[okfn-discuss] Googles role in the open movement

Mon Jul 21 12:43:31 UTC 2014

I agree, just the other day there was an article on the Guardian by Evgeny
Morozov (runs neteffect.foreignpolicy.com) that throws open data into one
pot with Silicon Valley. The article clearly lacks differentiation on many
levels, but for OKFN I guess the following two paragraphs (especially the
second one mentioning open data, the first is there for some context) could
be of concern:

*"And while the nudgers have already captured the state by making
behavioural psychology the favourite idiom of government bureaucracy
–Daniel Kahneman
<http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/16/daniel-kahneman-thinking-fast-and-slow-tributes>
is in, Machiavelli
<http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jun/27/prince-niccolo-machiavelli-tim-parks>
is out – the algorithmic regulation lobby advances in more clandestine
ways. They create innocuous non-profit organisations like Code for America
which then co-opt the state – under the guise of encouraging talented
hackers to tackle civic problems.Such initiatives aim to reprogramme the
state and make it feedback-friendly, crowding out other means of doing
politics. For all those tracking apps, algorithms and sensors to work,
databases need interoperability – which is what such pseudo-humanitarian
organisations, with their ardent belief in open data, demand. And when the
government is too slow to move at Silicon Valley's speed, they simply move
inside the government. Thus, Jennifer Pahlka, the founder of Code for
America and a protege of O'Reilly, became the deputy chief technology
officer of the US government – while pursuing a one-year "innovation
fellowship" from the White House."*

On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 1:18 PM, Niels Erik Kaaber Rasmussen <
niels at buhlrasmussen.eu> wrote:

> Thanks for a great #Okfest14 with interesting and inspiring people,
> sessions and talks in Berlin.
>
> One issue that was not on the official programme, but I came to discuss
> multiple times in private conversations was Googles role in the event and
> more generally in the open movement. Should Google lead the way in the
> quests for a "global digital infrastructure for democracy"? Are google open
> enough? How about privacy issues? Censorship? Tax issues? Etc.
>
> I don't have the answers, but I think these and related questions are both
> important and interesting and are some that we as a movement has to address
> and consider.
>
> Best, Niels Erik
> --
> http://buhlrasmussen.eu
> Twitter @nilleren
> Tlf. 2680 9492
>
>
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