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HOME >> COLUMNS

Theres No Avoiding Politics

By Allen Holub

August 1, 2006 — (Page 1 of 3)
My esteemed colleague Larry O’Brien has opined that it’s usually not a good idea for techies to talk about politics, but I beg to differ. Politics affects all of us, both in our day-to-day lives and in our technical lives, and as such it behooves us to talk about it in technical circles. Programmers who pretend to be beyond the fray are really ostriches with their heads in the sand. I’m planning on ruminating about politics in this column, so if you agree with O’Brien, you may want to skip over to Windows & .NET Watch. I’m sure that many of you will disagree with me, but that’s fine. The discussion is, itself, valuable.

Two news stories brought my ruminations to the fore. The first was Bill Gates’ move into full-time philanthropy.

A reader wrote that it was somehow wrong-headed for a wealthy individual to step into what the reader saw as the purview of government. I strongly believe that if a governmental solution to a real problem isn’t happening, then it’s the responsibility of the rest of us to solve the problem in spite of the government. A democracy is a means for individuals to band together to solve problems that can’t be addressed by a single person. I see nothing wrong with an individual who has the resources to solve a real problem stepping up to the plate and providing the solution.

In fact, saying that certain classes of problems are a purview only of government is a shirking of our individual responsibility. Frankly, I deeply respect and admire what Gates has done here, and wish that others who have became wealthy in our industry would join him.

The second story is more troubling.

Last month AT&T announced that it has no intention of upholding its customers’ privacy rights should the government come a-courting. Not only will it release your name, address and other information, but it will give up all your passwords, track all your clicks and keystrokes (at least on Yahoo sites), pass on your e-mail, and give up pretty much any information that flows across its wires or through its machines. I find AT&T’s policy dubious at best.

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