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The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

cyberlaw.stanford.edu

101–110 of 520 posts

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#101
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had a free society and democracy before the internet.

Is this sarcasm?

Depends on whether or not one believes that we live in a free, democratic society today. In many ways, yes, we do, in many others, no, we don't.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#102
post #13
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There’s no regulation for what happens when Google or Facebook or whatever deletes or blocks an account and provides no support. Yes there is, per the trade regulations you're entitled to a refund . Wait I'm only partly sarcastic. If you think you're entitled to anything provided as a free service then the problem starts there. Do I miss the days when ISPs provided email as part of your subscription? Then made you…

Well one could argue Google and FB services are not free. Those 2 companies are 2 of the most profitable, valuable companies in the world. If they are providing their services for free, how can that be? Our attention and information is what they profit from, and that should not be undervalued. They are certainly not providing these services to us out of the goodness of their hearts.

> Well one could argue Google and FB services are not free.

I don't possibly see how. The services cost no money, thus they are unequivocally free. Perhaps one could reasonably argue that just because something is free doesn't mean the user isn't entitled to any rights, but torturing the definition of free to suit your argument strikes me as obviously fallacious.

> If they are providing their services for free, how can that be

Because advertisers pay them. This logic is like saying FM radio isn't free because it has ads, this is just not true.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#104

For those living in California: https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me A copy of my note if you would like a template: ``` Dear Senator Feinstein, I am deeply disappointed with your support of the EARN IT act and am expressing my deep concern and disapproval of such a bill. Congruent with the recent report released by Stanford, I am expressing my deep disappointment in your sponsorship of the EAR…

Sadly, Feinstein doesn't give one iota of damn ... unless she is being wiretapped.

And, at this point, I'm not sure that she actually even knows what she is doing. However, too many people are on the gravy train that are preventing her from resigning.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#105

We should design cryptosystems that include functionality that support warrants as opposed to being antiencryption and removing encryption.

Here's a thought. Private[0] keys could be held in escrow, with sss[1] being used to decrypt, publically. The sss shares could be held by different branches of government. (state,federal,exeecutive,legislative,judicial)

Please shoot my idea down.

[0] or 'backdoor' keys [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing (or similar)

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#106
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These people seem incapable of understanding the existential threat to free society and democracy posed by limiting everyone's ability to communicate private thoughts. The existential threat this bill poses to free society and democracy is exactly why they're supporting it. It's not some accidental side effect. They're opposed to the existence of free society and democracy because it limits government power, which…

With the paranoidal view you're placing yourself outside the realms of sensible discussion. You can't really think that some politicians are knowingly and deliberating proposing an existential threat to "free society and democracy."

Interesting. How would you describe the situation?

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#107
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These people seem incapable of understanding the existential threat to free society and democracy posed by limiting everyone's ability to communicate private thoughts. The existential threat this bill poses to free society and democracy is exactly why they're supporting it. It's not some accidental side effect. They're opposed to the existence of free society and democracy because it limits government power, which…

With the paranoidal view you're placing yourself outside the realms of sensible discussion. You can't really think that some politicians are knowingly and deliberating proposing an existential threat to "free society and democracy."

> You can't really think that some politicians are knowingly and deliberating proposing an existential threat to "free society and democracy."

Why not? Many people oppose free society, and democracy has never been popular among elites.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#108

We should design cryptosystems that include functionality that support warrants as opposed to being antiencryption and removing encryption.

then that's not encryption ... if it has a back door....

I'm not talking about a backdoor. I am talking about it being a part of the actual system design.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#109

No matter your opinion on the issue, the firearm lobby would probably serve as an effective model for fighting legislation like this on a long term basis.

The second amendment, like abortion, is a political wedge issue used by politicians to wield against their opponents. You’re not going to replicate that with issues requiring more nuance and that cannot be used as emotional cudgels.

I think the lack of nuance employed by both 1A and 2A communities has been a strength.

Nuance allows compromise, and compromise allows incrementalism. It's a classic fascist play. It's also a classic politician play to get people lost in the details so that no one truly understands their intent, i.e. "never let a good crisis go to waste".

I'm willing to be proven wrong, however.

Re: The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever

#110
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, no, not with the media deciding what everybody heard. We had as much of a free society as convenience combined with the interests of every individual running TV news allowed. It was a complex system and I wouldn't want to describe it all here, but the fact that you and I can talk to each other in front of anyone who wants to listen in, is far ahead of anything that existed then.

>Not really, no, What? You're really arguing that, to put a year on it, in 1990 we didn't have a free society and democracy?

I don't think we have ever had the kind of free society or democracy people think of when they say "we have a free society and a democracy."

From jailing anti-war protestors (WWI) to jailing anti-war protestors (Vietnam) to allowing corporations to put serious, nearly life-ruining heat on whistleblowers, to the way the media largely operates by uncritically republishing press releases and communiques, I would say it's pretty clear that we're living in a closely managed society with a severely manipulated democratic process.

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