.
dkonofalski 7y ago
That's a cop-out. Data use and technology are major issues that are required understanding going forward. Understanding the oil industry is not at all the same as having a basic understanding of technology. Technology usage is only going to grow in scale.

tomaskafka 7y ago

Yes, because that's what they are - representatives. Of a general public. The only way to make these chameleons (pretend to) care about an issue is to make the general public (aka voters, source of their wellbeing) care about the issue.