May 25th, 2005
Hate spyware? Of course you do: so why are you a Libertarian?
A lot of techies I’ve known have been Libertarians. They would define their ideology as freedom in the boardroom, the boudoir, as well as online.
I’ve always attributed the Libertarian-technologist Nexus to the undeniable fact that the machinations of government work too slow for technologists. Writing code and alpha’ing release 4.08 is, after all, more often than not faster than drafting a bill.
Plus, there is a type of technologist that looks inward, and as such, is not a joiner by nature. Joiners are social creatures, believing in the power of institutions.
So with all that said, I would tell you technology Libertarians to look at the vote in Congress to outlaw spyware.
The stricter of the two bills, HR 744, provides for felony-grade prison time for severe spyware bads. Even HR 29, the lesser of the two bills, punishes "browser hijacking, modifying bookmarks, collecting personal information without permission and disabling security mechanisms."
And to keep things relevant here, I’ve posted my take on the VoIP tie-in.
But I have to ask you Libertarians.. do you know who the only Congressperson was to vote against both bills?
Ron Paul, the strongly Libertarian-leaning Republican from Texas.
Some Libertarian purists do not consider him one of their own, but by many accounts - including his own- his philosophy is the closest to a Libertarian in the House of Reps.
My question to all you Libertarians, then, would be is "big government" so bad when it protects your PC from the spyware pond scum?
Oh, I know I am gonna get lots of TalkBacks on this one. Bring ‘em on!
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
