[okfn-discuss] Googles role in the open movement

[John Baxter]

I agree it is problematic... overwhelmingly the startup community
(including contemporary tech-enterprise that have grown as startups and are
still immersed in that culture) takes privately owned tech startups as
their hammer, and see all problems as nails.

I see no problem with Google or any others being involved, good on them for
it, so regards the conference in question perhaps it is not an issue (I
know little).  But any initiative that is serious needs an appropriate
vehicle - appropriately and genuinely open and transparent vehicles are
needed for the open movement.


*John Baxter*
jsbaxter.com.au <http://www.jsbaxter.com.au>
0405 447 829
@jsbaxter_ <http://twitter.com/jsbaxter_>

*note my reclamation policy means I process my inbox once daily, if that.*
*happy to hear about anything urgent via phone or Twitter*

*"Reclaiming quality of life one hack at a time"*


On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 10:14 PM, martin biehl <odmartin at gmx.de> wrote:

> 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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