On: US Government: You Don't Own Your Cloud Data So We Can Access It At Any Time

[kallus]

That is an erroneous comparison. Regarding our own bits, it is the right to access information that we store on devices that we own or rent. Regarding "RIAA's bits" it is our right to copy information that was made publicly available. Regardless of political opinions, the contradiction that I think you are suggesting does not exist.

[paulhauggis → kallus]

But it does. Many people that are pro-piracy believe that once bits are purchased or shared anywhere on the Internet, they are "free".

How about the argument that bits are different than physical property and can't be stolen?

Now, the government believes the same thing and suddenly, when it involves you personally, it's wrong.

The hypocrisy in the tech community doesn't surprise me. I've been witnessing it for years.

[tolmasky → paulhauggis]

There is no hypocrisy: those people would continue thinking that if they put "their" bits in the public, they would also be free. That has nothing to do with the government being able to interfere with your private relationship with a cloud service. Here, since you brought up physical items perhaps I can make it clearer:

I have a manuscript for a new book which I keep in a safe at home. I may believe that once a book is "out in the wild", anyone should be allowed to copy it. However, that does not mean I think it is OK for the government to have the right to open up my security box at a bank and read the manuscript if I choose to use "cloud safes" (AKA banks) instead of my own personal safe at home. The problem here is not really the reading of the book, but interfering with my agreement with the bank that only I should be allowed into the safe, regardless of what may or may not be in there.

[Dylan16807 → paulhauggis]

Not shared anywhere. Something I upload to Dropbox is private data. Something I upload to youtube is public data. If a piece of media is being sold, 99.9% chance it's not private.

Now, about being 'stolen'. The argument about bits being free is that you can copy them anywhere. I think you can see how deleting from someone else's server is not the same thing.

The government is not causing problems by copying the drives, they are causing problems by confiscating them.

In this particular case there is no hypocrisy.

[kallus → paulhauggis]

The argument is usually not that "bits can't be stolen" but that "copying is not theft". If people broke into RIAA's servers and removed their data, I think most pirates would agree that it's comparable to theft.

[icebraining → paulhauggis]

The "tech community" doesn't have a single opinion. Proof: you're part of the tech community.

Personally, I don't believe the government is stealing anything. They're violating people's privacy, which is a different thing and does not require the data to be property.