Re:One woman's struggle to remove all traces of videotaped s...
by elmomle on Monday April 05, 2021 @02:45PM
(#26702900)
I think the argument is that if companies feared consequences from an engaged government that actively protected its private citizens' rights, this specific issue would not exist (since the company's continued functioning could then depend on its efficiently cooperating with such requests).
Re:One woman's struggle to remove all traces of videotaped s...
by abakker on Monday April 05, 2021 @03:24PM
(#26703410)
I think the issue being discussed here is also, "how can we make a government whose bureaucracy will be able to be engaged?" So many examples show bureaucracy and the abdication of responsibility go hand in hand. In order for the government to be empowered, its workers need to be empowered, and we have few cultural narratives of how rule following enabled great outcomes.
Instead, almost fetishistically, we embrace rule breaking as the ultimate expression of self actualization, from forming businesses to bureaucrats who actually took time during their breaks to help.
IMO, working for a company and working for the government are both exercises in limiting personal liability, and I've not yet encountered a construct that allowed people to limit liability without also limiting their agency. I also think it is important that we as a modern democracy do work to solve this issue.
They're just following in the footsteps of the precedent set by the DMV et al who themselves are standing on a long and storied tradition of bureaucratic ineptitude. Heck, this crap goes back at least as far as the ancient Roman administrative state if not further. The fact that the bureaucratic run-around flies from department to department in the form of 1's and zeros instead of dried tree pulp or waxed stone tablets doesn't really make a substantial difference. This isn't anything new.