We believe that the promoters of the projects we are opposing are trying to solve a problem similar to squaring the circle. They did not understand that we changed era, that some approaches are outdated, that we must collectively rethink our approach to the control of information.
We believe that it is impossible to effectively control the flow of information in the digital age by the law and the technology without harming public freedoms, and damaging economic and social development. This is what we call squaring the net.
We agree with the idea expressed by Jacques Attali related to the draft of the Olivennes law, when he presented the Committee’s report about economic growth to the parliament: “we cannot develop economical growth by installing surveillance and tracing.”
For the record, according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, squaring the circle is a classic problem of mathematics appearing in geometry. It is one of three major problems of the ancient world, with the trisection of the angle and the duplication of the cube.
In the oldest mathematical text found, Rhind papyrus (~ 1650 BC.), The scribe Queen Ahmose already proposed approximate solution of the problem. However, we had to wait until 1882 for the German mathematician Ferdinand von Lindemann to show the transcendence of π, proving the impossibility of solving the problem of squaring the circle: it is impossible to construct, using only a ruler and compass, a square whose surface is exactly equal to the surface of a disk.
The question now is how many centuries it will be necessary for the law makers to return to reason? Are we in the field of law and ICT closer to BC -1650 or 1882?