zlacker

>>neelc+(OP)
The problem here is that most people don't give a crap. I was explaining this situation to my girlfriend last night over a drink. She's a high level academic with a strong mathematical and logical background in a different field but she didn't really formulate an opinion on it past "if my stuff keeps working, why is it a problem?". Which is fair, because it's a hypothetical risk, but the side effects are a net negative and the open nature of the web is at risk.

As always people see the happy path down the middle of the forest, not the creatures waiting to leap out and eat them two steps down the line.

>>baz00+8t
> she didn't really formulate an opinion on it past "if my stuff keeps working, why is it a problem?".

Once upon a time, I was a homeless teenager running from a cult. If not for software I wouldn't have gotten out of that.

WEI (and other such things) are mainly about regulating who is allowed to write software, and so the way I think about it is this: If WEI existed when I was a homeless teenager, I might be dead.

I do not think I would like your girlfriend very much if she said keeping "her" stuff working was more important than my life, although I could understand her not understanding how big of a deal it is when you talk abstractly about the "open nature of the web" without putting it into human terms;

The "open" part is really important to get across because it means anyone who has the ability to can contribute: Does such a high level academic with a strong mathematical and logical background understand what can be lost not just to industry, but to science itself when a church wants to name itself the arbiter of who can work?