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Democrats Draft an 'Internet Bill of Rights' To Regulate Big Tech (geekwire.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from GeekWire: Democrats in the House of Representatives are promising to push for federal regulation of tech companies if they retake the House in November. Rep. Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, has drafted an Internet Bill of Rights and shared it with influential tech journalist Kara Swisher. It includes liberties like the right to access and transport personal data collected about you, an opt-in framework for data collection, and net neutrality protections. Rep. Nancy Pelosi charged Khanna with drafting the principles, according to an essay by Swisher published in the New York Times.

The list includes the right to obtain, correct, or delete personal data "where context appropriate and with a fair process." That's not nearly as sweeping as the "right to be forgotten" included in Europe's landmark General Data Protection Regulation, which took effect earlier this year. The Bill of Rights would also require companies that collect personal data to notify users of breaches in "a timely manner" and mandate "reasonable business practices and accountability to protect your privacy." Swisher calls it "an admirable list" but is concerned that codifying the principles "will be like pushing back the ocean." Many big tech companies have business models built entirely on collecting as much user data as possible.

140 comments

  1. The goal is to protect the companies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    By making the little they already do all they legally need to do.

  2. Do you want Big Tech to support Republicans? by Digital+Avatar · · Score: 1

    ...because this is how you get Big Tech to support Republicans. Great Job(tm)!

    1. Re:Do you want Big Tech to support Republicans? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Spoilers: this is something big tech wants. They want onerous regulations.

      Onerous government regulations are how big tech ensures that small tech cannot possibly compete with them and will likely go under so their assets can be plundered at fire sale prices.

      Big companies LIKE big government. They work together to ensure that the free market isn't allowed to function.

    2. Re:Do you want Big Tech to support Republicans? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...because this is how you get Big Tech to support Republicans. Great Job(tm)!

      It isn't the job of our politicians to cater to big companies whims. It is the job of our politicians to do what is best for the people.
      Of course the big companies are going to support the politicians that they can buy.

      Your job as a voter is to vote for someone that can't be bought and that tells the big companies to stay in line or GTFO.

    3. Re:Do you want Big Tech to support Republicans? by iMadeGhostzilla · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes, Democrats would be great for regulating Big Tech and enforcing free speech. /s

      With a photo: "Google’s Eric Schmidt Wore ‘Staff’ Badge at Hillary Clinton Election Night Party":

      https://freebeacon.com/politic...

    4. Re:Do you want Big Tech to support Republicans? by reboot246 · · Score: 1

      Bingo! We have a winner!

    5. Re:Do you want Big Tech to support Republicans? by HeckRuler · · Score: 1

      You mean like how they got their big boy Ajit (The Agitator) Pai as the head of the FCC actively trying to tear down Network Neutrality? Because those bribes seem to be paying off in spades.

    6. Re: Do you want Big Tech to support Republicans? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The solution to big corporations is what? A little guy using them in civil court? Good luck outlasting their warchest of hired guns.

      Anything remotely resembling a free market or capitalism leads to monopolistic behavior by the powerful/corporations. So unless you are advocating for anarchy/communism, you need a counter balance to big corporate interests. Government is terrible at it, but what is better? Dont just tear down the status quo, offer an actual improvement. Otherwise we will keep burning wood fired to heat our cabins in Alaska.

      Burning firewood is a terrible solution. You have to swing an axe over and over, risking injury. Or acquire fuel for a chainsaw at inflated prices due to our remoteness, and still risk injury. You then risk burning down the cabin, smoke inhalation, particulates, all that stuff.

      So don't tell me to stop using firewood. Tell me how I can keep my remote wilderness cabin heated in a more economical and safe fashion. Don't tell me that oil companies shouldn't be regulated and taxed to give me my share of the state oil resources in compensation for the risks I will suffer from when they run aground and kill off the local fish supply.

      Tell me what is better without pretending that the evils that collect in government power wont somehow collect in big business too.

  3. freeeeedom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Energy wants to be free !
    abolish all material rule constraints
    free yourself from sub-atomic boundaries !

    freeeeeeeeeedom

  4. Big Tech supports Big Tech by rsilvergun · · Score: 3

    don't get fooled, they're in it for themselves. Big Tech spent a ton of money getting Dems in office who support anti-work politics (like the H1-B program, tax incentives for offshoring, etc). Ro Khanna is the real deal. An actual populist who refuses corporate PAC money. He doesn't fear Big Tech because he doesn't take their money.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Big Tech supports Big Tech by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Rep. Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley

      Ro Khanna is the real deal. An actual populist who refuses corporate PAC money. He doesn't fear Big Tech because he doesn't take their money.

      But his job depends on Big Tech employees voting for him. Money means nothing if you don't have the votes to win. A lot of his constituents work at companies whose business model includes massive data collection, are married to people who work at those companies, or sell stuff to people who do.

    2. Re: Big Tech supports Big Tech by astrofurter · · Score: 2

      "Ro Khanna is the real deal. An actual populist"

      Get real, bro. He's an Intellectual Monopoly lawyer from Yale. He has argued in court in support of institutional racism. He was selected by Nancy "Death to the Working Class" Pelosi to write this bogus privacy bill.

      There's no such thing as a populist Democrat. This guy doesn't seem to be the worst - he does support a few good positions. But I definitely wouldn't trust any of them.

    3. Re:Big Tech supports Big Tech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ro Khanna is the real deal. An actual populist

      The guy graduated from fucking Yale Law, you dope.

  5. Free speech by jez9999 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't see anything there about requiring free speech on major platforms that form the de facto public space today. The Democrats not enforcing free speech. I wonder why that might be?

    1. Re:Free speech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know the 1st is only applicable to the government. Demanding that the Democrats try and pass a law to apply the 1st to corporations (who are people) is a troll. Do you even know how laws are made? How are you going to sell the internet as "public space" to the socialist denouncing Republicans? I hope you're trolling, if not, lurk moar.

    2. Re:Free speech by AmiMoJo · · Score: 0

      Of course modding anyone who disagrees with you as -1 troll isn't an attack on free speech at all.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  6. Yes and no by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the employees goals aren't necessarily aligned with management, and a highly educated workforce generally knows this. That's why CA is in general more liberal. They don't trust their management.

    At the end of the day the only thing big enough to stand up to a Mega corp is a central government. Yeah, it's a risk, but without organization we just get picked off by robber barons.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Yes and no by HiThere · · Score: 1

      The problem is, it's worse than a risk. Over time it's a certainty.

      OTOH, it could be helpful right now...I just don't expect it to be. And the devil is in the details. Those promises are so vague that they could mean anything from real protection to "the business, as usual". Who decides what's reasonable?

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  7. Easy answer by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "enforcing free speech" isn't a thing. Obligatory XKCD comic.

