[governance] So Who (or What) is Managing Privacy for/by the 1 Billion+

[David Conrad]

Michael,

On Dec 27, 2012, at 7:30 PM, michael gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com> wrote:
> Life is too short to play silly word games…

Agreed but those sorts of activities seem to consume a huge amount of time/money (e.g., see WCIT and/or what does "enhanced cooperation" really mean? :)).  

However, in this context, the point I was hinting at is that there is no such thing (as far as I know) of a "global Internet" company -- every company is constrained by the laws of the country (or countries) in which it operates.  I'm not a a lawyer but I don't think the Internet creates a new trans-national legal regime for companies, hence the distinction you appear to be trying to draw seems specious.

>  Facebook with roughly a billion users on the Internet is NOT a global internet company?

Facebook is, as far as I know, a US company that services an international customer base and as such is subject to US laws regarding how they do business (I'll admit I haven't read their terms and conditions in detail to see if their legal venue varies depending on country of use).

> Facebook choosing to play endless incomprehensible games with its privacy settings sufficient to confuse (and outrage) even its most inside of insiders doesn't raise "privacy" issues…?

It might raise privacy issues but it does not raise _right to privacy_ issues.  Your rights to privacy are not removed by Facebook changing their terms and conditions.  You have the ultimate right to privacy by not subjecting yourself to their endless incomprehensible games.

Would you prefer the government (whose? see my "silly word games" above) impose restrictions on how Facebook can change their terms and conditions?

Regards,
-drc

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