Curious to hear what others think, but I assumed it was related to social contract theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract
On Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:19 PM Thomas Delrue <[email protected]> wrote: > On 11/24/19 10:31 PM, Yosem Companys wrote: > > The contract is non-binding, however. And funders and partners in the > > endeavor include Google and Facebook, whose data-collecting business > > models and sensation-rewarding algorithms have been blamed for > > exacerbating online toxicity. > > I'm a little confused by the choice of words in the term "contract for > the web"... Can someone explain to me what exactly a non-binding > contract is? > The first 7 words of the Wikipedia entry for 'contract' are literally "A > contract is a legally binding agreement". How can a 'legally binding > agreement' be non-binding? > MW has as its first entry for 'contract' the following "a binding > agreement between two or more persons or parties especially : one > legally enforceable". > > Forgive my cynicism, but what exactly will this do or accomplish if it > isn't binding, except to make some folks feel warm and fuzzy for signing > something that will be forgotten in a heartbeat? > Surely, this is nothing more than a PR stunt? It's about as vacuous as > the statement "Don't be evil" (by google) or "We care about your > privacy" (by facebook), no? > > Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that TBL has started this conversation, as > it is one to be had. However, without the binding-ness, the good > intentions and desires, outlined in the 'contract', will go no-where. > Unfortunately, we don't need more conversation on this subject, we need > actual change, and that requires enforceability. > > If the purpose of making it non-enforceable was to make sure entities > like google or facebook signed as well, then I ask "why? Why do they > have to sign as well"? Especially if they are the highest probability > candidates to violate the intention of the document. Why would it have > been important for them to sign something that will make no difference? > Why not leave them excluded and let them be on display for the predatory > entities that they are? > > -- > Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major > commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you > moderated: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe, > change to digest mode, or change password by emailing > [email protected].
-- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe, change to digest mode, or change password by emailing [email protected].