    If you want a platform people can post to that has those protections it needs to be government run. Make a gov't competitor to Facebook & Youtube if you want that. But generally people who deride Democrats for something they have no control over are opposed to "Big G'vmt" doing public works projects...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Easy answer by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 0

      If you want a platform people can post to that has those protections it needs to be government run.

      No it doesn't. There are many privately run forums on the Internet that do not censor anyone.

      For example: Slashdot

    2. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/...

      Lets see how the org that runs it sees it.

      This same argument has been going on for a long time. Right now these platforms are playing 'cop' because of advertising and some very vocal people. However, eventually they will be brought under the umbrella of the FCC and its rules. The FCC has taken a 'light touch' on the internet to let it thrive. But both data providers and ISPs are poking holes in the very fabric of what built the internet. Freedom of speech and light cost.

      The FCC can be ordered by congress to insure freedom of speech and declare the providers of data under a new category of 'providers'. Then regulate them. It does not even have to be that hard but basically 'everyone is treated equally'.

      These companies have been ducking in and out of Title I and Title II and using whatever suits them to lock in their business and gaslight us into thinking outright censorship is a good thing. Its not.

    3. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Post the source code to MS Windows. See how long your post stays up. Post links to videos showing decapitation and praising ISIS. See how long your post stays up. Find a vulnerability in Slashdot's servers, post a how-to guide in the comments, and see how long your post stays up.

      If you think Slashdot doesn't censor, you're an idiot.

    4. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't puss out, DO IT BITCH REPUBLICAN VICTIM FAGGOT. TRY IT. You want to pretend you're being victimized, MAYBE YOU DESERVE IT FOR REAL?

    5. Re:Easy answer by Bradac_55 · · Score: 1

      "For example: Slashdot"

      That's the funniest thing I've read all week.

    6. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Easier answer: you're the biggest shill sack of shit on this entire website, so of course you and the rest of the like-minded freaks of nature want to silence anyone that disagrees with you. If you could do it here too, you already would have.

    7. Re:Easy answer by VanessaE · · Score: 1

      This post was removed due to Dice content standards violations.

    8. Re:Easy answer by Mashiki · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Obligatory response to shitty XKCD comic. Which fails to understand the basic functioning of these platforms, their use as a "public square" and "political soap box."

      Remember, those platforms you've listed have billed themselves as the NEW public square. Guess what happens when you do that? It means the constitution starts applying. Rights and freedoms apply. Protection of speech applies.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    9. Re: Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yay Isis! Woo-hoo, go Osama bin Laden! Yippee for al Queda!

      Okay, there we go. Let's see if it gets censored.

    10. Re:Easy answer by helpfulcorn · · Score: 1

      If we can't find out when we're wrong because not every minority has the "access to the same infrastructure and audience", then how did we find out the things listed in the last panel were ever wrong in the first place? During the Japanese Internment Camps, McCarthyism, Trail of Tears, first and second wave feminism, the civil rights movement all happened when there was not only a lot fewer types of media, but while they had more owners, they certainly didn't cater to minority opinions anymore than a newsletter or party newspaper did compared to blogs or sites today.

      Plus, let's get real, such laws would be used by advertisers far more than noble people minority opinions. And also where does it stop? If I have a free registration web forum and it becomes very popular do I have to allow anyone to post literally anything too at risk of violating the law? How popular do I need to be? What if I don't call myself a public square, which evidently makes a huge difference, and say it's a private business, am I then exempt? What about people promoting violence or hatred rather than wonderful opinions that help us know when we're wrong? Who is liable if something happens? What's to stop someone from suing the web site and making them have to pay tons of money over lawsuits because they weren't allowed to censor?

      I'm not for limiting freedom of speech, but I am against forcing people to promote speech just because they get popular enough. Not all minority opinions are noble nor are all crazy opinions just ignored because you think they're obviously crazy.

    11. Re:Easy answer by jtgd · · Score: 1

      As long as it's not the government muzzling you then it's not a First Amendment issue. If somebody kicks that soap box out from underneath you then it's between you and him.

      --
      J
    12. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then it's time to change that.

      Facebook, Youtube, Google, etc are the modern public forum. They dominate their respective markets to a degree that allows for no competition. People have tried to build competitors but they get attacked and deprived of their backbones (e.g. hosting, payment services) by those that want to censor them.

      Monopolies have to abide by different rules. Especially when they demand "neutrality" and then turn around to discriminate against people they don't like.

    13. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No it doesn't. There are many privately run forums on the Internet that do not censor anyone.

      For example: Slashdot

      What do you think the voting does?
      It pushes down unpopular ideas to a threshold where they aren't as visible.
      If you don't think that is censorship then you have to go back and think a bit about it.

      Also, censorship is never about preventing people from saying things. It is always about preventing people from hearing things.
      Chinese people can voice as much criticism against their government as they like, as long as they do it in the forest where no-one can hear them.
      You are free to voice as much criticism against your government as you like, as long as you stay in the free speech zone where you won't bother anyone who doesn't already agree with you.

    14. Re:Easy answer by sourcerror · · Score: 2

      What if no one wants to sell you a VPS or let have your own dedicated server in their datacenter. Is that not a violation of free speech?

    15. Re:Easy answer by Jonathan+C.+Patschke · · Score: 2

      "enforcing free speech" isn't a thing.

      Perhaps not, per se. However, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides a "safe harbor" against people who run web sites from being treated as the "publisher or speaker of any information provided by another."

      This sort of provision is directly at odds with the notion of editorial control. Being able to say "we didn't say that" is effectively a lie when spoken by someone who gets to control exactly what got said.

      There's lots of grey area and middle ground, but there needs to be some sort of litmus test for whether or not these platforms' "Community Standards" are valid in the context of Section 230. On one hand, no one wants to put in all the work in hosting a platform just to have users fill it with filth. On the other, the standards need consistent application so that, for example, a post of "Kill all x" is equally offending for all demographic values of x; or, that those Community Standards aren't a mere rephrasing of some group's political platform.

      I'm all for site owners to say whatever they want and face whatever consequences come their way. I'm all for platform providers not being held liable for the things that other people say using those platforms. I'm not for platform providers getting that (additional) legal protection while effectively acting as a publisher/gatekeeper in an increasingly-consolidating Web.

      --
      Pining for the days when The Glorious MEEPT!!! graced SlapDash with his wisdom.
    16. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obligatory corrected XKCD. If they don't like being forced to abide by the First Amendment, they can always stop being the digital public square. Take your tired ass arguments out of here.

    17. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Type n i g g e r as one word. See what happens. Doesn't matter if you're discussing the term, using it as an example, or using it as a slur, it comes up "lameness filter encountered." That's censorship, and a fucking retarded version of it at that.

