Re: [EXT] Re: Safe harbo(u)rs: A structural proposal for interop

Hey folks - revisiting this and taking the group's temperature.

I'd like to propose that we produce three "technologists' sign-on letters" on interop mandates:

1. A proposal for mandates to come with safe harbours based on requirements;

2. A proposal for developing requirements;

3. A proposal for policing compliance with standards and/or requirements-based equivalents.

I have a pretty concrete idea on #1, and would like us to do some structured work to produce 2 and 3.

What do you all think? I'm especially interested in people who are really adamant that we *shouldn't* do this, and to work through those objections.

Cory

On 2/15/22 11:40, Cory Doctorow wrote:
> Thanks for this. I think it's maybe missing a point, namely that preventing a private SDO from being captured, preventing a Big Tech platform from cheating in its implementation of that SDO's work product, and preventing a platform from cheating in making a requirements-satisfying alternative to that work product all require the same kind of oversight.
> 
> IOW, I think that if we stipulate that our regulator can stop FB from making a bad implementation of a standard API, then it's not consistent to say that the regulator couldn't stop FB from making a bad alternative based on the requirements.
> 
> It's not a matter of trusting states or firms more - rather, it's about maximizing flexibility (and thus adaptability to changing circumstances - IOW, durability).
> 
> Cory
> 
>>
>> In the end, it is also a matter of legal cultures. European regulation tends to be more top-down and prescriptive in detail, while the American tradition is more about limiting as much as possible any necessary constraints to individual freedom. Also, Europe tends to assume that government-led processes are by definition capture-resistant, while the effects of heavy lobbying are given for granted in Washington. Solutions lie somewhere within this range of deviations :-) 
> 
> 
> 
> On 2/15/22 02:20, Vittorio Bertola wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Il 14/02/2022 20:27 Cory Doctorow <cory@eff.org> ha scritto:
>>>
>>> Again, in the spirit of disaggregating the tech/policy questions into bite-sized standalone pieces, I think we can add "design a referee role" to the list of separate, vital questions, which (in my formulation, at least) now stands at:
>>>
>>> 1. A safe harbour regime that allows adoption of a standard API or compliance with the standard's requirements;
>>>
>>> 2. A capture-resistant process for setting those requirements;
>>>
>>> 3. A capture-resistant process for policing both standards compliance and requirements compliance.
>>>
>>> What do you think?
>>
>> In the end, it is also a matter of legal cultures. European regulation tends to be more top-down and prescriptive in detail, while the American tradition is more about limiting as much as possible any necessary constraints to individual freedom. Also, Europe tends to assume that government-led processes are by definition capture-resistant, while the effects of heavy lobbying are given for granted in Washington. Solutions lie somewhere within this range of deviations :-)
>>

Received on Wednesday, 23 February 2022 16:02:53 UTC