Re: <nettime> Enforcing Rights by Technology

[Morlock Elloi <morlockelloi@gmail.com>]

The main issue centralized technologies is that they don't need to be 
centralized in the first place, but they are as that warrants greater 
powers to their operators. Most users and technology workers cannot even 
imagine anything else ("how could you do X without one server farm for 
the whole planet ?"). This is ideological/religious issue and requires 
appropriate methods to deal with.

The same ideology is barrier to the legislation: the current shape of 
technological solutions is presented as "natural", "mathematical', and 
attempts to regulate it are ridiculed as attempts to regulate gravity. 
This happens on all sides of the issue - from the ruling party that 
wants to expand absolute control, mediation and sensing 24/7 onto 
everyone, to crypto revelers that deny right to anyone to touch their bits.

The advanced technology has effectively become a mediator between those 
who control it and the controlled ones. Any exchange between them is 
first interpreted and conditioned by the (concept of the) machine. For 
most people, there are things that simply cannot be said any more.

(On a personal note, I recently had exchange with a company that owes me 
money, but is instead sending me threatening fraudulent bills. I talked 
with their rep, she acknowledged everything and agreed with me, said 
that it will take time to get my money back, but she also said that they 
can not stop bills and the collection process, because "it is 
automatically generated" (the phrase was repeated several times.) After 
failing to find an angle to communicate the absurdity of that, I 
realized that she firmly believes it, and she was getting irritated with 
me for not understanding the natural inevitability of the process.)

The notion that a machine is the law is already firmly embedded. I don't 
see any force changing this any time soon, so you better start equipping 
yourself with your own machines instead of begging for mercy. Perhaps 
the 2nd amendment needs to be expanded.


On 7/21/16, 23:14, carlo von lynX wrote:

> respected we could have more laws that enforce our rights by
> requiring technologies to be used in certain ways.
>
> In particular I want to stress the untapped potential of
> requiring specific protocol messages with specific contents,
> that is - denying companies the ability to send encrypted or

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