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Life is too short to be a revolutionary hero. Be a law abiding citizen and do what Zuckenberg,Page and other American CEOs did, quietly give control control ove

Life is too short to be a revolutionary hero. Be a law abiding citizen and do what Zuckenberg,Page and other American CEOs did, quietly give control control over our privacy to the government. Social networks are too important for mass surveillance. Russians are too optimistic because only 20 years ago they had an attempt of a complete governance system change.

meowface 12y ago
False dichotomy. You can permit law enforcement to make warranted requests against specific users or groups while still not allowing them access to all the data. You don't have to choose between "revolutionary hero" and "let the government do whatever they want with your company and your users", at least not in North America. In a country like Russia it may be different.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- Htsthbjig 12y ago
  "You can permit law enforcement to make warranted requests against specific users or groups while still not allowing them access to all the data." Can you? With the Patriot Act? The fact is that the US gobertment can talk to any worker of any company of the US and blackmail her into doing whatever they want. If this person tells anybody, he goes to jail. "You don't have to choose between "revolutionary hero" and "let the government do whatever they want with your company and your users", at least not in North America. In a country like Russia it may be different." You mean like Lavabit?: https://lavabit.com/ https://lavabit.com/
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    As much as i admire Levison, at least part of that problem was his own making, namely by being a dick to the agents and charging rates for the work that is way too high. It is possible to disagree with police without being outright antagonistic to them.
    - desdiv 12y ago
      ...and charging rates for the work that is way too high. Funny, when I read about the $3500 part I was surprised at how little he asked for. My impression from various HN threads[0][1] is that someone of Levison's caliber could easily fetch $200 per hour. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5769348 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5769348 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=182369 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=182369
skylan_q 12y ago
I was reading the article with Zuck in place of Pavel. I don't think any westerner would be courageous enough to do what Pavel did. But this falls into the narrative that "Russia bad, America good". How do you think the Russian media spins stories about Facebook's and Google's co-operation with US intelligence?
known 12y ago
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw

meowface 12y ago

False dichotomy. You can permit law enforcement to make warranted requests against specific users or groups while still not allowing them access to all the data. You don't have to choose between "revolutionary hero" and "let the government do whatever they want with your company and your users", at least not in North America. In a country like Russia it may be different.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Htsthbjig 12y ago
"You can permit law enforcement to make warranted requests against specific users or groups while still not allowing them access to all the data." Can you? With the Patriot Act? The fact is that the US gobertment can talk to any worker of any company of the US and blackmail her into doing whatever they want. If this person tells anybody, he goes to jail. "You don't have to choose between "revolutionary hero" and "let the government do whatever they want with your company and your users", at least not in North America. In a country like Russia it may be different." You mean like Lavabit?: https://lavabit.com/ https://lavabit.com/
- Karunamon 12y ago
  As much as i admire Levison, at least part of that problem was his own making, namely by being a dick to the agents and charging rates for the work that is way too high. It is possible to disagree with police without being outright antagonistic to them.
  - desdiv 12y ago
    ...and charging rates for the work that is way too high. Funny, when I read about the $3500 part I was surprised at how little he asked for. My impression from various HN threads[0][1] is that someone of Levison's caliber could easily fetch $200 per hour. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5769348 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5769348 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=182369 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=182369

skylan_q 12y ago

I was reading the article with Zuck in place of Pavel. I don't think any westerner would be courageous enough to do what Pavel did. But this falls into the narrative that "Russia bad, America good". How do you think the Russian media spins stories about Facebook's and Google's co-operation with US intelligence?

known 12y ago

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw