The Induce Act: A view of technology that is anything but neutral

This recent Salon article written by Siva Vaidhyanathan confront the underlying assumptions of the Induce Act and its view of P2P as an inherently criminal technology. If passed this act will make community based efforts like The Digital Bicycle illegal. Again big corporate power and the federal government working to squelch the grassroots.

Here’s the problem: No technology is neutral.

The idea of technological neutrality is most succinctly expressed by the slogan “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.” The slogan may be simplistic, but the theory is pretty powerful. It influences many of our debates about technology and policy, from guns to automobiles to encryption.

The problem with technological neutrality is that people create technologies and people use technologies. And people are not neutral. They have cultures and values and expectations.

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