IP: more (maybe last) on Damn the Constitution: Europe must take back the Web

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Jose M Guardia <joseg () guardiasociados com>
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 19:29:42 +0200
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Subject: Re: IP: Damn the Constitution: Europe must take back the Web




> Damn the Constitution: Europe must take back the Web
> By Bill Thompson
> Posted: 09/08/2002 at 14:01 GMT
> The Register
> Guest Opinion

I'm at a loss trying to argue against the need of an open Internet;
sometimes things are too obvious to reply in a short message. There's a
more 'philosophical' point, if you will, that I'd like to make, though. The
are reasons to be critic towards the US (depending on one's tastes), but I
don't think that the lack of Democracy as compared to Europe is precisely
one of them. I think that for example, the integration of the European
Union and the adoption of the euro haven't been exactly examples of how to
implicate the "People of the European Union" (excuse me for the
paraphrasing) in the process. I personally agree with both in the general
terms, but I would have liked to have at least some say as a citizen.
Instead all the process has been more a reminder of the Enlightened
Despotism in the 18th century than an exercise of true, modern,
21st-century democracy.

At least in the US things get discussed sooner or later and the force of
public opinion sometimes changes things or at least gets them 'tweaked'.
I'm sure it's not 100% what gets discussed, but its way more than what gets
discussed here in EU. And of course, if people don't like what's happening
they can always vote them out in the next election (as in EU). Another good
thing is that, as opposed to other areas where they put the dirt under the
rug hoping that amnesia will make everyone forget (yes, Europe is one of
these areas), the dirty clothes in the US seem to get cleaned sooner or
later by the country itself, in an exercise of healthy (or at least
healthier than in EU) democracy.

No, I'm not being as naif as to think the system doesn't have its flaws,
and serious ones sometimes. But what is naif from Mr Thompson's argument is
that, in order to make a critizism of the flaws of a system (America's), he
points to Europe's example, forgetting that these very same flaws are much,
much worse in Europe to begin with.

Perhaps Mr. Thompson follows very closely what's happening in the US
because there's so much information available and so many open discussions
in email lists like this one, Politech et cetera coming to Europe than the
other way (which raises a question related to what I wrote above: why is it
that there are so few discussions about this subject in Europe? Is it
because of the language fragmentation? I don't think so). The result is
that there are so many people in Europe who can comfortably discuss the
DCMA, the CBDTPA, or the Coble-Berman, but they can't do the same with
European legislation because they don't know it in detail as much, and not
realizing that sometimes there is much more restrictive regulation of civil
rights in the EU as a whole or in individual european countries (in fields
like data-retention, privacy, copyrights, and civil rights in general).

I can understand Americans concerned about protecting their rights, it's
their country and their lives in play after all. The amazing thing is the
common thread in at least part of the European 'intelligentsia': they worry
about what happens in the US, and critize it with the usual feeling of
moral superiority ('There are simple things that Americans don't seem to
understand', is a common catchline), without realizing that things are not
better on this side of the Atlantic, but this doesn't seem to worry them
too much.

Best regards,

Jose



***************************************************
Jose M Guardia
Internet, Media & Technology Analyst
Barcelona, Spain
Ph. [++34] 629-74-26-24
E-mail: joseg () guardiasociados com | AIM: jmguardia
www.guardiasociados.com
***************************************************


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