Hacker News Reader

I may buy a lot of stuff, but should I only be viewed as “a consumer” in the eyes of the government and my democracy?

Notice that the author is attributing words in a blog post on thehill.com to "the government and my democracy".

The word "consumer" does appear in CISPA, but only in one paragraph, referring to "consumer terms of service or consumer licensing agreements". I don't see what's so bad about using "consumers" to refer to people who consume a particular service, though. It's not denying them personhood; it's just a way to refer to the subset of people who use a service, whereas "people" would refer to all people.

It's like saying collateral damage that's why it's bad-ish.

What phrasing would you use instead of "consumer", and what makes your phrasing better?

Indeed, while omitting to mention that that paraphrase also included commentary from various privacy groups. This is a common problem with political blogging, it's all tone and no substance.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com