<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=windows-1252">
</head>
<body>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 15/08/2021 05:50, John Grigg wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:mailman.16.1629003046.23384.extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">
<div><font size="4" face="comic sans ms, sans-serif"
color="#000000">BillW wrote:</font></div>
<div><font size="4"><span
style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"comic sans
ms",sans-serif">"My first thought is scientific studies
being hampered by government regulations (though I am
ignorant as to what these might be - I seem to recall that
they eased up on stem cell research)." </span><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="4"><br>
</font></div>
<font size="4">And what about crypto?</font></blockquote>
<p><font size="4"><br>
<br>
Scientific studies being hampered by government regulations<br>
Regulatory bodies interfering with cryptocurrencies<br>
<br>
<br>
No, I'm thinking about more fundamental things than these. Going
back to what BillK said, "Whatever is required to maintain power
structures will be applied". Whenever anything appears that
threatens to take existing power away from a group that holds
it, there will be attempts to suppress, deny, outlaw, demonise,
ridicule or distract from, it. This includes all types of power
- political, economic, religious, ideological, etc.<br>
<br>
The above examples are just results of this principle. Tackling
them at that individual level won't work. At best, it will
result in some crippled version of whatever it is, being
tolerated to some degree, until it becomes obsolete and the
battle has to be fought all over again for it's successor. Look
at home-taping & copying of music for an example. Is the
normal consumer any better off, after all the battles over the
years, about being able to own, and do what you like with, the
music you buy?<br>
<br>
Things seem to be getting worse instead of better. Farmers can't
fix their own broken tractors, musicians are afraid to make
music for fear of being sued, you can end up in jail for taking
apart your games console.. And don't get me started on books.
Remember the painfully ironic episode when Amazon denied access
to "1984" on the Kindle? (actually, not just denied access, but
forcibly deleted it from anyone who had it).<br>
<br>
Read 'Unauthorised Bread' by Cory Doctorow, for a depiction of
the world we're rapidly heading towards (If you think this is
far-fetched, have a look here:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://doctorow.medium.com/unauthorized-cups-2d838f20529">https://doctorow.medium.com/unauthorized-cups-2d838f20529</a>, for a
real-world example).<br>
<br>
Sites like 'Defective by Design'
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.defectivebydesign.org/">https://www.defectivebydesign.org/</a>) have many examples of
things like this, and the only 'progress' we see, is individual
problems being superficially solved. Amazon have said they won't
delete books from people's Kindles anymore. They haven't said
they'll provably remove the ability to do such things from their
products. They're simply reacting to bad publicity, doing the
least they can get away with, before reverting back to business
as usual.<br>
<br>
Here's a quote from an executive at Disney, from 2005:<br>
<br>
"If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it
works, we've already failed."<br>
—Peter Lee, Disney Executive in an interview with The Economist
in 2005.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4">This is the attitude that big corporations have
towards their customers, it's the same attitude that governments
have towards their citizens.<br>
<br>
We know what happens when you treat symptoms one at a time
instead of tackling the underlying cause.<br>
<br>
I'm not saying I have any answers, I'm saying let's state the
fundamental problems, instead of enumerating the myriad results
they lead to, like lethal runaway bureaucracy, Digital
Restrictions, copyright abuse, mass spying on your own people,
etc., etc., etc.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Ben</font><br>
</p>
</body>
</html>