Posted by
Steve Smith on
Jan 05, 2011; 7:31am
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Wikileaks-Mirror-Taken-Down-Host-Buckles-Under-Demands-from-Upstream-Provider-Electronic-Frontier-Fon-tp5887442p5891248.html
Glen -
I think maybe we are roughly on the same page.
My concern boils down to something pretty simple. I believe that
non-human entities, (e.g. corporations, governments, etc.) of a certain
complexity, act like simple organisms which often means acting in
parasitic and opportunistic ways. I acknowledge that some of these
entities which might be operated by single individual humans or very
small groups have a chance of being mere "extensions" of the individuals
and therefore more likely to behave in the manner the individuals would.
I worry that overly simplistic, or superficial attempts to "hold them
accountable" at best do little and at worst make them stronger and more
clever. I think a strong analogy with the misuse of antibiotics and
the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria can be applied here. I
believe that all of our institutions (government, corporate, religious,
etc.) have been "trained" by us to maintain relatively effective
camouflage, to hide their worst depradations while presenting a
"kinder, gentler, greener, more organic, etc." face to us.
I'm not saying that trying to get Amazon and Visa and MC and PayPal and
... to act better by "voting with our feet" is not motivated and might
even have a positive effect. I'm saying, I think it is at best "a good
start". We are a society of complacency... we will knee-jerk against
the latest bad actor while supporting smugly those who didn't get caught
(this time).
I've been switching cell service providers every few years because I get
fed up with the one I have, only to grow to discover that the next one I
choose (often with careful research) has a whole different set of bad
behaviours... It leads to an a-virtuous cycle... and I fear that much
of our attempts to "punish" the bad actors risks that (or worse, see my
antibiotic-resistance analogy above).
I'm not prescribing a specific solution here, I don't have one, but I
*do* think we need to look (even) more deeply at the problem before we
think we have it solved. We may be doing little or perhaps aggravating
it unwittingly.
- STeve
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