1. Impose tax on corporate revenues, not profits 2. Regulate market capitalization of corporations
3. Profit?
Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
131–140 of 177 posts
Re: Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US government forces American tech companies to spy on users, so US companies are to blame? We still, to this day, don't know the extent to which PRISM and BULLRUN participation was forced, voluntary, or completely opaque. We have Marissa Meyer claiming USG threatened charges of treason, and we have Google denying involvement full-stop. I doubt if we'll ever know.
We do have an idea though. Industry experts have said they think that PRISM was a dark fiber hack between data centers (even the name implies it). Most tech companies have closed the exploit by encrypting data over dark fiber.
You're thinking of MUSCULAR. MUSCULAR was a fiber hack between data centers. (Not really dark; if it was "dark" fiber the lines wouldn't be carrying any data.) That's the one tech companies are really pissed off about, which got them to start encrypting data between DCs.
PRISM is FISA. It's the NSA codename for data collection under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. That's why the tech companies had no idea what the press was talking about. When the NSA goes to execute PRISM, they have a lawyer contact the appropriate tech company and say "We have a lawfully-obtained warrant for search terms X, Y, and Z under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, please hand over your logs for those terms", and because it's all done legally, the tech companies have to comply. Once the data is handed over, there is apparently a whole storage & search mechanism within the NSA for handling that data, and that is what PRISM refers to.
BULLRUN is the NSA decryption effort, and it involves them systematically inserting backdoors into various encryption algorithms. It operates at a lower level than what most people think of as "American tech"; if there were companies involved, it'd be Cisco and Juniper, although all the evidence I've seen so far indicates that the NSA managed to hide flaws in the algorithms in plain sight, even as they underwent public review.
Re: Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
>"The individual mandate for purchase of private insurance + subsidy system adopted as "Obamacare" was first proposed by the Republicans and insurance industry lobbyists in opposition to healthcare reform efforts under the Clinton administration. [...] I don’t recognize this new brand of Republicanism that is afoot now, which I consider to be very reactionary, not conservative in many respects. " That's exactly right…
> That law limited religious freedom. Well, sure, in that it allowed powerful private entities to engage in religious discrimination adversely affecting the practical religious freedom of less powerful entities and individuals, but in terms of government power, it limited government action more than it was prior to the law (which is why the right pushed it). > It says that if you can prove a compelling interest, and…
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Re: Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
Progressives move forever more to the left, and then accuse the right of "moving right" because we didn't move to your new definition of center fast enough. Excuse me, conservatives have not actually managed to get signed any major conservative initiative in the US in 50 years, because of that line. Our government is bigger than it has ever been: -we haven't privatized schools or gotten vouchers, -we haven't abolishe…
So you list a number of hyper-extremist radical points, many of which even HAVE happened (vouchers and charter schools are everywhere, immigration is open to wealthy foreigners, unions have been devastated and barely exist, gun control barely exists, the welfare state has been cut enormously, by Bill Clinton in fact! because the left has shifted so far to the right the Democrats are accomplishing your radical tasks f…
>"So you list a number of hyper-extremist radical points [...] then you complain the country is leftist?"
No. I listed a bunch of things which were not extreme positions 50 years ago to show that politics is indeed becoming more leftist. The fact that you see these as very extreme positions is exactly my point -- the center has moved left, not right.
Re: Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since you seem to have missed the sarcasm, I'll make it explicit. There's this thing called the internet. It allows minority producers and minority consumers to connect with each other. For example, if you wish to read fiction about the Death Star's project manager, or My Little Pony characters living in the world of Fallout, or a rationalist-themed fanfic rewrite of Harry Potter, you can do so. There is even erotic…
> For example, if you wish to read fiction about the Death Star's project manager, or My Little Pony characters living in the world of Fallout, or a rationalist-themed fanfic rewrite of Harry Potter, you can do so. There is even erotic fanfic to the aforementioned Harry Potter fanfic. Which all is only tolerated but not allowed by copyright laws.
His point was that the internet allows for much more diversity, rather than less. The example he chose is a little unfortunate. Copyright issues surrounding fan fiction are not relevant to the matter at hand.
I'd argue that the goal with the French cultural protectionist laws is not to allow diversity, but to choose winners and losers by constraining choice.
Re: Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
We do have an idea though. Industry experts have said they think that PRISM was a dark fiber hack between data centers (even the name implies it). Most tech companies have closed the exploit by encrypting data over dark fiber.
You're thinking of MUSCULAR. MUSCULAR was a fiber hack between data centers. (Not really dark; if it was "dark" fiber the lines wouldn't be carrying any data.) That's the one tech companies are really pissed off about, which got them to start encrypting data between DCs. PRISM is FISA. It's the NSA codename for data collection under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. That's why the tech companies had no idea wha…
Thanks - you're right. I was mixing PRISM with MUSCULAR. Wasn't PRISM still limited to data around high-interest individuals? (i.e. not a blank check to all data)
Was BULLRUN what ATT room 641a was involved with?
Re: Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article starts by asking you to view things from another perspective. It's not asking you to "knock" Netflix, it's inviting you to consider the point of view of people who do. American media is subtly hegemonising. All media carries with it the culture of those who produce it, but US media also carries a very strong assumption of "defaultness": that everyone is a (mostly white) American at heart. What effect does…
None of the issues you cite are the fault of American media. They are at best due to lack of sufficient quantities of local production, and at worst due to local production just not being very interesting. Given that everyone learns English, material made in that language has a bigger market and can naturally be higher budget. But that's not anyone's fault per se and cannot be fixed with bureaucratic interventions. A…
As 'wfo' says, speaking of it in terms of fault is meaningless. But it certainly can be an undesireable side-effect of market outcomes which absolutely can be counterbalanced by bureaucratic intervention.
It's not entirely an accident that US media supports US foreign policy, either.
Re: Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're thinking of MUSCULAR. MUSCULAR was a fiber hack between data centers. (Not really dark; if it was "dark" fiber the lines wouldn't be carrying any data.) That's the one tech companies are really pissed off about, which got them to start encrypting data between DCs. PRISM is FISA. It's the NSA codename for data collection under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. That's why the tech companies had no idea wha…
Thanks - you're right. I was mixing PRISM with MUSCULAR. Wasn't PRISM still limited to data around high-interest individuals? (i.e. not a blank check to all data) Was BULLRUN what ATT room 641a was involved with?
Uncertain; that was my initial understanding as well, but the Wikipedia article on PRISM indicates that certain search terms are fair game as well.
Also uncertain about the relationship between BULLRUN and AT&T room 641A. My understanding is that BULLRUN is different, focusing on influencing encryption standards so that the government could break them, but I'm not sure.
Re: Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
#139I found this article really frustrating. The US government forces American tech companies to spy on users, so US companies are to blame? These services are so useful and well-liked around the world that they should be considered a threat? The author is amazingly willing to accord French bureaucrats the right to regulate the cultural consumption of Frenchmen. How is this defensible? Should we knock Netflix because it…
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Re: Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course not being able to access a website you want (and censorship in general) is not good, but comparing that to slavery is absolutely ridiculous.
Not being able to make choices for yourself is slavery. Slavery is not about hard work or poor conditions. There were plenty free men who had it harder and some slaves that led cushy life. Slavery is about not being a master for yourself.
By your definition, i am pretty sure that you are a slave.