How governments should improve privacy and security

The 'Raad vnan State" is fascinating. Thank you for that wikipedia rabbit hole! We do not have any central advisory councils established by the Royal family here in the oldest continual Republic on earth :wink: but we do have non-partisan advisory bodies like the Congressional Budget Office but they are completely non-binding.

You mention that lobbying should be outlawed. I disagree as long as everyone has equal access to lobbyists. I want both the Sierra Club and Exxon Mobil to have the ability to have their interests heard by elected officials. But I do favor regulation that keeps an even playing field so it’s not just an exercise in who spends most gets the most representation.

Speaking of regulation, I actually favor simplistic laws. The more simple the better as complexity just invites malicious compliance and rent seeking behavior. To go back to the automotive emissions topic, a simpler carbon tax applied to vehicles based on how much carbon they emit (regardless of type) would be a far better way to incentivize lower emissions while preserving all available space for innovation by not proscribing a specific solution (like EVs vs Fuel cell vs synthetic fuels vs etc).

I think you are drastically overestimating the commercial value of non-targeted advertising. Just look at Apple (which has poorly target ads due to privacy concessions) vs Google. Google can charge WAAAAAAY more per ad than Apple can and the result is Google primarily earns money through ads while Apple primarily earns money through service subscriptions and device sales. As an Apple fan-boy I’m happy to pay the Apple Tax for the privacy benefits but the market share of Android globally shows that many cannot or will not.

Yes more privacy respecting services would increase supply/competition and therefore reduce prices. However, many other services would simply disappear and many people would lose access to currently free digital services. Is a poor Ugandan currently using gmail going to pay for Proton or Tuta? What about a poor college student in Idaho? If the free options vanish, many people will not be able to pay the new entry fee to access the internet. Your good intentions on protecting their privacy will instead lead to their completely loss of access to the digital world.

I think our conversation, which I have enjoyed and appreciate your clarity of making your points and politeness, has gone as far as it constructively can. You mention banning Tea for instance, which I find horrifying. Sure I think Tea is a stupid and gross app. But my opinion should not be a basis to deny the freedom of others to use apps I find stupid and gross. This just illustrates that our values on this issue differ. That’s ok! But it does mean the facts won’t change our minds as I don’t think we disagree much on them as much as we disagree on which facts are more important.

On a final fun note, it is deeply amusing to me how much we meet our regional stereotypes. In the US I am considered center-left in my political views. I assume in the Netherlands you are close to mainstream political views as well. Yet in this discussion I probably come off as a red, white, and blue bandana wearing Reaganite conservative where as to me you seem like a statist/socialist left wing radical (tongue and cheek of course).

I’m happy Techlore continues to be a place we can have these kinds of enlightening conversations politely and respectfully. I look forward to finding a topic where our views are closer aligned.