[okfn-discuss] Googles role in the open movement

Mon Jul 21 12:44:55 UTC 2014

Sorry here is a link to the article I mentioned before:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/20/rise-of-data-death-of-politics-evgeny-morozov-algorithmic-regulation

On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 1:43 PM, martin biehl <odmartin at gmx.de> wrote:

> 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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>>
>
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