Governments can, and do, do whatever they want. The guardrails of the "Rule of Law" have been removed. The Constitution is being violated on a daily basis and nothing is being done about it. The Rule of Law is something that is given lip service to while finding every way to ignore it.
At that point we might be looking at the implementation of the Great American Firewall, and the United States would no longer be a representative democracy.
The USA is already NOT a representative democracy. I am uncertain why you think it still is. When Citizens United was decided, representative democracy was condemned. We have seen the results.
Americans are not free. Most are shackled to debt in hope of buying happiness, working jobs they don't want to. They work longer hours, have less holidays and earn less than many countries in the western world. Many Americans are poorly educated, obese and unwell, they suffer a variety of addictions drugs, alcohol, food, social media. They have no public healthcare provision, disregard for the environment and their lifespan is reducing. Half of Americans hate the other half, because they are led by the most selfish, greedy and ruthless who are respected like peasants respect a king, the other half are trying to protect themselves from the other half. Americans have been engaged in some kind of war somewhere since their country's formation and when not fighting overseas they often shoot each other, kids included.
Aside from all of that, USA is still the best. Ra ra ra! USA! USA! USA! (vomit)
You failed to mention the worst part: Rule of Law is a thing of the past.
Anyone who tells you they can see exactly where the road is heading a mile ahead is selling you something.
I can guarantee you that none of the big players will 'discover' strong AI within the next mile. The money is too infatuated with the current capabilities.
I'm glad the perpetrators went to prison
The executives received home confinement, NOT prison.
And I would argue that, in this case, the punishment was far too lenient, because if you think of the crime in this context, it really says that these people DID get away with it. They got a slap on the wrist. The company paid the bulk of the damages. And so, this settlement again signals that, yes, the privileged class is above the law, because even when the law finds them culpable, the penalty is nominal for them. It's a cost of doing business.
Yes, the punishment was far too lenient; however, it is more serious than you give it credit for. They lost some money directly and they have lost all future earning power except through investments. They will NEVER work anywhere again except maybe as a janitor. Of course, they are generally set for life barring major catastrophe, so yeah, the punishment was WAY to light.
How are these people not in prison?
They are. The summary states that seven former employees pled guilty to criminal charges. I know it's tradition not to RTFA, but you are supposed to at least RTFS.
Um, the executives mostly got home confinement, not prison. Prison was reserved for the lower level offenders. The only "real" penalties the executives received were fines; with the CEO paying 2 million while the lowest level executive paid $50k. I suspect I read a different article than you did as I kept with tradition and did not read the linked article.
I wonder how many more campaigns of harassment are ongoing, led by people who know how to conduct vehicle-based surveillance, or encouraged by ineffective or lazy policing.
If you exclude the government and collection agencies, 12,384 currently active. Most are small time (less than $10 million in assets of all parties).
Simply accusing someone of some unspecified crime isn't a right the state has to just bypass Constitutional protections, namely the 4th and 5th Amendments.
Apparently, they do have that right. They did it. Nobody stopped them. Nobody complained about it. They will do it again. They have actually arrested someone for not submitting.
Whether that right is written down or not, it is now established. Rule of Law is whatever whomever is in power wants it to be.
So while you're certainly free to continue being selfish and ignorant, and my guess is that you'll make that choice, you might want to pause for just a moment and consider that your approach inevitably results in the deaths of billions of people -- including yours, your family's, your friend's, etc. -- and that maybe it might be a better idea to consider the merits of embracing science and cooperation. There's no other way, sadly, because all of the things that could have been "other ways" are no longer viable options.
The people who think and act like they own 'us', the regular people, don't care how we act. They are going to do whatever it is they are going to without any regard to input from the rest of us. Go ahead and act selfish. It will not make a difference. Go ahead and try to conserve what we still have. It will not make any difference. The industries need to change, not the people. The people will go wherever they are led.
And as long as these people are around, nobody will mistake the US for a reliable partner
Nonsense. 1/3 of ANY population can be manipulated with propaganda to get whatever result is desired. The USA is not unique in this regard. This has nothing to do with the general population, rather, it has to do with intentional bad actors that have entirely subverted American Democracy. Laugh all you want, it has happened to other countries previously, with Germany being quite notable.
but ultimately the software feature is a good thing.
WTF is wrong with you?
This wouldn't be so difficult to deal with if security patches were not intermingled with new feature patches. WTF?
Right, so if a crack dealer offers a free sample of their range of products to a kid, we shouldn't support the kid, just positively support them?
You have a really low opinion of kids. I feel sorry for your kids. My kids were educated about the dangers. They knew they could talk to me and get straight answers, so any weird situations they found themselves in, they declined until they could speak with me. My children are now fully functional adults. I am betting yours are crippled by the lies you fed them.
You protect your kids by teaching them to protect themselves. YOU do not protect them, they protect themselves. Kids will not be kids forever, so taking learning experiences away from them by sheltering them is ill-advisable.
An interesting theory; however, nobody has been arrested and nobody will be arrested... so your theory already fails. Maybe once we start holding people accountable in this country again, your theory will prevail. I am not holding out any hope. We are completely fucked. The Rule of Law is utterly meaningless except as a punishment regime for everyone who is not in power.
Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature. -- Rich Kulawiec
