The Liberty Alliance Project has been formed.

September 27, 2001 8:03 AM

The Liberty Alliance Project has been formed. What a marvelously patriotic name. I bet you can't guess what it's about without reading the link. Come on, I betcha can't. Just try.
posted by Steven Den Beste (20 comments total)

Well...I was wrong...
posted by ColdChef at 8:13 AM on September 27, 2001

I reported on that this morning for my job. I too was taken aback by the ridiculous name.
posted by adampsyche at 8:16 AM on September 27, 2001

No I did not guess.

Opinion: Silly name for and equally silly project.
posted by bjgeiger at 8:24 AM on September 27, 2001

Where's the market for this crap?
Even nigh-computer-illiterate people I know think .NET is a rotten idea. I haven't talked to anyone yet who wants to hand their data over to some company.
posted by sonofsamiam at 8:25 AM on September 27, 2001

Man, I feel liberated.
posted by chino at 8:28 AM on September 27, 2001

I was wrong too. I had heard about the project, but not that name. It's unbelievable. Maybe they'll lobby to require a LAP number on the National ID Card.
posted by curiousg at 8:39 AM on September 27, 2001

With Passport, a consumer's information is stored in a central database controlled by Microsoft. Companies with Passport-enabled Web sites can access that information to speed e-commerce sales and other transactions, and Microsoft can share it with vendors.

sounds reliable.

Microsoft officials have said the company will keep information about consumers private and secure.

forgive me for doubting.

and i thought this was what liberty meant:

The condition of being free from restriction or control.
The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing.
The condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor.
Freedom from unjust or undue governmental control.
A right or immunity to engage in certain actions without control or interference: the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights.

american heritage dictionary
posted by asok at 8:51 AM on September 27, 2001

This is the direction of computing, as much as I hate it. (and will fight it)

But if this control has to be somewhere, I'd rather Sun and 32 companies try to compete with MS than have MS just do it alone.
posted by jragon at 9:49 AM on September 27, 2001

Thirty-three companies, led by networking giant Sun Microsystems Inc., announced Wednesday they were creating a system that would let consumers use a single password to access many Internet sites.

But I already use a single password to access many Internet sites: ******
posted by jazon at 10:22 AM on September 27, 2001

Marketing these days, more than ever, is based on the principle of "If you say it, then it's true". Examples:

• Supercuts, the most decidedly unhip chain of hair salons in the world, uses the slogan "As hip as you wanna be".
• The latest ad campaign for bestbuy.com: "don't you just hate when you buy something and get it home and it's not what you thought it would be? well, shop at bestbuy.com." The irony should be obvious.

Long story short: that's what's going on here.
posted by jpoulos at 11:02 AM on September 27, 2001

I guessed wrong, naturally...

I am definitely an old fogey. Computers already do everything I want them to do. I don't have any use for this new breed of web-connected, password-locked, ad-encrusted species of HTTP fiefdom. I have a hard time imagining anything they could offer that would compel me to use such a system.

I'm tired of everything getting mowed under the holy all-devouring scythe of Internet Commerce.

-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 11:13 AM on September 27, 2001

But I already use a single password to access many Internet sites: ******

Hey, whaddya know, my password is ******, too!
posted by briank at 12:13 PM on September 27, 2001

freedom to be spammed.

freedom to have my credit card number stolen from a variety of places.

freedom not to know (or profit from) how my information is being used.

liberty.
posted by rebeccablood at 12:30 PM on September 27, 2001

Where's the market for this crap?
Even nigh-computer-illiterate people I know think .NET is a rotten idea. I haven't talked to anyone yet who wants to hand their data over to some company.

Absolutely. This plan makes no sense. I always thought people who are not computer savvy are less likely to give personal information over the internet. To anybody. And people who are computer savvy generally know better than to hand things like that over to Microsoft, the "Evil Empire". Unless they come up with some fantastic marketing scheme (discs?), I don't see any way this invention could fly.
posted by Laugh_track at 1:02 PM on September 27, 2001

Where's the market for this crap?
Even nigh-computer-illiterate people I know think .NET is a rotten idea. I haven't talked to anyone yet who wants to hand their data over to some company.

Absolutely. This plan makes no sense. I always thought people who are not computer savvy are less likely to give personal information over the internet. To anybody. And people who are computer savvy generally know better, anyway. Unless they come up with some fantastic marketing scheme (discs?), I don't see any way this invention could fly.
posted by Laugh_track at 1:02 PM on September 27, 2001

I'd make the doublespeak/Orwell connection with the whole "liberty alliance" thing, but that would be beating this topic to death. It's the reality of corporatized, globalized economies: marketing and advertising no longer even try to get us to like something to choose it voluntarily; rather, marketing and advertising now seem to be just propaganda intent on softening us up to accept with less resistance what's going to be forced on us whether we like it or not. Ah, the fuckers... where's Max Headroom when you need him?
posted by hincandenza at 4:12 PM on September 27, 2001

Three thoughts:

1.) The name sounds like a right-wing fascist organization.

2.) Why in God's name would I want to use a single password? It's the Java of cracking: crack once, use anywhere!

3.) It's a better name than "Enduring Freedom." Which isn't saying much.

liberty....
Liberty...
LIBERTY ALLIANCE PROJECT HOOOOOOOO!
posted by Coda at 5:40 PM on September 27, 2001

"Mowed under the holy all-devouring scythe of Internet Commerce"

Yet another loser in the New MeFi Tagline Sweepstakes and Meat-Raffle.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:22 AM on September 28, 2001

Am I the only person who thought this was one of those companies that sells "precious" coins on 1-800 commercials. I know there's at least a couple of you out there. Fess up!

"Your Libery Alliance coin can only gain in value as the years pass!"
posted by skallas at 3:35 AM on September 28, 2001