Comment by ineedasername

4 years ago

While I think the EFF's mission is a good one, I don't always like their tactics, which often resemble those of politicians or corporations.

Here's a current example [0]. The message is basically "don't scan our phones, respect our privacy". Sounds okay, but it has practically no details. Nothing about what exactly would be scanned, why it would be scanned the, how it would be scanned... nothing.

Judging by most HN'ers conversations on the topic before, most would even support EFF's message on the issue! But look at their methods. They should be doing an information campaign. Instead, that reads as propaganda campaign.

[0] https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-activists-lead-protes...

13 comments

ineedasername

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whimsicalism  4 years ago

More HN bikeshedding.

Sloganeering is actually critical for mass movements for political change.

  • criddell  4 years ago

    Slogans are fine as long as the details are available somewhere for those that want to dig in.

    • whimsicalism  4 years ago

      I feel like the linked article from GP has plenty of additional details linked. There is also plenty of media coverage on what they are discussing.

      I am confused what is perceived as actually missing and why that missing content is somehow an indict on EFF

      1 reply →

  • dimitrios1  4 years ago

    More improper use of a "gotcha".

    Perhaps those who consider themselves to be part of the educated class find sloganeering distasteful and thus contrary to the goals of the movement? After all, it's likely those part of the educated class that are going to do the real groundwork on these important matters of policy.

    Perhaps if it was a good slogan, it wouldn't need discussion.

    All of these are possibilities.

    How essential are slogans, in your view?

  • ineedasername  4 years ago

    Slogans? This wasn't a 5-second soundbite or a banner ad. Sure they should use slogans, but this was their official press release on the issue, and it was practically content-free. A few sentences would have been enough to outline the details of what's going on.

    Parkinson's Law doesn't really apply when pointing out hypocrisy.

agucova  4 years ago

Clearly it's meant to be a political campaign, not an informative post. That's exactly what I expect the EFF to do, and their technical content (which is separate) is also great.

  • ineedasername  4 years ago

    It's a press release. I expect a press release to lay out at least some of the details. If you're putting the EFF into the realm of just another political group though, then sure-- I'll learn to expect the same level of vague propaganda from them that we get from any Super PAC or politicians campaign and filter their noise out completely. Luckily, we're not there yet. A lot if their releases are fine, but some like this slip through.