    18. Re: Easy answer by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Slashdot isn't owned by Dice anymore. It was bought by a set of hooligan profiteers about a year ago. Haven't you noticed little changes? It's still 'user moderated ' but there's a little flag icon to the right of each comment. The advertising is slicker and more pervasive.

    19. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here you go with a classic cartel decapitation video. (Trigger warning: decapitation means cutting the heads off people.) Slashdot has its faults, but it’s not that big of a pussy, although it mangled every attempt I made to post this as a link. https://www.livegore.com/38/me...

    20. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as it's not the government muzzling you then it's not a First Amendment issue. If somebody kicks that soap box out from underneath you then it's between you and him.

      "Not a First Amendment issue" =/= "Not a free speech issue"

    21. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Again, like Munroe, you fail to understand the difference between the First Amendment and the moral principle of Freedom of Speech. Many half-witted fail to understand, so don't feel bad - you're in good company.

      Facebook censoring Republicans isn't a First Amendment issue. It is, however, a Freedom of Speech issue - all censorship is.

      Remember - Once upon a time, "decent people" didn't publish, or allow to be published, screeds in favor of such unpopular or perverted topics like: Women's rights, black equality, or homosexual behavior.

      When you oppose free speech because it is unpopular, or because you don't like it... well, you're exactly the sort of person that would have opposed all the civil rights advances of the past two centuries.

    22. Re:Easy answer by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      What if no one wants to sell you advertising space or give you a column in their newspaper?

      What if you have been barred from every karaoke place in the country?

      What if the FCC won't grant you a HAM or broadcast licence?

      None of it is a violation of your free speech.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    23. Re: Easy answer by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      If you're seeing advertising, you're doing it wrong.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    24. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your derisive attitude towards liberal values like free expression is precisely what I'd expect from a hitler era nazi or a stalin era communist. Today's left is the closest contemporary we have to bona-fide nazis. The fact they babble about hate speech while supporting their own group of bigots makes their positions all the more laughable. Antifa and the KKK have more in common than either will ever admit.

      Most people? Or just packs of losers who can't handle conflict?

        Extreme relative to what? Popular opinion? Totalitarians are always babbling about 'extreme content', especially when it illuminates their muddied waters enough for people to see their own bullshit for what it is.

    25. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I doubt the FCC can refuse it on political grounds being they're a government agency.

      It's hilarious we've come full circle with socialists defending individual right of association out of desperation. I suppose it's ok now for that bakery to refuse a gay couple? How about a doctor refusing to perform an abortion? You can nitpick all you like but it all comes down to that same right of free association.

      Lefties are such hypocrites these days. They're as bad as the religious right loons from the 70s. They got their blasphemy laws (hate speech) and original sin (check your privilege). Hell, recently they've even stooped to witchhunts and inquisitions!

    26. Re:Easy answer by HeckRuler · · Score: 1

      Obligatory counterpoint: "Free Speech is an ideal that's older than our government and is a super-set of the first amendment." First amendment issues are legal ones. Free Speech issues are moral ones. As in "You're a bad person/company/platform due to your unreasonable censorship".

      Any evidence of unreasonable censorship or bias means the platform should lose trust and you should start looking elsewhere. I can't legally force your to host any content, but nothing is forcing me to partake.

    27. Re: Easy answer by VanessaE · · Score: 1

      I've noticed, but the joke's still relevant regardless of who owns the site.

    28. Re:Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mashiki, you really are retarded. Undeniably. unfetterably retarded. Do you realize you just advocated for the forced possession of child pornography with your post? You probably aren't smart enough to see that, but it's there.

      XKCD wins yet another round against crybaby self-victimizing snowflake right wingers!

  8. In Their Back Pocket by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The big tech companies have the Democrats in their back pocket. This stuff is perfectly fine to bluster about before the elections. In fact it's good politics to make promises like this.

    1. Re:In Their Back Pocket by El+Cubano · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As much as I hate government regulation and big government (something always goes wrong and power gets abused), this is one of those instances where the actors (tech companies) have proved over and over again that they cannot act like grown ups. It is clearly time to risk government intrusion here because there is apparently no other way to fix the train wreck that privacy (or lack of) has become in the US.

      That said, you are 100%, without a doubt spot on:

      This stuff is perfectly fine to bluster about before the elections. In fact it's good politics to make promises like this.

      Look for lots of noise now, but no real action after the election.

      For example, both of Obama's successful campaigns (and many successful Democrat campaigns during those years) had lots of big talk about immigration reform. Funny thing is that during the time the Democrats had the Congress and the White House, nothing was done. Of course, the Hispanic vote was (and still is) important to Democrats, so they have to make the "good politics" by promising to do something. But that didn't even result in a meaningful token gesture. It was just a whole bunch of nothing. (No, Obama's executive actions don't count because, as can be seen now with Trump, a previous president's executive actions can be undone by the next president; plus executive orders don't count as reform.)

      Republicans did the exact same thing where they all campaigned on fiscal conservatism to get the Tea Party vote. Then Republicans had both houses of Congress during 6 of Obama's 8 years and not a spending cut in sight. In fact, every time the President wanted a debt ceiling increase, the Republicans obliged. Every time he wanted a larger budget deficit, the Republicans again obliged. Sure they made noise about "next time," but the "next time" they just did they same thing they had been doing all along. Even now with Republicans in control of both houses of Congress and the White House there still hasn't been a meaningful spending cut.

      Conservative pundits love to point out that Obama accumulated more debt/deficit than every president before him combined. While it is a true statement and it is true that Obama bears the responsibility as the one who makes the budget requests, the Republicans were happy to stand by with gas cans and matches and help out.

      Interestingly, if you go back to Obama's campaign speeches, especially from his first campaign, he actually talked quite a bit about "reigning in out of control spending in Washington." I don't think he actually even made an attempt in that regard.

    2. Re:In Their Back Pocket by transporter_ii · · Score: 1
      --
      Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
    3. Re:In Their Back Pocket by Uberbah · · Score: 0

      As much as I hate government regulation and big government

      Tell me about it! It just gets my goat every time I drive through Minneapolis without having one of the bridges collapse underneath me, that I can't buy cough syrup with formaldehyde anymore, toys with lead paint, a house where the wiring wont burn it all down within ten years after purchase - it's so unfair!

      For example, both of Obama's successful campaigns (and many successful Democrat campaigns during those years) had lots of big talk about immigration reform. Funny thing is that during the time the Democrats had the Congress and the White House, nothing was done.

      Oh, something happened alright - Obama took INS, a tiny program under Bush and expanded it by 4,000% into the brutal deportation system we have today, expelling more immigrants than all previous presidents combined. That's why if I ever meet John Leguizamo, I'll ask him "head or gut", then kick him in the balls after punching both.

