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It increases the threshold to enter, but with the intention of increasing public safety and accountability. There’s also a high threshold to enter for just abou
by bizbizbizbiz 3y ago
It increases the threshold to enter, but with the intention of increasing public safety and accountability. There’s also a high threshold to enter for just about every other product you can manufacture and purchase - food, pharmaceuticals, machinery to name obvious examples - why should software be different if it can affect someone’s life or livelihood?
- junofan 3y agoFeels a little like getting a license from Parliament to run a printing press to catch people printing scandalous pamphlets, no?
- ben_w 3y agoDidn't the printing press lead to the modern idea of copyright, the Reformation, and by extension contributed to the 80 Year's War, and through that Westphalian sovereignty?
- distortionfield 3y agoYes, as well as a serious new test of freedom of speech. What’s your point? Technology always advances society’s laws.
- throwawayneio31 3y agoThere are aplenty of people who don’t believe technology has in any way benefitted humanity, some CS folks themselves even.
- ben_w 3y agoWhich bit are you "yes, and"-ing? The religious conflicts? 80 years war? The invention of copyright (which does still restrict the right to print, it's just enforced with after-the-event prosecution if you print the wrong stuff)? The invention of the modern nation state?
- highwaylights 3y agoThere's two things in this take that IMHO are a bit off. People are skeptical that introducing the regulatory threshold has anything to do with the increasing public safety or accountability, and instead lifts the ladder up to stop others (or open-source models) catching up. This is a pointless, self-destructive endeavour in either case, as no other country is going to comply with these regulations and if anything will view them as an opportunity to help companies local to their jurisdiction (or their national government) to catch up. The other problem is that asking why software should be different if it can affect someone's life or livelihood is quite a broad ask. Do you mean self-driving cars? Medical scanners? Diagnostic tests? I would imagine most people agree with you that this should be regulated. If you mean "it threatens my job and therefore must be stopped" then: welcome to software, automating away other people's jobs is our bread and butter.
- polski-g 3y agoBecause software is protected under the First Amendment: https://www.eff.org/cases/bernstein-v-us-dept-justice https://www.eff.org/cases/bernstein-v-us-dept-justice Government cannot regulate it.
- ethbr1 3y agoPublished software is protected. Entities operating SaaS are in a much greyer area.