CDR: Re: why should it be trusted?

[David Honig]

At 05:48 PM 10/18/00 -0700, Nathan Saper wrote:
>So are you saying that there is nothing wrong with the government
>doing the corporations' dirty work?

A govt has an obligation to secure the data it has collected 
and not to share it.  So perhaps we agree on this point: the
govt must not give out (do 'dirty work') data on citizens that it holds.
If an insurance (or bank or grocery or whatever) co. wants data, they can't
expect it from the govt.

[Hmm... I hadn't thought about the morality of terraserver.. where you
can get pictures of your neighbors lots, taken by the govt] 

>The problem is, corporations also control the media, so most people do
>not know about the bad shit some corporations are involved in.

There is no obligation for media to tell the truth or all of what
*you* deem the truth even when they *claim* to be telling the truth (e.g.,
news).  The only thing they gamble is reputation.

There is no obligation for Joe Sixpack to fund news sources
he's not interested in, or viewpoints he doesn't subscribe to.  

The only relevent obligation is for *state* actors to do nothing.

If you can't sell or distribute your bits to your satisfaction, blame the
population.  Similarly if you can't find what you want to buy: blame
the population for not exerting sufficient demand.  Round 'em up
and send 'em to re-education camps.  That oughta work.

You may not like the results of living amongst this population who
prefers football to deep reporting, but lack of coercion means none of your
business.  

Finally, I asked,
>> Are you against car insurers asking
>> about your other genetic characteristics (e.g., sex)? 

And you replied: 
> No, because they do not deny coverage based upon gender.

But they *do* vary your rate with your sex.  I shouldn't have to
spell it out, but: Given finite individual resources, varying the costs
with sex amounts to refusing coverage for some, based on sex.  

Where's your (misplaced, because a Y chromo *does* mess up your driving
skills when under 25 :-) sense of injustice about this genetic
discrimination?