On 1/16/14 3:30 PM, Steve Newcomb wrote:
> As Ali puts it, "the disproportionate power/information positions of
> entities" is the deadly problem, here, not our late lamented privacy.
> The *deadly* problem is that most of us live on the wrong side of a
> one-way mirror. We cannot see the watchers watching us, and they are
> clearly behaving lawlessly, acting far beyond the reach of any
> democratic process. Liberty, like civilian oversight of the military,
> cannot survive such a huge imbalance.
>
> It's pleasantly distracting to lament the death of individual privacy,
> but lamentations can't bring it back. It's reasonable to conclude that
> *nothing* can bring it back. If so, we have no choice but to get over it. (01)
We don't have to get over it, the battle isn't lost. They have our Data,
but that doesn't imply possession of eternally useful Information,
Knowledge etc.. (02)
Data is a perishable good, its utterly dependent on context for real
utility. Thus, once are (back) in control of the time varying nature of
our data we basically recalibrate this nasty situation. (03)
Additional comments follow....
>
> In retrospect, as a bulwark for liberty, privacy wasn't working very
> well anyway. It's a matter of record that laws have applied far less to
> those who can afford to hide than to those without the resources
> required for hiding. So, seen in the light of actual practice, our late
> lamented privacy has undermined the rule of law, and, even worse, it has
> incentivized lawmaking as a tool of oppression. One recent example is
> law requiring drug testing as a condition of receiving public
> assistance. Personally I think we desperately need to repeal a whole
> lot of laws, and maybe even have a constitutional convention, but this
> is the wrong forum for such discussions.
>
> The good news is that, "Now is the time for all good ontologists to come
> to the aid of their country." (04)
Yes. (05)
>
> Since both knowledge and the freedom to act on it are necessary for
> adaptation, and since we can either adapt, or we can die, there's no
> future without transparency. (06)
Yes. (07)
> Transparency depends on compelling and
> accurate communications, which in turn depend on people who take
> responsibility for making things clear to others, both within and among
> universes of discourse, and in situations of stupefying complexity. (08)
Yes.
>
> We all need ontologists to power-up the lights on the dark side of the
> one-way glass that, with very rare and so-far-heroic exceptions, still
> separates the powerful from the powerless. "The powerless" here
> includes every single one of us, because nobody can resist the will of
> systems that act on knowledge that we cannot access. (09)
Yes. (010)
> As Henry Kissinger
> once so candidly put it: "Knowledge plus access equals power." Life
> depends on access. (011)
Really well stated! (012)
Kingsley
>
> Steve Newcomb
>
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> (013)
-- (014)
Regards, (015)
Kingsley Idehen
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
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