Flicker Fusion

its a fair point and i considered using citizen

It’s a fair point and I considered using “citizen” here for that very reason. Since I was talking about consumer protection and there are numerous ways in which governments are charged with “protecting citizens”, I stuck with the semantic bastardization in favor of specificity.

In Europe, in the United States, throughout the world, we need to make sure we are investing — we are investing in technology, we are investing in basic education so that people can take advantage of these tools. We want to make sure we have the right regulatory environment — a regulatory environment that promotes innovation and economic growth.

In Europe, in the United States, throughout the world, we need to make sure we are investing — we are investing in technology, we are investing in basic education so that people can take advantage of these tools. We want to make sure we have the right regulatory environment — a regulatory environment that promotes innovation and economic growth.

—

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, speaking at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich, seems to be saying that privacy and economic growth are incompatible.

This is, of course, the exact response you’d expect from someone who’s personally made millions (billions?) of dollars exploiting people’s privacy. Facebook is sure to be wary of some strict new privacy regulations that the EU is recommending.

I loathe Sandberg’s line of reasoning here, that somehow protecting consumer rights is antithetical to making money. Protecting consumers, to my mind, is one of the purposes of government, particularly in a world where corporations have increasing power over our everyday lives, are ever more resistant to self-policing and are bigger, richer and more global than has ever been known in history.

It strikes me that this may be one of the greatest differences between the theories of government in Europe and the United States. I’m becoming more and more wary of a government that insists on protecting the powerful on the backs of the powerless.

A $250 billion per year loss would be almost $800 for every man, woman, and child in America. And 750,000 jobs – that’s twice the number of those employed in the entire motion picture industry in 2010.

The good news is that the numbers are wrong. In 2010, the Government Accountability Office released a report noting that these figures “cannot be substantiated or traced back to an underlying data source or methodology,” which is polite government-speak for “these figures were made up out of thin air.”

A $250 billion per year loss would be almost $800 for every man, woman, and child in America. And 750,000 jobs – that’s twice the number of those employed in the entire motion picture industry in 2010.

The good news is that the numbers are wrong. In 2010, the Government Accountability Office released a report noting that these figures “cannot be substantiated or traced back to an underlying data source or methodology,” which is polite government-speak for “these figures were made up out of thin air.”

—The Freakonomics guys call bullshit on the MPAA’s piracy numbers.

The techno-libertarian utopianism that pervades Silicon Valley means that both corporations and individuals buy into the idea that they don’t need to bend anyone’s ear in Washington D.C.

The problem is, D.C. is still going to talk other people. (Notably, the entertainment industry, which has a long, effective track record of getting its legislation passed.) Together they’re going to talk about us, and we can be a part of that conversation, or not. But no matter how much we may wish that Congress wouldn’t listen to lobbyists, it’s an unrealistic expectation borne of idealism that ignores how our broken, dysfunctional government actually works. In the America of 2012, laws are written by lobbyists.

The techno-libertarian utopianism that pervades Silicon Valley means that both corporations and individuals buy into the idea that they don’t need to bend anyone’s ear in Washington D.C.

The problem is, D.C. is still going to talk other people. (Notably, the entertainment industry, which has a long, effective track record of getting its legislation passed.) Together they’re going to talk about us, and we can be a part of that conversation, or not. But no matter how much we may wish that Congress wouldn’t listen to lobbyists, it’s an unrealistic expectation borne of idealism that ignores how our broken, dysfunctional government actually works. In the America of 2012, laws are written by lobbyists.

—Mat Honan says SOPA And PIPA are the internet’s own damn fault and he’s right.

Congress appropriates military funds with alacrity and generosity. It appropriates poverty funds with miserliness and grudging reluctance. The government is emotionally committed to the war. It is emotionally hostile to the needs of the poor.

Congress appropriates military funds with alacrity and generosity. It appropriates poverty funds with miserliness and grudging reluctance. The government is emotionally committed to the war. It is emotionally hostile to the needs of the poor.

—Martin Luther King, Jr. (via azspot)