[andrepd]

Venice wasn't a democracy in any meaningful way, either in the style of Greek democracy that preceded it or western liberal democracies that succeeded them. It was an oligarchy with limited democratic elements.

[roenxi]

Well, sure. But the Athenian-style Greek democracies were such an outrageous success that they're still a part of the common political discourse after 2,500 years and we still have things to learn from the stories they left us. I mean, not every democracy is going to achieve that level of success or quite that place in the public imagination.

What Venice had was pretty good compared to dictatorship.

[oscardssmith]

It's worth noting that the popular conception of "Greek democracy" tends to ignore the massive caste of slaves that Greek city states had.

[Zachsa999]

Tell me again how this applies to user privacy concerns?