Thread

1. HiPhish · 1791021214 · focus · HN ↗

   > Utah's VPN law demands a technical impossibility

   How does legislation work in the US? How can an impossible law pass? Is it just some boomer stomping his feet like a toddler "I know what I want, and I want it now" without consulting any technical experts, and then private organizations like the EFF and courts have to clean up the mess?

   1. eschaton · 1791021462 · focus · HN ↗

      Is there actually any jurisdiction in which technocrats have veto power over legislation?

      1. HiPhish · 1791021711 · focus · HN ↗

         It's not about veto power, it's about consulting technical experts to evaluate whether the legal proposal even makes sense. The EU Cyber Resilience Act is a good example: experts stepped in and made sure that the term "supplier" was accurately defined so some random Joe Shmoe could not be held liable for bugs in some piece of code he threw over the wall on GitHub. The law still got passed, but after being refined.

         1. eschaton · 1791021911 · focus · HN ↗

            What if the technical experts tell the legislators something they don’t want to hear? Do you think the legislators will just go along with a bunch of egghead nay-sayers? Their constituents/donors/special-interests are demanding action!

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