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I was right there with him until the words 'pass a law'. I'm hardly a libertarian, but it seems pretty clear even to me that any such law would (1) raise seriou
by gabrielroth 17y ago
I was right there with him until the words 'pass a law'. I'm hardly a libertarian, but it seems pretty clear even to me that any such law would (1) raise serious and legitimate privacy concerns, and (2) be rife with unintended consequences.
I could imagine such a law applying only to software projects funded with public money, though. There are enough of those to advance the state of knowledge a fair amount....
- PotatoEngineer 17y agoThe tricky bit is that once you have a law in place for public projects, the people who pushed for that first law will probably try to extend it into the private sector. So even having that first law (which is a good one!) paves the way for more invasive laws later.
- timwiseman 17y agoIt does provide something of a "slippery slope" problem, but there are ways of handling that. One step in a direction does not always lead to the next, especially if there are definite plans at the beginning to avoid it.
- gloob 17y agoOne step in a direction does not always lead to the next Perhaps, but choreographing 50 million people (plus or minus an arbitrary number, depending on your country) is pretty tough, even on a good day.
- timwiseman 17y agoTrue, and quite well phrased. Still, there are ways of dealing with slippery slopes. Knowing that something is a slippery slope means "approach with caution" not "stop".