      Interestingly, if you go back to Obama's campaign speeches, especially from his first campaign, he actually talked quite a bit about "reigning in out of control spending in Washington." I don't think he actually even made an attempt in that regard.

      Pretty much everything the guy ever campaigned on was a lie. It's funny watching conservatives hate on Obama, since he was a right-wing freakshow for eight straight years.

  9. No Need at all ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Y'all just give away all yer private data. Perhaps their ought to be a law that persons who act thusly are promptly put to death ...

  10. Same two party crap different day by shaitand · · Score: 1

    The D's who have consistently been the party of tech forever are outraged at tech and claim the R's used it to take their election. They form an internet bill of rights and get people in arms about privacy (which is nothing new). But they mostly remain silent on net neutrality, his stance on the issue is in violation of several concerns of the bill of rights but the D's solidly distract you from that aspect of our supreme court nominee.

    The R's attack net neutrality directly, the major funding in opposition is the big tech companies.

    The result? Carriers of internet traffic who can not only throttle but alter everything down to documents communicated with your attorney on the wire. This is all the same team. Hell there is probably a backend deal to use "immigration reform" to bring back more not Hispanic but Asian H1B and similar in-sourced workers to compensate the tech companies and cost of business level agreements will be put in place with the carriers. The carriers aren't about trying to charge FB so much as they want to head off phone style regulations and unions like the telecoms have to interact with. How do you think verizon managed to own MCI for long without being considered a telco?

  11. If they retake the House... by GlennC · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This tells me that this is a typical campaign promise which will be quickly forgotten once the D's and R's have maintained their duopoly. Can't have any of them outsiders messing things up now, can we?

    --
    Go on, citizen, stamp the vote card. R or D, your choice.
    1. Re:If they retake the House... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Still in the post-truth era I see.

      A politician telling you what they want to do if elected... There is simply no way it could be a genuine statement of intent, because all politicians lie all the time without exception.

      I have a better idea. Vote for the policies you want, and then hold those who offered them to account.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  12. if you can't ... by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Many big tech companies have business models built entirely on collecting as much user data as possible.

    Many criminals have build a career of committing crime. If caught they are expected to be punished. Companies should expect the same - and the punishment should be served by the directors.

    --
    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    1. Re:if you can't ... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      How about jail time for companies? They do it in Japan, the company isn't allowed to do any business for X days but has to keep paying staff etc.

      Imagine what a one day shut-down would do to Facebook. Anyone visiting Facebook would get a message informing them that it's closed for the day because they lost 50M people's personal data.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:if you can't ... by mentil · · Score: 1

      They'd find a loophole, like shutting down their campus, but leaving the website operational because the website is owned by a holding company created yesterday.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
  13. Re:I cant trust the Democrats anymore by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Indeed, I don't know how you could trust anyone who could travel back in time and mind-control you into sexually assaulting 3 different women and then both lying about it under oath and revealing extreme partisan bias in the process. He is a perfectly innocent man in an alternate timeline.

    (But seriously, that's not even the worst of it. His laughably terrible and legally outright wrong executive power maximalist views are.)

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  14. Re:Wrong Answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Inflicted? Is that the word you wanted to use there?

  15. This is obvious grandstanding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are only doing this because they know it won't pass. Should have done it while Obama was still a lame duck. Yeah Republicans had the house by a few votes, but it would probably pass then. Trump's liable to veto this thing.

  16. That word... I don't think it means what you think by Brew+Bird · · Score: 1

    People keep using 'net neutrality' as if it's going to provide some kind of amazing magical protection for end users... The one thing that doesn't 'fix' your user experience is making rules with thousands of loopholes in them. And that's what you get when you demand lawmakers to fix problems for you. They build a compromise based on what's best for the providers and what is acceptable to them to give up to make you feel better. Holding data hoarding companies to a standard of responsible use for your personal info is perfect. that stuff needs to be defined as your own personal property, that you lease,rent or otherwise permit them to use it for due and fair consideration.

  17. Net neutrality protections by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    You will be able to keep your paper insulated wireline monopoly network.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  18. AHuxley, the GRU-backing retard? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AHuxley, the Putin dick-cozy faggot? Da? Bend over comrade, this won't hurt much.

    1. Re: AHuxley, the GRU-backing retard? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look everyone - the bankster-funded troll army is harassing a red blooded real American for expressing his opinion!

  19. dubious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi charged Khanna with drafting the principles

    She's recognized as a money taking political hack on both sides. A ruse..

    Unfortunately.
    They could use this to regulate tech SME's out of existence. Just leave shit alone.. True liberalism can never be found from mainstream political hacks. They are how Trump got elected.

  20. Bill of Rights? Did you say Bill of Rights? by mi · · Score: 1, Insightful

    drafted an Internet Bill of Rights and shared it

    We already have a Bill of Rights. Now, where is my right to keep and bear weapons, huh? No Democrat shall do much talking about "rights", unless they wholly and unequivocally support the Bill of Rights — especially, the first two Amendments.

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:Bill of Rights? Did you say Bill of Rights? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should be shot, then raped. Conservative rights 1 and 2.

    2. Re: Bill of Rights? Did you say Bill of Rights? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is the number one Democrat fantasy.

      Good thing the left keeps losing.

  21. Stallman... by 101percent · · Score: 2

    Why hasn't Stallman been in the NYtimes in the past 30 years. It's hard to feel bad for anyone at this point in the these matters.

  22. Democrats might be mis-reading things by Etcetera · · Score: 2

    Republicans are as fed up with, if not more, with Big Tech as Democrats are. This isn't a "elect us and we'll do it" moment, and Republicans can (and, IMO, should) work with them and push it through in a bipartisan fashion.

    1. Re:Democrats might be mis-reading things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They're fed up with different things. The right wants action against politically-motivated de-platforming. The left isn't going to draft any "bill of rights" that stops companies from engaging in such behaviour (at least where requested by the left), and sure enough, Khanna's list makes no mention of banning politically-motivated deplatforming.

    2. Re:Democrats might be mis-reading things by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Doesn't consumer protection run contrary to basic Republican ideals of personal responsibility? They seem to mostly push policies that companies can do what they like, and it's up to individuals to avoid getting screwed by them.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Democrats might be mis-reading things by El+Cubano · · Score: 2

      Doesn't consumer protection run contrary to basic Republican ideals of personal responsibility? They seem to mostly push policies that companies can do what they like, and it's up to individuals to avoid getting screwed by them.

      Interesting. I see consumer protection as running contrary to basic Democratic ideals of personal choice. They seem to mostly push policies that individuals can do what they like, and it's up to those same individuals to avoid making bad choices.

