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by sageikosa 5030 days ago
Suing websites is going to force browser makers to do something? Perhaps that chain of reasoning can be expanded upon...

Fighting urge to flame the revolutionary baiting in this post, such as use of we don't want in paragraph 2, and possibly not entitled in paragraph 8. I usually don't like deconstructing posts, but the tone rubbed me the wrong way for an intellectual discussion.

All that laws designed to limit technology do is limit technology.
1 comments
eckyptang 5030 days ago
I think I covered that here:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4479140

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sageikosa 5030 days ago
So...the lawsuits will drive a demand (from site owners, presumably) for legislation to force browser makers to do something...?
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eckyptang 5030 days ago
Not really. It's more that browser vendors are worried that it'll shoot their market share so they won't turn this on by default. If users get used to it, that is likely to be less of an issue.
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18pfsmt 5030 days ago
You know, I'm the type of person that operates as you would like most people to (i.e. NoScript, Adblock, RequestPolicy, BetterPrivacy, etc.), and by reading your comments you've made me realize how I've been kind of a jerk for installing these things on friends' machines. They get annoyed and call me asking what I did to their machines (and how to "fix" it).

Obviously, I should've explained the use of and showed them how to use these add-ons, but such things are difficult to do in a casual/ social context. Many of the concepts are foreign, and there is a whole set of jargon that requires explanation in the first place. These are non-technical, yet educated, people in their 30s for whom most of this seems academic. So, I've just installed, and hoped they'd figure it out. I wish it were easy, but it's not; now, I'm certain I will no longer do this because I don't want them to "get used to it" for any reason other than that is what they choose to do.

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eckyptang 5030 days ago
That's a great approach and I admire your honesty. I think users should always have a choice. At the moment, there is a big assumption made which is the problem.
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