Re: Credentials Community Group

On 2014-08-07 03:05, Steven Rowat wrote:
> On 8/6/14 4:24 AM, Tim Holborn wrote:
>> having just watched the "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron
>> Swartz (CC available: en,es,fr,tr,cn)“ (link:
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXr-2hwTk58)
>
> Thank you for this. I found it riveting, one of the best documentaries
> I've seen. Maybe the best. Cried much of the final twenty minutes.
>
>
>> data is the basis for digital economy, democracy, etc.  Just because
>> we put it into magnetic-electrical devices, rather than chipping stuff
>> into stones or inking papyrus - doesn’t mean necessarily, we’re any
>> more sophisticated as a people.
>
> +1
>
> Not necessarily more sophisticated or better in any other way --
> except the ability to move data faster. But even this is skewed in
> important ways: as the people in this group know, certain kinds of
> data are not moved easily in the current Web (money payments, verified
> identity) or controlled easily (privacy), while others are
> astronomically easier and faster (almost everything else).
>
> This creates stresses in our society, and makes new power centers and
> new opportunities -- for both selfish motives and co-operative motives.
>
> As Aaron put succinctly at some point in the above documentary (I'm
> not quoting him exactly): both this spying/controlling/power-grabbing
> ability and the miracle-of-new-faster-learning ability are there in
> the Web in high concentration, and they will both remain in some form.
> And that it's up to us to make sure that the power/controlling one
> doesn't dominate.
>
> I don't think I'm being pretentious in saying that what's happening
> here, in this attempt to standardize, is in a direct line from efforts
> like the Magna Carta. The Web/Internet needs a formal agreement about
> the liberties and rights of the participants in defining who they are,
> how they pass money, and who can use data about those two things. And,
> accidentally (since the net is worldwide), this coincides with many of
> the problems of globalization -- supra-national rights and their
> relation to national rights. A huge cross-over of changes.
>
> "We live in interesting times."  ;-)

The film about Aaron Swarts was indeed very interesting and touching.

If we are actually going to compare our struggle with Aaron's, I think
we must also realize that in our case it is not the US government that
is the problem, but the super-providers, who with very limited efforts
can blow our pitiful little project off the map.

I still haven't seen any credible write-up on how user authentication
is going to be dealt with.  That U2F is the solution may be true but
IMO it has to be shown how as well.

Anders


>
> Steven Rowat
>
>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 7 August 2014 10:08:37 UTC