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This seems suspiciously like government getting something right... with regards to a quickly-evolving new technology market... has this ever happened before?

danharaj 10y ago
Yes. There's been a decades-long smear campaign against public management of common infrastructure.
- more_corn 10y ago
  What do you call a smear campaign against a target that's actually incompetent?
  - vkou 10y ago
    What do you call an indiscriminate smear campaign against a large target, parts of which are incompetent, and parts of which are competent? "Self-serving"?
    - thrill 10y ago
      Politics.
- oldmanjay 10y ago
  It is truly unfortunate that among those perpetrating the smears are the public managers themselves, in the guise of doing their jobs.
CPLX 10y ago
Well there was the whole Federal Government inventing the internet thing at one point.
wwkeyboard 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V
rayiner 10y ago
Can you think of a concrete example where the government got it wrong?[1] For the sake of argument, the federal government in the last 50 years? Maybe the encryption export ban. Or the CDA, but that was quickly reversed and the part that's left (Section 230) was really instrumental in the rise of the modern web. [1] And I don't mean wrong as in "NSA spying" because you disagree with the policy. I mean like, "regulations mandated everyone use Beta tapes and laser disk even though they quickly became obsolete."
- ghurtado 10y ago
  > Can you think of a concrete example where the government got it wrong? Stem cell research.
  - rayiner 10y ago
    I think 2bitencryption's point is more along the lines that the government regulates fields and that regulation quickly becomes unworkable because its a "quickly-evolving new technology market." For example, if the government mandated that all computers had to be Windows 9x-compatible that might have prevented the rise of the iPhone. The embryonic stem-cell research ban didn't have anything to do with the underlying science and technology--it was based on a moral objection to the practice of destroying embryos for research. If the government had, for example, mandated the use of some testing methodology that soon became obsolete, that might be more on point.
    - ghurtado 10y ago
      Ah, I see. Thanks for clarifying, I thought it was a broader question.
- harryh 10y ago
  Some HIPAA regulations that pre-date the rise of shared virtual servers in "the cloud" are quite outdated and cause quite a bit of trouble for no real benefit.
  - 10y ago
Spooky23 10y ago
Frequently. Passenger air travel. The highway system. Many others.
seanmcdirmid 10y ago
The FAA and NTSB have really worked well.

danharaj 10y ago

Yes. There's been a decades-long smear campaign against public management of common infrastructure.

more_corn 10y ago
What do you call a smear campaign against a target that's actually incompetent?
- vkou 10y ago
  What do you call an indiscriminate smear campaign against a large target, parts of which are incompetent, and parts of which are competent? "Self-serving"?
  - thrill 10y ago
    Politics.
oldmanjay 10y ago
It is truly unfortunate that among those perpetrating the smears are the public managers themselves, in the guise of doing their jobs.

CPLX 10y ago

Well there was the whole Federal Government inventing the internet thing at one point.

wwkeyboard 10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V

rayiner 10y ago

Can you think of a concrete example where the government got it wrong?[1] For the sake of argument, the federal government in the last 50 years? Maybe the encryption export ban. Or the CDA, but that was quickly reversed and the part that's left (Section 230) was really instrumental in the rise of the modern web. [1] And I don't mean wrong as in "NSA spying" because you disagree with the policy. I mean like, "regulations mandated everyone use Beta tapes and laser disk even though they quickly became obsolete."

ghurtado 10y ago
> Can you think of a concrete example where the government got it wrong? Stem cell research.
- rayiner 10y ago
  I think 2bitencryption's point is more along the lines that the government regulates fields and that regulation quickly becomes unworkable because its a "quickly-evolving new technology market." For example, if the government mandated that all computers had to be Windows 9x-compatible that might have prevented the rise of the iPhone. The embryonic stem-cell research ban didn't have anything to do with the underlying science and technology--it was based on a moral objection to the practice of destroying embryos for research. If the government had, for example, mandated the use of some testing methodology that soon became obsolete, that might be more on point.
  - ghurtado 10y ago
    Ah, I see. Thanks for clarifying, I thought it was a broader question.
harryh 10y ago
Some HIPAA regulations that pre-date the rise of shared virtual servers in "the cloud" are quite outdated and cause quite a bit of trouble for no real benefit.
- 10y ago

Spooky23 10y ago

Frequently. Passenger air travel. The highway system. Many others.

seanmcdirmid 10y ago

The FAA and NTSB have really worked well.