    4. Re: Democrats might be mis-reading things by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Are you kidding? Really? I bet if a poll was taken, you would find that a majority of Republicans would be elated if Trump's Twitter account was deleted. Dude does a lot of damage with that thing! Same for a lot of the other trash-groups who've been thrown off social media. It's a myth that normal real Republicans back the white-power trash and the nazis.

    5. Re:Democrats might be mis-reading things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a more libertarian position, not a Democrat one.
      The Democrat party is very much the Nanny-state party these days. Even more than the old Religious Right ever was. At least they only obsessed about sex.

    6. Re:Democrats might be mis-reading things by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I thought Democrats were the ones pushing for social programmes like mandatory, low cost healthcare. Also greater regulation of companies to protect individuals, like this proposal.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Democrats might be mis-reading things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I really don't think anyone should be working with Nancy Pelosi on aything.

      Rep. Nancy Pelosi charged Khanna with drafting the principles, according to an essay by Swisher published in the New York Times.

  23. Re:I cant trust the Democrats anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Well, I was referring to them staging these false allegations against Kavanaugh, but keep believing he's a sexual predator, if that helps you sleep at night. He's going to be confirmed anyway, and I'm glad. Having a man in the Supreme Court who understands what its like to be falsely accused will only benefit men in America. Godspeed to him. He's a great man.

  24. Dems regulating the Internet by guruevi · · Score: 3, Informative

    The list is a precursor to regulating the Internet. Read the thing, it's overly broad: "unfairly discriminated against based on your personal data" - what is 'fair' discrimination? What is personal data? Does that mean I can't call your unscientific viewpoints out?

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    1. Re:Dems regulating the Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Republicans have been working on their own bill for the last few months. Democrats didn't want anything to do with it because it protects speech, and makes no mention of removing the nebulous words "hate speech."

    2. Re:Dems regulating the Internet by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      Does that mean I can't call your unscientific viewpoints out?

      No, it means that for example your insurance company can't sift through your Facebook profile looking for reasons to deny you coverage or jack up your premiums. It means that Facebook can't help landlords hide their properties from you because of the colour of your skin.

      It's clearly modelled after the EU rules where we have things like algorithmic transparency. If the computer tells me I can't have a mortgage then I have a right to know why, and to challenge it if I think it's unfair. No black boxes when it comes to making decision about you.

      Not everything is an attack on your freeze peach.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  25. Re:Jez9999 let me be the first to say you're an by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh good, another 'tolerant' liberal who is actually a profane, hateful discriminatory idiot. Haven't seen one of those in at least 2 minutes.

  26. Just like with public domain... by blahplusplus · · Score: 2

    ... over the last 200 years. The Democrats and republicans are the enemies of the people.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  27. Baby steps by holophrastic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    (I'm a small web developer, self employed for 25 years and counting, and obviously a general web consumer. )

    I think there's a much simpler way to start this mayhem.

    I'd be happy with two buttons:

    1. show me everything you have on me, one big single-web-page human-readable/printable/migratable dump of information.

    2. delete it all. please and thank you.

    I think everything else can either be added much later, or will work itself out with market forces. Today, the trouble is that people don't know what's known about them, and can't do anything about it anyway. These two buttons solve the problem.

    And with #2 being so readily available, you'd see just how quickly big companies apologize and make-things-right in the hopes of not losing huge swaths of their user data.

    Compared to the GDPR (which is phenominal, but also a phenominally big step to take all at once), the above two are relatively easy for almost any company to implement.

    (N.B. if you've read the GDPR thoroughly, and I mean the actual document, my #2 is the short-circuit way out of about 95% of the technical requirements that the GDPR puts on businesses.)

    1. Re:Baby steps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem with what you propose is that companies like Google and Facebook will claim they already comply. They both already claim you can view all data and delete if wanted. It isn't true, they put up 1000s of barriers and present it in such a way that it is like trying to cancel your comcast service, but that doesn't matter when weaseling your way out of regulation.

    2. Re:Baby steps by holophrastic · · Score: 1

      I should focus on the "push-button" part of my request then. I'm really thinking one button that dumps a few dozen megs of text, and another one button that just wipes it all from existence.

      In any event, that's pretty close to how I've built my systems.

  28. Please read the job description. by Computer_kid · · Score: 1

    Politicians don't protect and uphold the important bill of rights, so they are going to worry about petty shit on the internet? They should get back to their roots and protect and uphold the constitution.

  29. Re:I cant trust the Democrats anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You do know that the FBI cleared him? He's now easily the most investigated nominee in US history. The FBI has looked into these allegations - I think this last week was the fifth time - and found them not to be credible.

    You know those anti-Kavanaugh protesters? Backed by Soros money. There's an actual paper trail. You can prove it. Apparently Soros couldn't risk not getting the tax write-off for giving money to protesters.

    And if his views are legally wrong, you have nothing to worry about. There are eight other judges on the Supreme Court.

    If, however, they're right, and the only reason those views were suppressed before was due to judicial activism from the liberal judges - well, then maybe you should be worried. Because for the first time in my life that I can remember, we are finally going to have a Supreme Court that believes in the Constitution. I could not be happier.

  30. Why don't they mention Facebook by name? by Required+Snark · · Score: 1

    "Many big tech companies have business models built entirely on collecting as much user data as possible."

    --
    Why is Snark Required?
    1. Re:Why don't they mention Facebook by name? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably because that would imply that the issue is specific to Facebook, and consequently that if Facebook were to either clean up its act or go away, the problem would be solved. This implication would be false, and would let every privacy-invasive company that isn't Facebook off the hook.

    2. Re:Why don't they mention Facebook by name? by HeckRuler · · Score: 1

      Because laws can exist far longer than any one company and need to be fairly applied to all of society. Start naming your enemies and it's obvious you're just attacking them rather than trying to make the world a better place. I mean, fuck facebook and all that, but that's not how we want any law written. Unless it's a one-time event. Like busting up a monopoly.

  31. Um... /. censorse the heck out of people by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    it has a mod system. That's, by your estimation, censorship.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Um... /. censorse the heck out of people by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      No, it is in no way censorship.

      First, censorship is by definition only done by the government. You can have no expectation that a private party will host, display, and promote your speech. That would actually be unconstitutional if they were required to.

      Second, very few /. posts are deleted, and very few people are banned from posting here. Modding down is not the same as censorship. The content is still there for everyone to see if they want to see it. All that's been done is tag the content, with end users able to toggle visibility based on those tags.

      You may want to read up on what censorship is.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  32. Rapy Kavanaugh probably raped retard Trump already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump Junior is going to get raped by Rapenaugh this weekend, like all Republicans should expect from now on. OPEN SEASON ON YOU FAGGOTS, yeeee haw rape all conservatives cuz they want it so bad.

