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How do we incentivize people to fight back against every single law that could potentially harm privacy or force censorship? The people making these laws have e

How do we incentivize people to fight back against every single law that could potentially harm privacy or force censorship? The people making these laws have every bit of incentive to do so, while the regular people have limited willpower, limited resources and limited time. Sure we can pull off another SOPA blackout, but I don't think we can do it consistently. They'll keep proposing harmful laws and we can't stop them all.

annnnd 13y ago
The solution is to make those that support these bill pay the price (as high as possible - in votes, revenue, public image,...) for it. One by one...
- Centigonal 13y ago
  ...Until we get tired or apathetic. Then we lose. There are asymmetric levels of incentive here. Organizing large-scale political action against everyone in the first world who infringes on people's internet privacy rights is simply unsustainable. You can't fight a problem that's essentially systemic by finding and painstakingly stamping out every instance of it happening. A systemic problem needs a systemic solution.
- rossriley 13y ago
  The problem with this thinking is that it's impractical to vote on the basis of single issues when we elect representatives at a local level. When choosing from the ten or so candidates available we have to consider a broad spectrum of issues; who will manage the health service the best, who will be best for the economy etc. Whilst internet censorship is an important element, it's by no means the primary consideration even for us that work in the industry, let alone the wider electorate.
gaius 13y ago
You can't. There was some guy on here yesterday arguing "your right to privacy is less important than protecting my children". Hello, parental responsibility? But something funny happens in the minds of (some, but not all) new parents and they want to see the world remade into a giant daycare centre. It doesn't occur to them that their kids will grow up and they'll find themselves in a world they don't want to live in.
- pavanred 13y ago
  I had a similar conversation with a friend recently. Turns out everyone with such opinions, most with good intentions I assume, seem to evaluate the merit of any such legislation based on its best case scenario of utilization; that is where no law makers or enforcer is corrupt and everyone is very responsible. But, no one seems to ever think about how the same legislation can be misused and abused. If you allow someone to setup infrastructure to censor, perhaps with good intentions now, but perhaps a successor might misuse it. On somewhat related note, a probable idea of how such infrastructure could be misused is [1], I couldn't believe it when I saw that history was changed quite simply. [1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/16/north-korea-erases-kim-jongun-uncle-archives http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/16/north-korea-era...
- scrabble 13y ago
  That's crazy. I have two young children, and a mother who often borders, in my opinion, on overprotective. I grew up just fine with privacy and freedom and I would like my children to experience the same.
hahainternet 13y ago
> these laws What laws? Most people seem to be so horrendously misinformed it's a wonder they have the audacity to make such wide reaching claims.
toddrew 13y ago
What is the incentive for lawmakers to block pornography?
- xtreme 13y ago
  1. Once you have the infrastructure to block some websites set up, you can (ab)use it to block any arbitrary site that you want, including political dissent. 2. The "friends" of the legislators who will actually implement these on government contract stand to gain massively.

annnnd 13y ago

The solution is to make those that support these bill pay the price (as high as possible - in votes, revenue, public image,...) for it. One by one...

Centigonal 13y ago
...Until we get tired or apathetic. Then we lose. There are asymmetric levels of incentive here. Organizing large-scale political action against everyone in the first world who infringes on people's internet privacy rights is simply unsustainable. You can't fight a problem that's essentially systemic by finding and painstakingly stamping out every instance of it happening. A systemic problem needs a systemic solution.
rossriley 13y ago
The problem with this thinking is that it's impractical to vote on the basis of single issues when we elect representatives at a local level. When choosing from the ten or so candidates available we have to consider a broad spectrum of issues; who will manage the health service the best, who will be best for the economy etc. Whilst internet censorship is an important element, it's by no means the primary consideration even for us that work in the industry, let alone the wider electorate.

gaius 13y ago

You can't. There was some guy on here yesterday arguing "your right to privacy is less important than protecting my children". Hello, parental responsibility? But something funny happens in the minds of (some, but not all) new parents and they want to see the world remade into a giant daycare centre. It doesn't occur to them that their kids will grow up and they'll find themselves in a world they don't want to live in.

pavanred 13y ago
I had a similar conversation with a friend recently. Turns out everyone with such opinions, most with good intentions I assume, seem to evaluate the merit of any such legislation based on its best case scenario of utilization; that is where no law makers or enforcer is corrupt and everyone is very responsible. But, no one seems to ever think about how the same legislation can be misused and abused. If you allow someone to setup infrastructure to censor, perhaps with good intentions now, but perhaps a successor might misuse it. On somewhat related note, a probable idea of how such infrastructure could be misused is [1], I couldn't believe it when I saw that history was changed quite simply. [1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/16/north-korea-erases-kim-jongun-uncle-archives http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/16/north-korea-era...
scrabble 13y ago
That's crazy. I have two young children, and a mother who often borders, in my opinion, on overprotective. I grew up just fine with privacy and freedom and I would like my children to experience the same.

hahainternet 13y ago

> these laws What laws? Most people seem to be so horrendously misinformed it's a wonder they have the audacity to make such wide reaching claims.

toddrew 13y ago

What is the incentive for lawmakers to block pornography?

xtreme 13y ago
1. Once you have the infrastructure to block some websites set up, you can (ab)use it to block any arbitrary site that you want, including political dissent. 2. The "friends" of the legislators who will actually implement these on government contract stand to gain massively.