It's going to be a lot harder to maintain an open, global internet without the moral legitimacy that derives from liberalism. If the internet is just going to be a means to make states and criminals more capable of predating upon ordinary people, then ordinary people will abandon it in a panic (or submit to it meekly, and only use it carefully).
The thought that this can be reversed with mere lobbying is a little ridiculous. We have to build more secure computing and telecom infrastructure, or we will see a massive reversal in behavior. It does not matter how many 'internet of things' advertisements that CISCO buys if the general social opinion is that adopting the technology will make you vulnerable to governmental and criminal predation.
This letter is an example of some of the backlash that we can expect as this patina of moral legitimacy washes off. A congressional committee (like the Church committee) will not be sufficient to restore international trust, and neither would a new president making promises. Google's business model rests on trust, which is always harder to earn back than it is to gain in the first place.
The thought that this can be reversed with mere lobbying is a little ridiculous. We have to build more secure computing and telecom infrastructure, or we will see a massive reversal in behavior. It does not matter how many 'internet of things' advertisements that CISCO buys if the general social opinion is that adopting the technology will make you vulnerable to governmental and criminal predation.
This letter is an example of some of the backlash that we can expect as this patina of moral legitimacy washes off. A congressional committee (like the Church committee) will not be sufficient to restore international trust, and neither would a new president making promises. Google's business model rests on trust, which is always harder to earn back than it is to gain in the first place.