  33. Bull and shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another pathetic ploy. The tech companies are some of the biggest donors to ALL of these people. Try to sell me a bridge next time. This is full on Hillary level bullshit.

  34. First things first by Krishnoid · · Score: 1

    Can we get a flyer's bill of rights first? Maybe with minimum legroom, seat width, seat pitch guarantees?

    1. Re:First things first by mentil · · Score: 1

      These newfangled 'aeroplanes' don't count as 'big tech'? They look pretty big to me...

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
  35. Freedom of Speech? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it mentioned in this purported Bill of Rights?

  36. Re: Jez9999 let me be the first to say you're an by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're not liberals. They call themselves 'progressives'.

  37. Re:I cant trust the Democrats anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why did they wait until now?
    Why is there no real evidence of a crime?

  38. Global/Tech/Financial Lack of Awareness by brian.stinar · · Score: 2

    These "rights" don't make any sense in a global network. Your "rights" are going to end when the borders of the country proclaiming them end. What this will do is significantly drive up the costs of using these (formerly) free systems.

    As examples:
    (5) to move all personal data from one network to the next;
    This would require both the source, and destination, networks (systems?) to have compatible data export, and import, APIs. Who is going to pay for this, and determine which networks are supported?

    (9) not to be unfairly discriminated against or exploited based on your personal data; and
    This makes no sense. Who is going to determine what is "fair" and what constitutes "personal data?" I am completely OK with being discriminated against, and/or exploited, because I want to watch a video Amazon decided to charge me to watch, as opposed to one of their free videos.

    I can pretty much go through every single one of these "rights" and tell you exactly how they will infringe on someone else's rights, and require substantial development costs to implement.

    If this list started with data that our own government collects on our citizens, and an foreigners, I would support it. I think that would be a much better place to start, and would immediately put an end to all of the Federal dragnet data collection that goes on "to fight terrorism." Instead of (1) to have access to and knowledge of all collection and uses of personal data by companies; why not replace companies with governments. That seems like a good starting point to me.

    These kind of rights will require a police force to enforce them, and judges to uphold other laws, as well as whatever legislative body is going to proclaim them. Those are three components of law. I do not want the Federal government to become the internet police. That sounds terrible to me.

  39. Re: Rapy Kavanaugh probably raped retard Trump alr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You tell 'em, Lars! Europa uber alles!! Death to the American working class! Long live the financial oligarchy!

  40. Who Has Your Data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't really know and it's impractical to find out. Everyone knows about the data hungry giants Google, Facebook and Amazon but behind them there are tens of thousands of smaller companies that you've never heard of and they your data too. Finding all of that data and updating or deleting it would be impossible. Even if this passed, which it almost certainly won't, it would be a right in theory and not so much in practice. Although, you can be sure that the attorneys, who are the loyal clients of the Democratic lawmakers, are salivating at the thought of all of those class action lawsuits that will come from these rules. Think that won't cost you? Think again. If these companies are going to have our data, one way or another, then why should we punish ourselves more by further enriching the trial lawyers at our own expense?

  41. Re: Jez9999 let me be the first to say you're an by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, that's a conservative trolling, he made a few mistakes that give him away, it's obvious why you don't see them.

  42. Proof it's a scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In 2008 the Democrats had the Presidency, the House (with a super-majority, which Republicans have not had in a century) and the Senate (with a super-majority, which Republicans have not had in a century) thus giving them the ability to pass ANY law they wanted to pass with NO input from Republicans and no possibility of a republican senate fillibuster. They made NO effort to protect the privacy of people, nor to provide people with ANY new "bill of rights" in ANY arena.

    Oh, and yes, there WAS an internet then which even included Facebook (which Obama's people bragged they data-mined as part of their victory)

    Now, when Democrats have NO political power and have just given themselves a massive black eye by failing to stop the judicial nomination even as they pulled out all the stops and publicly declared they no longer believe in the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" (they destoryed any pretense that they have principles and got NOTHING doing it) they are trying to promise stuff they know will be popular with some of their base but which they have no power and no intention of implementing. IF they had even a smidgen of honesty here, they'd prepare to defend users' rights by jettisoning Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and all the other soul-stealing silicon valley firms that they are in financial and political bed with (an action they currently DO have the power to take).

    Good luck with that.

  43. What's the difference by jtgd · · Score: 2
    between

    an opt-in framework for data collection,

    and the way it is now? You sign up for an account and it says, "Your use of this site constitutes your acceptance of our terms and conditions" and the T&C says "we will collect your data". That sounds like 'opt in' to me.

    --
    J
  44. Re:I cant trust the Democrats anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can't. The Democrat Party is a group of Saul-Alinsky-loving liars and consequentialists.

  45. US Constitution Dictatorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kurt Gödel's discovery: http://morgenstern.jeffreykegler.com/

    Loophole:
    P: president
    C: congress (both houses)
    X: order, resolution or vote
    Vi: vote

    0. C passes X: C produces V0
    1. C sends V0 to P
    2. P returns V0 to C
    3. C reconsiders V0: C produces V1, V0 shall become a law because V1 exists (shall be of effect)
    4. C sends V1 to P
    5. P returns V1 to C
    6. C reconsiders V1: C produces V2, V1 shall become a law, etc.

    **The president can postpone indefinitely anything resulting from the concurrence of both houses:

    0.
    X is an order, resolution or vote to which the concurrence of both houses is necessary. This concurrence is a vote, V0:

    **Every** Order, Resolution, or **Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary** (except on a question of Adjournment*) shall be presented to the President of the United States; (U.S. const. I.7, 2)

    1.
    X’s vote, i.e., V0, should be sent to president, because if X is sent then V0 of effect:

    and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. (I.7, 3)

    2.
    If he [the President of the United States] approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated

    P doesn’t approve, he returns V0 to that house in which V0 has originated.

    3.
    who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, **by which it shall likewise be reconsidered**

    Such reconsiderations result in a vote V1, the mere existence of which causes V0’s becoming of effect. But to become isn’t to be: if V1 exists then V0 of effect, if V0 of effect then V1 of effect and if V1 of effect then V1 sent to P because V1 is not excepted from:

    Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (**except on a question of Adjournment**) shall be presented to the President of the United States; (U.S. const. I.7, 2)

    4.
    Which is what happens in 5, Congress must send the reconsideration vote V1 to P.

    5.
    P returns V1 because he can for, after all, V1 is but a vote for which both houses of C are responsible.

    6.
    C must reconsider V1 for otherwise neither V1 nor V0 will take effect, in contradiction with 4. C thus makes a V2, the existence of which causes V1 to become of effect, which requires V2’s effect, which won’t happen before its having been sent to P. Etc.
    X won’t even be presented to P if P disagrees on the Vs. But even if X were presented to P, P can still return X & any further V that C may present.

