the Scobleizer
I’ve been reading Scoble’s blog for awhile now. He’s always got something interesting to say (especially about things like blogging and Microsoft) and today when I read this post I wish I’d been wearing a hat so that I could take it off for him. He suggests that Microsoft should partner with Google, Yahoo!, eBay, and other tech-giants so that as an industry they would have consistent answers to government requests. Way to go Scoble! Pleeease make this happen. Organize some meetings, pump people full of bagels and coffee and figure out exactly what the government is entitled to and then all agree to dig in your heels and refuse unreasonable and illegal requests. We as ordinary citizens don’t have the clout to protect our rights from invasive governments but the army of lawyers that is available to the likes of Microsoft and Google could possibly have an impact. A move in the right direction could even be great PR for the so-called “evil empire” of Microsoft if it could actually show its customers that selling them out for a profit isn’t the highest priority. While the current White House administration is arrogant and abusive of individual rights there’s nothing stopping future administrations from being even worse (hard as that may seem to be possible right now…) and any steps that can be taken to preserve these rights now will, hopefully, live on for many years to come.