[liberationtech] Privacy, Moglen, @ioerror, #rp12

[Andre Rebentisch]

Am 10.05.2012 05:22, schrieb Pavol Luptak:
> Consider censorship, data retention laws - from the business point of 
> view it does not make sense - on a free market censorship is 
> definitely not a competitive advantage, nobody voluntarily will pay 
> for censored Internet, also data retention is usually too expensive in 
> contrast with fact that most ISPs want to offer as cheap as possible 
> services because it is another competitive advantage. 

Behind EU data retention was largely the content industry. AT&T (without 
genuine business in Europe) lobbied heavily in Brussels. Formal pretext 
was the Madrid bombing. There are also more cynical arguments like 
saving the children.

> So personally I think our freedom is primarily threatened by our 
> governments, not corporations (they just care about their business and 
> their customers and restrictions on freedom are simply not good for 
> their business, because people would prefer their competitors). 

Some believe the "Levithan" threatenes individual freedom, others rely 
on him to protect personal freedom. EU-Commissioner Reding's ambitious 
data protection package is a perfect test case for your teaching.

In ordoliberal terms the purpose of a strong state is to make a genuine 
market happen, to enforce competition. Dominant companies have no 
genuine interest in competition in a market system because it eats their 
profits away.

Think of a small and weak state which entirely depends on the banking 
industry or oil or fisheries. It is a matter of balance and gravity. If 
you complain about Paypal's services in Europa you'd wonder why 
Luxembourg has not the balls to enforce basic customer service 
standards. If you pay taxes wonder why IT companies formally base their 
EMEA operations in Ireland.
> Anyway, we have the same goal - freedom! :-)

Which shows the intellectual immaturity of Moglen's rhetorics. Freedom 
is an empty phrase.

Best,
André