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The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

nytimes.com

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Re: The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

#21

Post by gpm »

qrbLPHiKpiux wrote: post #9
dyarosla wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heck, most people in government simply don’t even understand the issue, let alone figuring out how to solve it. AFAIK only one US 2020 presidential candidate atm is even talking about data rights.

This is a good argument for term limits. The old timer's holding on to their power is not doing anyone any good.

Term limits don't seem to stop old timers from getting elected though, they just mean a variety of old timers get elected.

(Not that there aren't other good reasons to prefer a variety of politicians getting elected over a single one)

Re: The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

#22

Post by jonahx »

Fakira wrote: post #6

Because some of us want our government not to protect our Food and Cars as well. Data is one area where humanity has made the fastest progress compared to Cars and Food.

> not to protect our Food

What system would you prefer to protect your food?

Re: The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

#23

Post by noobermin »

bognition wrote: post #2

Probably because the threat is relatively new. It took hundreds of thousands of deaths and decades to get us to the current mandated safety standards for cars. It’s going to take a while for tech to catch up.

The FDA was formed just years after the Jim the horse incident[0]. The issues from poor data practices has existed for a decade or more. It has more to do with the poor functioning of the political system these days.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_%28horse%29

Re: The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

#24

Post by [deleted] »

qrbLPHiKpiux wrote: post #9
dyarosla wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heck, most people in government simply don’t even understand the issue, let alone figuring out how to solve it. AFAIK only one US 2020 presidential candidate atm is even talking about data rights.

This is a good argument for term limits. The old timer's holding on to their power is not doing anyone any good.

[deleted]

Re: The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

#25

Post by Nasrudith »

That is a confusion if shared words being assumes in the same meaning. Data protection is fundamentally nothing like car or food safety. The other two can literally directly kill you. Data also acts "at a distance". If I smash a cooy of your car or poison a copy of your lunch it won't harm you in any way. Not so if sensitive information leaks.

Not to mention the abuse potential is fundamentally massively different. It isn't apples to oranges but apples to formica countertops

Re: The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

#27

Post by deltron3030 »

Maybe because of population growth. Food and car failure is directly linked to mass deaths and diseases, potentially decreasing the population, free data flow is linked to better business decisions, and therefore wealth for starting families, potentially increasing the population.

So if population growth is your priority as nation, it could make sense to allow free data flow if you ignore potential long term side effects that could counter this.

The downsides of free data flow and the permanence of personal data are mostly affecting the mental health of people which could result in more deaths from drug abuse and other self destructive behaviors, or even civil wars long term.

This of course could contradict free data flow as a viable strategy for long term population growth.

A battle between short and long term politics, with long term politics being clearly at a disadvantage because they're less obvious and harder to predict/measure, and harder to sell in political campaigns.

Re: The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

#28

Post by temac »

jonahx wrote: post #22
Fakira wrote: post #6

Because some of us want our government not to protect our Food and Cars as well. Data is one area where humanity has made the fastest progress compared to Cars and Food.

> not to protect our Food What system would you prefer to protect your food?

If you are any good you can afford food taster who work for you and die if the food was not good. If you are not good enough and are forced to work as a food taster, bad for you, but that's just survival of the fittest and will eventually make the human race stronger.

Re: The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

#29

Post by Despegar »

Nasrudith wrote: post #25

That is a confusion if shared words being assumes in the same meaning. Data protection is fundamentally nothing like car or food safety. The other two can literally directly kill you. Data also acts "at a distance". If I smash a cooy of your car or poison a copy of your lunch it won't harm you in any way. Not so if sensitive information leaks. Not to mention the abuse potential is fundamentally massively different. I…

Financial products exist only in databases and they can't kill you, yet they're heavily regulated for good reason.

Re: The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

#30

Post by otterley »

Despegar wrote: post #29
Nasrudith wrote: post #25

That is a confusion if shared words being assumes in the same meaning. Data protection is fundamentally nothing like car or food safety. The other two can literally directly kill you. Data also acts "at a distance". If I smash a cooy of your car or poison a copy of your lunch it won't harm you in any way. Not so if sensitive information leaks. Not to mention the abuse potential is fundamentally massively different. I…

Financial products exist only in databases and they can't kill you, yet they're heavily regulated for good reason.

That’s because the data there counts the amount of money they owe their customers.
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