I recently heard Richard Blumenthal being interviewed on
Morning Edition. The subject was the
Facebook/Cambridge Analytica “scandal” (which I put in quotation marks because
no one should be surprised about what happened). Steve Inskeep asked the Senator if the Senate
was considering any comprehensive digital privacy regulation. Blumenthal touted his own proposed measures,
and then commented that “Europe is ahead of us on protecting privacy. How can that be?”
How can that be?
Well, Senator, here’s how: we are not the only first-world
country on this planet. The horror! It’s true.
We would probably all do well to at least consider the possibility that other countries and governments just
might be able to do one or two things better than we do.
Upon realizing that, let us act like successful businessmen
for a moment. Instead of “deny, deny,
deny,” we might try to spend a little time figuring out what they’re doing
better than we are, and then stealing that idea and putting it to work for
us. We will all be a little bit improved
if we do that.
That is all. Good
day, Senator.
Also, Europe generally operates under the precautionary principle, which would never fly in the anti-regulation USA.
ReplyDeleteUSA frequently makes upside-down/backwards choices on what to regulate and how. Perhaps Europe's long history has given its lawmakers better perspective on the future than the tinkering egos (boys with toys) who run ours?
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