Big Tech and Democracy Need To Work Together, Microsoft Executives Say (axios.com) 89
From a report: It's not often that Big Tech calls for more government action. But two top Microsoft executives -- Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer, and Carol Ann Browne, director of executive communications -- write in a tech trends forecast out today. "2018 will be a year when democratic governments can either work together to safeguard electoral processes or face a future where democracy is more fragile. [T]his needs to include work to protect campaigns from hacking, address social media issues, ensure the integrity of voting results, and protect vital census processes," they wrote.
Pull up that ladder. (Score:1)
Big tech is well established and politically connected now and so naturally they want more regulation that donâ(TM)t add much aggregate cost to them but make it impossible or at best improbable for a âoekid in a garageâ to start something that replaces them.
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make it impossible or at best improbable for a "kid in a garage" to start something that replaces them.
I read someplace where Bill Gates said the thing that worries him the most is a startup in a garage developing something that will make Microsoft obsolete.
embrace, extend, extinguish (Score:4, Insightful)
I wouldn't want Microsoft, or any other software giant for that matter, near my government. As if legalized corruption in form of lobbying wouldn't be enough...
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Governments don't run on typewriters (Score:3)
I wouldn't want Microsoft, or any other software giant for that matter, near my government.
A) They already are involved in the government (or were you under the delusion that governments still run using typewriters and mimeographs?), and B) they could hardly make it worse. Democracies require everyone to be involved to work and that includes big tech companies whether or not you like it.
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Quit being obtuse. Purchasing and using software is not the same as having an active role in the drafting of legislation, and that is exactly what these wolves in sheep's clothing are after.
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Democracies require everyone to be involved to work and that includes big tech companies whether or not you like it.
Er, no, "require everyone to be involved whether or not you like it" actually is not the sound of democracy.
Like in Mussolini's Italy? (Score:1)
Because that worked out so well THERE....
Seriously though, Big Tech should be as far away from Democracy as possible, but the voting masses also need to take it upon themselves to learn about the benefits and pitfalls of technology sufficiently to make an educated vote on whether they want/need more or less tech in their voting process. There are benefits and pitfalls to each option and they both require massive amounts of manpower to verify that the chain of trust for the vote talling hasn't been breached.
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You do need to remember that before he linked up with Hitler Mussolini was considered one of the good guys. And he only linked up with Hitler because nobody else was standing up against him.
That said, he was a dictator. But he wasn't a particularly vile one before he came under the Nazi influence. His main intent was to "Make Italy great again!". If Britain or France had stood up to Hitler before the Czechoslovakia election, he would probably have been counted among the allies.
OTOH, modern Italy would n
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Microsoft could meticulously do differently all the things that Slashdot complains about and it still won't be enough. The goalposts wlll contantly move.
Microsoft could have the cure for cancer and Slashdot would still be against them, claiming they are trying to EEE cancer treatment centers.
No they absolutely do not (Score:1)
Take your threats elsewhere "big tech". The government (we the people) do not need to work with you for democracy. The government (we the people) will set the terms and if you don't like it then you can do business in another country.
Translation (Score:4, Insightful)
"Democratic governments need to spend their time and resources cracking open the door in closed markets for us to make more money and not pay taxes on."
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Big tech will not protect the electoral process (Score:2, Insightful)
Only paper ballots can facilitate that. So, if "Big Tech" can make a better crayon, go for it!
As for majority rule hitting the brick wall due to an ignorant and antipathic majority, well, that's something that needs fixing pronto. We still haven't reached the bottom of that trench yet.
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As for majority rule hitting the brick wall due to an ignorant and antipathic majority, well, that's something that needs fixing pronto. We still haven't reached the bottom of that trench yet.
Well, at least you're recognizing that the electoral college's role in 2016 was a vital one.
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:-) You sneaky pete, you!
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Pay him no mind. He's just making a play on words. In vernacular it's what you call the easy *cheap shot*. He's a partisan trying to offend the non-partisan. IOW, he's trolling, and he's pretty good at it, can really draw a crowd... It's all in good fun, wouldn't be prudent, or healthy to take it any other way.
Like you said, everybody knew and accepted the rules going in. But the democrats still have their heads way up their ass, so, more lessons lost... Quid pro quo doesn't suffer a scratch.
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Facebook, Google and Microsoft... (Score:5, Insightful)
safeguarding our elections.
That makes me feel soooooooo confident.
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Who do you prefer? (Score:2)
safeguarding our elections. That makes me feel soooooooo confident.
And who exactly would you prefer be involved? The folks in Florida who gave us hanging chad [wikipedia.org]? Honestly I trust those companies as much or more than I do companies like Diebold [columbusfreepress.com].
I understand the hesitation against needless tech influence in elections but we can do without the knee jerk reactions.