    * Amusingly enough, what actually happens *is* adjournment, but not according to the meaning of the term as it is used in the constitution.

    No Amending of this Constitution will be done without the President’s allowing it. For the proposal of Amendments by the Congress supposes that two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary. But both Houses need also agree before they shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States (V). These are respectively, a Resolution and an Order to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary. What this implies is that the amending process won’t start while disapproved by the President. But neither ends if forbidden by the same. For the very mode of Ratification, since determined by Congress also needs the President’s approval to take Effect (all of this because of I.7, 3).

    No Judgment in Cases of Impeachment will be reached without t

    1. Re:US Constitution Dictatorship by Opportunist · · Score: 0

      Could you please keep it to yourself? Yes, I know, and it almost kept Goedel from becoming a US citizen that he actually presented this at his naturalization hearing, but would you PLEASE not give the annoying orange currently in office ideas?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:US Constitution Dictatorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it not distressing to behold these dozens of millions of Americans voting, with unswerving regularity, for president or vice president, term after term, although the constitution clearly says that **the plebeian has no say whatsoever** in these elections? H. Clinton won this ridiculous consumerist "popular vote" for example.

    3. Re:US Constitution Dictatorship by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      What's more distressing is that with every election you get less and less of a choice. A while ago, you could actually vote for the person you think is the better one for the job. Now you're reduced to voting for the one you think could fuck up less.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  46. Funny how that's always done by those NOT in power by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Could it be that they know that this makes them popular without ever having to fear that it could pass?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  47. Re: Jez9999 let me be the first to say you're an by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Clearly not. A conservative is educated and by no means a faggot. The above critic is uneducated, for 0) no NAZI has ever been a faggot and 1) if he wished to look like a conservative he would have had to play educated, which he did not. It follows that we have to do with a liberal.

  48. Your 1st 2 examples are crimes by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    /. is required to take down the first in virtually all countries and the second in most. It would also generally be considered responsible journalism to take down the second as giving murders a platform is considered irresponsible.

    Go right ahead and post your how-to guide on /. hacking servers. They'll fix the bug and move on. It'd be a dick move to do it without proper notice though.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Your 1st 2 examples are crimes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you encourage people to do the third then like the second and for the same reason it would likely also be illegal. Responsible journalism being censorship may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that /. must, to remain legally non-liable, engage in its own censorship. Even outside of that, I do presume that /. would censor other legal content based on "responsible journalism" or to avoid "giving a platform" to avoid being "considered irresponsible". If /. wanted to actually not engage in censorship it would need to be hosted on the dark web and its owners/admins would have to remain anonymous to avoid prosecution.

  49. No, that's assualt by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    but if you're on their property trespassing and refuse to leave then you're the one committing a crime. In the physical world I'd call the cops on you, but in the digital one I just delete your account.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  50. Desperation by thunderclees · · Score: 2

    Democrats had over eight years to reign in Big Tech and now all of a sudden they see a problem?

  51. Re:I cant trust the Democrats anymore by Raenex · · Score: 1

    sexually assaulting 3 different women and then both lying about it under oath and revealing extreme partisan bias in the process

    This is where Dems accuse Republicans of what they have done. They defend domestic abuser Keith Ellison while propping up lies in highly partisan fashion.

    Thankfully, the most liberal Republican, Susan Collins, was not bullied and saw through this smear campaign, and is casting a principled vote.

    Maybe the Dems can run on something other than their Maoist struggle session tactics.

  52. Re:I cant trust the Democrats anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Indeed, I don't know how you could trust anyone who could travel back in time and mind-control you into sexually assaulting 3 different women and then both lying about it under oath and revealing extreme partisan bias in the process.

    By Democrat standards the only thing Kavanaugh did wrong was not drive them into a river and leave them there to die.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NdbDiHpA_0

  53. Re:I cant trust the Democrats anymore by GameboyRMH · · Score: 0

    Keith Ellison's being pushed out of the DNC already. Soon enough he'll be gone and you'll have no target for your whataboutism. The democrats are responding slowly but surely to this single allegation of domestic abuse. Afterwards you'll have to look back to the '90s to try to justify your false equivalences.

    And how do the Republicans respond to the triple allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh? Well you've demonstrated it. Just a smear campaign and bullying, nobody cares, move along, put the shitty judge who would make the President an autocrat onto the Supreme Court.

    And then there's Trump and Moore...the right is fooling nobody but themselves.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  54. Re:I cant trust the Democrats anymore by Raenex · · Score: 1, Troll

    Keith Ellison's being pushed out of the DNC already.

    Is that why the Dems defended him with their "independent" investigation? What Democrat has publicly disavowed Ellison and called for him to step down and withdraw from his current election contest?

    And how do the Republicans respond to the triple allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh?

    The evidence was examined and given a public hearing. How do Dems respond to the inconsistencies, refutations by supposed witnesses (including a lifelong friend), and proven lies? How do they respond to withheld evidence, such at the therapists notes? They scream and stamp their feet, and double down on their lunacy.

    Do you seriously believe there were "gang rape parties" that the 3rd accuser attended, that there were over ten such events, and that she kept attending them before she became one of the victims? Even on the surface it's absurd, let alone the complete lack of any substantiation.

    Even people on the left are turning their backs on the rat-faced, publicity-seeking lawyer Avenatti.

  55. That sort of depends on you by rsilvergun · · Score: 0

    the Dems have never had a left wing majority. Back in the 90s Bill Clinton moved the party hard right to appeal to corporate donors and get the money he needed to win election. He was followed by a raft of wealthy trial lawyers trying to block tort reform (especially laws that enshrined arbitration since if you can't sue in the first place you don't need a lawyer). Also economically right wing but socially liberal folks (e.g. people who were pro gay rights & pro-choice but didn't want to pay taxes).

    This resulted in a wave of what are called "Establishment Democrats". Folks like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi & Hilary Clinton. They vote exactly like the GOP except on social issues (and even then they're right of center, Hilary opposed Gay marriage until she was forced by changing times). They're often called "Republican Lite".

    Give the Dems a majority but make 1/3 of that majority "Republican Lite" and yeah, this'll go no where. The key is to vote for people who refuse corporate PAC money. Ro Khanna is one of those. Bernie Sanders & Liz Warren are too. And Ocassio-Cortez. Look up the "Justice Democrats", which is a wing of the party that makes refusing corporate PAC money a requirement to join. I'd tell you to vote in the primary too but it's too late for that. Just remember to do it next year.

    If you want change you have to vote people in that are likely to make that change.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:That sort of depends on you by apoc.famine · · Score: 0

      Wish I had not commented to you above, and I had mod points to burn. This, 100%.

