Comments on: EFF: Smashing the State

By: Brad Taylor

Brad Taylor — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:39:35 +0000

I don’t think ideology is irrelevant in general. When it comes to what they’re doing to increase the transparency of businesses, their reasons don’t really matter.

By: Tom Ender

Tom Ender — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:19:56 +0000

I liked this one a lot, Brad. Without the state, “separation of powers” (decentralization) remains a valid strategy. Decentralization may be my favorite freedom enabler.

By: Jim J.

Jim J. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:55:06 +0000

You might want to check again on Gilmore, FWIW.

By: Jim Davidson

Jim Davidson — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:03:40 +0000

It is far too simplistic to say that EFF supported Obama. Different members of EFF and different supporters of EFF supported various candidates in 2008. It would be mistaken to think that EFF is primarily a pro-Obama political organisation.

It is certain that John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales were enemies of freedom while in office, and still are. It isn’t clear to me that Holder and Obama have improved much of anything.

Your domain is, I think, registered with GoDaddy. They have not been a very good domain registrar. I’ve seen controversial web sites lose their domains when GoDaddy decided to be authoritarian. This situation is easy to change, simply find a different registrar. I like Domain Dominion myself, and I’ve used WontonGold with good results. YMMV.

It also seems unlikely that their ideology is irrelevant. Politics is increasingly irrelevant, but ideology is significant. And I think guys like John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow, Esther Dyson (I’m using “guys” in the generic, engineering sense), and Declan McCullagh have good ideology. Ideology matters, politics doesn’t.

Finally, I would quibble with “EFF: Smashing the State.” Rather, EFF has been making the state irrelevant by obviating many of its features, especially where private sector oversight is available.

By: Brad Taylor

Brad Taylor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:37:17 +0000

I agree that their advocacy work is a bit of a mixed bad (though mostly on the right side). My point was that they’re advancing liberty with their practical projects, with their ideology being irrelevant.

By: Jim J.

Jim J. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:55:40 +0000

Suggest that you don’t put too much trust in EFF. They do some good things, but their operators have also crumbled on other privacy concerns. And, they had the “good judgment” to support Obama as “the answer.”

Push comes to shove and they are statists.