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by drivebyacct2 4735 days ago
You're right. I don't know why I was being such a pessimist about it. More ammo, more attention, it's probably good unless or until we reach the max attention span of people who need to become more informed. Or if we encounter the 'disaster porn/fatigue' effect of this stuff.

I guess that's pretty much exactly what I'm experiencing. "Why bother trying if no one is listening". Not exactly the concept of 'disaster porn' but it's a close enough allusion.
1 comments
steveklabnik 4735 days ago
> I don't know why I was being such a pessimist about it.

Almost everyone I know that's involved in some kind of activism has this happen to them; I know that I feel it almost all the time. I'm not saying you're actually _doing_ any activism, but I think it's a side effect of paying so much attention to the letter of the law: law is a messy, sloppy thing, or at least it appears that way to this non-lawyer. It doesn't mesh well with my 'computers are deterministic' general mindset.

And really, _especially_ on this privacy front, it's terribly hard to see that these things are going to happen, get called 'crazy' and 'paranoid,' see them happen, and then sigh: "I told you so."

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drivebyacct2 4735 days ago
>I'm not saying you're actually _doing_ any activism

You mightn't have meant it but that was a polite way of provoking a bit of self evaluating. I don't really know what more to do outside of donate to the EFF, write my Congresspersons, etc. But I haven't made nearly an exhaustive effort of investigating what I could be doing.

>It doesn't mesh well with my 'computers are deterministic' general mindset. And really, _especially_ on this privacy front, it's terribly hard to see that these things are going to happen, get called 'crazy' and 'paranoid,' see them happen, and then sigh: "I told you so."

Are both very insightful statements.

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steveklabnik 4735 days ago
:) I think something that's sorely needed is easy-to-use crypto for 'normal' people, and by 'normal,' of course, I mean most of us. I recently set up PGP for all of my email, but it wasn't exactly something that I'd recommend to a non-technical person.

If you're looking for something you could do.

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drivebyacct2 4735 days ago
koush is kind of kicking ass on this front: https://plus.google.com/110558071969009568835/posts/gVt8SWRR...

From his comments it sounds like he's working with other app makers who are making independent apps so this could target everyone, effectively.

I do have a side project that would, at least personally, greatly decrease my dependence/reliance/usage of GMail...

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