      What's crazy is that the dems started to get so big that the republicans had to draw a hard line, and the only place they could think to do that was far to the right. 60 years ago that might have worked, but demographics have changed so much that they essentially painted themselves into a corner. It's crazy, but those you call the "Establishment Democrats" essentially stole the centrist republican platform, and the only place the republicans had to go was to crazy town.

      Had republicans drawn the line on the other side of the "Establishment Democrats", that would likely have hurt the democrats far more. "We very much appreciate Schumer and Pelosi agreeing that our positions are the correct ones, and we look forward to working with them to implement this bill." Instead it's this flailing against anyone who's not a southern white christian, every anti-woman and anti-poor policy you can think of, giant corporate handouts, and a rapidly increasing debt and deficit. They're doing what they can to alienate 60% of the voters, and in the long-term, that's not a winning strategy.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  56. We don't know that by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    not in a modern setting. Where gov't breaks down is when food get scarce.

    as for who decides what is reasonable, there's only one answer to that: Democracy with mandatory voting and literally all citizens have a vote. And I mean _all_ citizens. I don't care if you're a mass murderer on death row, you get a vote. The only way to have Democracy is to end voter suppression, and the only way to do that is to make voting the one right we never compromise on.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  57. Mostly fluffy, with one important knockout blow by HeckRuler · · Score: 1

    [everyone has the right to] (1) to have access to and knowledge of all collection and uses of personal data by companies;

    "This isn't personal data, it's meta-data. Or it's public data. BOOM dodged.

    (2) to opt-in consent to the collection of personal data by any party and to the sharing of personal data with a third party;

    "We absolutely give them the right to opt-in. We also conveniently do it on their behalf as well. "

    (3) where context appropriate and with a fair process, to obtain, correct or delete personal data controlled by any company and to have those requests honored by third parties;

    "We don't feel that would be appropriate here."

    (4) to have personal data secured and to be notified in a timely manner when a security breach or unauthorized access of personal data is discovered;

    "Yes, it took our engineers 6 months to close the security hole. That's timely. You don't want to endanger users by making this vulnerability public, would you?"

    (5) to move all personal data from one network to the next;

    "Yep. There's the text box. Get to typing. Go for it."

    (6) to access and use the internet without internet service providers blocking, throttling, engaging in paid prioritization or otherwise unfairly favoring content, applications, services or devices;

    SOLID! This right here is the meaty content of the bill that warrants the whole thing passing I will support even the stupid fluffy dodgeable stuff just to get it in there.

    (7) to internet service without the collection of data that is unnecessary for providing the requested service absent opt-in consent;

    Hmmmm, I'm not sure about the "absent op-in consent", but it's hella easy to justify necessity as "We need to make money".

    (8) to have access to multiple viable, affordable internet platforms, services and providers with clear and transparent pricing;

    That sounds really nice. ....How you going to enforce that?

    (9) not to be unfairly discriminated against or exploited based on your personal data; and

    "That's not personal data", "It's quite fair discrimination", "It's not discrimination", "It's not 'against' or 'exploited', we're providing a SERVICE by promoting traffic that they would appear to be interested in based on their entirely public profile generated by non-discriminating computers equally applies to all customers. We just happen to get paid for the promotion."

    (10) to have an entity that collects your personal data have reasonable business practices and accountability to protect your privacy.

    Sweet jesus "reasonable business practices" is about as vague and fluffy as I can imagine. It amounts to "Pleeeeeeaaaaaaase don't screw us."

  58. Yep, that's it exactly by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Overton window. When the Dems moved right the GOP had to follow to suit to maintain a separate identity. Trouble is that left the Dems without an identity of their own.

    One thing the left does need to deal with though is the fallout and backlash from #METOO. I'm not sure how either. On the one had we need to stop this crap where powerful men can can force themselves on vulnerable women. OTOH it's scary to think that an hitting on a girl awkwardly or making a dirty joke can cost you everything (Al Franklin anyone?). We need to find a balance. But I don't now how. The GOP doesn't have this problem since they're perfectly Ok with going the other way and letting women be victimized as long as the tax cuts keep on coming...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Yep, that's it exactly by apoc.famine · · Score: 2

      I think it will sort itself out, like many long ignored ills seem to do. In order to get society to change, you can't politely ask. There has to be upheaval, backlash, and casualties on all sides. People hate to change, and often, it's fear of consequences that forces them to finally do something different.

      I think this Me Too overreach is temporary, as we redraw the boundaries of how to act with each other. While I didn't live through the 60s, I'm guessing that the civil rights movement was similarly not pleasant, even if you were white and on the right side of the issue. Boycotts, riots, sit-ins, and marches, there were likely also a lot of financial and social casualties of people who had done nothing wrong. But at the end of the day, we broke segregation, better equalized rights, and made a real leap forward in equality. I see the same thing happening now with Me Too. It's not a pleasant transition for anyone involved, but when we make social adjustments, it never is.

      While in some respects it's not fair to be dredging up shit from decades past, at the same time, we can't just say, "tomorrow is when we start holding you accountable for being a shithead, you get a free pass for everything up until then." It sucks, but being afraid that what you've done in the past will catch up with you is a good motivator for being squeaky clean in the future. You know then that if someone comes after you, you can pull on some good character witnesses that can vouch that you're not like that now. And if it makes some men go back and preemptively apologize for their shit, that's awesome.

      At the moment, I'm working with about 75% women. At first, I was indeed on a bit of eggshells around them. I didn't really joke, and kept my warped sense of humor to myself. But as we got to know each other better, they opened up, and I did. I payed attention to the signals, the body language, and observed when I was getting a little too close to the boundaries of what they are ok with. Putting in that effort has been worth it. We're damn friendly, go out for drinks sometimes, and I've gotten shitfaced with a couple of them in strange cities after work hours.

      They're sort-of bros, but there are clear lines that I don't cross. When I made a joke that if one of their kids didn't get better that they could just make another one, and she pointed out that her husband was fixed, I did not push that joke further. I said, "Well, I guess you really need to take him to the doctor then.", and let it go. Because that's where I'm pretty sure the line is with her. Yes, that takes more mental energy than plowing forward until people are uncomfortable, but that's part and parcel of being a decent human being.

      For a damn long time being a man got you a pass on being a decent human being. The more powerful you were, the more of a pass you got. My hope isn't that Me Too makes men scared shitless to even talk to women, but that they consider taking the temperature of their relationships and when they're in doubt, they ask. It's really not that hard to do.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  59. Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While I agree that the big tech companies need something of this sort, we really have to watch the Dems. They're currently trying to blow up the Linux kernel meritocracy https://itsfoss.com/linux-code-of-conduct/ and if they get their fingers into the tech world, we're in for an authoritarian regime of censorship, just like any other political party, all for the sake of power.