Re:Who do you prefer? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm pretty sure democracy managed just fine with paper ballots for a couple hundred years. I'd say calling out the rare problem with them is as knee-jerk as going after big tech, if not worse.
The problem with initiatives like this from a for-profit company like Microsoft is that their number one goal is the short term enhancement of executive compensation, followed closely by fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.
Any time an organization with those kinds of priorities calls for "working with democracies to safeguard elections" you have to wonder where the real agenda is.
I guarantee you neither Microsoft the corporation or its executives are willing to donate hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment, software and expertise for the good of democracy. I'd imagine anything they would be willing to give away is motivated by some kind of lock-in to their platform and recurring revenue from constant updates and upgrades, tax deductions or influence peddling.
The day Carol Ann Browne is willing to turn over millions of her own wealth to safeguard democracy as an initial pledge, I might be willing to take MS at face value. Until then, it's all bullshit designed to make MS, its executives and shareholders wealthier and more influential.
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With digitized voting, one bad actor can affect all the votes. And you won't be able to tell. And they might not even need a plant on the inside of the election commission. Give me hanging chads any day.
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safeguarding our elections. That makes me feel soooooooo confident.
Well, I would imagine they are mainly talking about the media coverage around the election not the actual voting machines. And in that respect they're the right companies, if you don't exist on Facebook or Google then to most of the voters you hardly exist. The downside is that I expect this will become a crackdown on everything that doesn't come from the mainstream media or see things the way they do. So Russia took out a few ads, when you compare that to what the US has done to influence democratic electi
False choice! (Score:4, Informative)
Democracy and ownership (Score:4, Interesting)
I could install the OS on my computer, then on another one. Not anymore, at least not all of them.
Democracy appeared in the Ancient Greece where people owned land of their farms. And only owners could participate in the democracy. So if Big Tech really wants a democracy let them make us owners again.
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Arab Spring Revisited (Score:2)
How much credit should "Big Tech" get for Arab Spring, Brexit, Trump? How about the protests going on in Iran right now? Could similar political waves happen in China or North Korea?
Those who want to control what can go on in social media need to be very careful what they wish for; fake news and government propaganda are the same thing.
What color should we paint the nuke. (Score:2)
Every election the American People are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. 300 million Americans seem to enjoy electing cow shit to battle against horse shit in one hell of a crappy race to the bottom.
Worrying about social media election issues is like arguing over what color to paint a nuclear warhead.
Oligarchy (Score:1)
Voting is already just a placebo for the masses (Score:4, Interesting)
>> safeguard electoral processes or face a future where democracy is more fragile
Look around. Nearly all so-called "democratic" governments are already working towards replacing democracy with dictatorship. Doing nothing in this case just speeds up their actual agenda.
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UK, USA, Australia, any EU country.
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What will you do when immigrants show up at your door step? What will you do when armed governments make demands?
It's not that I don't love the idea but unless you are willing to gun down the unwashed masses that show up wanting help while also keeping big governments from meddling in your affairs (no clue how that's possible), it won't really work.
Also, if you do try gunning down all the unwashed masses, you'll probably piss off some of the nanny states. Definitely need to pay off all the governments you d
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No. (Score:2)
What we need is to limit the amount of money that any one entity can spend on political causes and require that 100% of funds for Political Action Committees are from donations. This would drastically reduce the amount of political corruption in this country.
That said, websites that are not dedicated to carrying news need to stop carrying news and those that do need to be held accountable for it's accuracy or lack thereof.
Won't address any of the obvious issues (Score:2, Interesting)
Like when a town of 3k people has 4.5k votes cast in it. That's about the number in one county that Roy Moore lost in Alabama. That's third world level brazenness in terms of voter fraud in a country that prides itself on the "rule of law." Someone please provide a logical reason why state and federal law enforcement have never gone into places like this and announced that the entire election officiating organization is under criminal investigation. You can't because the reason is really simple: politics.
If
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Like when a town of 3k people has 4.5k votes cast in it. That's about the number in one county that Roy Moore lost in Alabama. That's third world level brazenness in terms of voter fraud in a country that prides itself on the "rule of law." Someone please provide a logical reason why state and federal law enforcement have never gone into places like this and announced that the entire election officiating organization is under criminal investigation. You can't because the reason is really simple: politics.
If you want to "safeguard democracy," I have a really simple suggestion: make any sort of organized voter fraud like this covered under the charge of "attempted overthrow of the United States Government." That's what it is: an attempted bloodless coup against the elected government through voter fraud.
Bordalama is not a real city. https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20171228203049AAVE5ma
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The 'town' that you are citing was made-up and fake, and created by a website like The Onion.
http://www.politifact.com/pund... [politifact.com]
Had you really care, instead of being either a knee-jerk fool or a paid shill (I vote for shill) you'd check those internet-emails you get before positing them on websites.
the right thing (Score:1)