Usman,

It's very interesting to see how others have interpreted Moglen's classes. I'll be honest--I'm a little surprised at what you thought the goals of the class were. In addition to this class, I have taken Moglen's Internet Society class and in both I never really felt that Moglen was attempting to "galvanize" us in activism. In fact, at least in the Internet Society class I remember him saying something to the effect that he wasn't attempting to convince/persuade us in any sense and he knew that a lot of people would disagree with his views. He was very explicit about the fact that he was simply presenting his arguments to shed light on a viewpoint that, for many, was relatively unknown.

I, personally, came into the classes having a semblance of an idea about what I thought the privacy and free software movements were about, but I knew that I really didn't understand them well enough in order to engage in critical analysis. I took Moglen's classes to understand the full argument, with all its nuances, from someone who is one of the most outspoken on the topic. (Also, prior to the class I had recently started getting into free software and was interested in the licensing issues that are involved with the GNU GPL--who better to learn from than the guy that has helped draft it?) I felt that I achieved this goal, and while I may disagree with some of Moglen's arguments, by taking his classes I was able to become informed enough to be able to disagree in the first place. I never really felt like Moglen was attempting to "push" anything on me.

With that being said, I am not saying you are mistaken in your interpretation of the class whatsoever. I understand that you may have not taken the class for the same reasons as I did, and thus likely perceived Moglen in a different light and had different expectations.

As far as part of your argument, I agree with Brian about the "picking sides" debate. Most of the "laymen" I know have absolutely NO idea about any of these privacy arguments/movements/etc. They hardly even know that any "sides" exists. I think this whole "movement" is going to be a long, drawn out process. Even Moglen himself has said that he doesn't expect a lot of these major problems to become self-evident for at least a decade or two. Unfortunately, our society does not really work in a preventative fashion.

-- EdwardBontkowski - 20 May 2010