Re: Puzzled
Indeed. It wouldn't work, and that's the problem for Google et al. An AI based system won't work. Talking about them might wow the general public, but the legislators are looking for something concrete, something certain.
The only realistic way they can cut down on the amount of illegal material on their services is to make it so that there is real consequences (i.e. jail time) for the users putting it up their in the first place. There has to be a deterrent strong enough to make users think twice about what they're doing.
That can only happen if Google, Facebook, Twitter, can prove the user's identity robustly in court. Banking details associated with payment for services rendered is good enough. Trouble is their freetard business model practically guarantees that they have no idea who any user actually is (unless they mysteriously typed in all their details). WhatsApp of course already do know user identity quite well. It's the reason Suckerberg paid $20billion for it. The app uses the mobile's phone number. WhatsApp just choose to conceal it from any enquiring policeman.
Their rather tame response from the tech companies to this meeting speaks volumes. Their legal advisers must surely be telling them that EU countries and the UK can easily (and probably will) pass a law banning undiscoverable user identity, or one prohibiting communications services that cannot be tapped or traced, etc. And they can probably pass such a law with strong public support too, especially at the moment. Newspaper headlines like "Google, the Terrorists Friend" really do have an effect.
It's looking like a lot of American companies are seriously underestimating just how much faith Europeans generally have in their governments (NOTE - not their politicians, that's a different thing altogether) and police forces when it comes to such matters.
OK, so European governments cannot easily physically stop the companies offering services to EU citizens from servers outside the EU (for example, there's no Great Firewall of Britain). But they can stop the flow of advertising revenue to Google, Facebook, etc, and make it a criminal offence to offer such services. That would put a serious and hard to explain dent in their revenue, and threaten the liberty of their senior management, etc.
Anyway, such a course of action would be sending a strong message. If they don't understand their social responsibilities, perhaps the tech companies can be made to understand the financial consequences of their stance.
Consequences for the USA
Ok, so say European countries do start clamping down on the companies, what does that mean in the USA?
Take WhatsApp, who currently undertake to conceal user communications no matter what. Say they cave in, and change WhatsApp in Europe so that a lawful request for data (e.g. "who was that they were talking to?") could be fulfilled.
So what are their terms and conditions going to look like then? One set for the USA, a different set for everywhere else? That's not going to work. Suppose the person identified in responding to a warrant was American???
The consequence is likely to be that the USA could become somewhat isolated from the rest of the world. There'd be WhatsApp USA (a freetard's paradise where no one knows who is speaking to who), and WhatsApp Global (in effect another legally registered communication service provider that will respond to warrant-backed requests for data just like any other telco), but you wouldn't be able to make a call between the two flavours of WhatsApp. Similarly for Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.
Also such developments in Europe could spur changes to the equivalent laws in the USA. Phone taps / traces are a legally sanctioned / controlled thing in the US - some legislators might start wondering about applying them to an OTT communications provider like WhatsApp, as per Europe?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
