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I don't know that the United States has any legal mechanism to prevent an online Chinese company from holding the top position and doing what American-native co

by KGIII 9y ago

I don't know that the United States has any legal mechanism to prevent an online Chinese company from holding the top position and doing what American-native companies do with the data. At least I can't think of any such mechanism? Perhaps someone here is a legal scholar?

RobertoG 9y ago
If the last years have show us anything it is that the USA government (and others) can create the legality that they think more convenient. For instance, you can invent a new category in order to avoid detaining people like criminals or war enemies if none of the laws applying to those are convenient.
- KGIII 9y ago
  True, and I wouldn't put it past them, but I know of no current legal mechanism for that. Emphasis on legal, of course. It does make me wonder what they'd use for justification - prior to the current administration. The current administration would just use nationalism and protectionism, I'd think. I'm not sure how the previous administration would have framed it in order to make it politically feasible.
  - fspeech 9y ago
    The federal government can forbid any of its employees from using the said service out of security concerns, a la Kaspersky. With network effect this can be an insurmountable challenge. Why should anyone try?
    - KGIII 9y ago
      For the thought exercise, I suppose. With the already entrenched services, it seems unlikely to change to whole new services. At least not any time soon. There were services that came before, but they lacked the inertia the current incumbents have. The userbase of Facebook, Google, etc. is huge in the Western world. Even if another company came along and built a great service, I doubt it would see mass adoption due to the massive numbers involved with the current providers.
      - AmIFirstToThink 9y ago
        They can still watch youtube videos about molecular biology all they want. The numbers don't really matter in that regard. And why would Google care if whatsapp is banned? Facebook didn't care that google search was banned. Banning Facebook would actually give a boost to their productivity, not much to lose there.
dreamfactored 9y ago
If a hostile foreign company starts getting significant market share, you can be sure that the local companies will be seen to cry out for regulation and the government will oblige

by KGIII 9y ago

RobertoG 9y ago

If the last years have show us anything it is that the USA government (and others) can create the legality that they think more convenient. For instance, you can invent a new category in order to avoid detaining people like criminals or war enemies if none of the laws applying to those are convenient.

KGIII 9y ago
True, and I wouldn't put it past them, but I know of no current legal mechanism for that. Emphasis on legal, of course. It does make me wonder what they'd use for justification - prior to the current administration. The current administration would just use nationalism and protectionism, I'd think. I'm not sure how the previous administration would have framed it in order to make it politically feasible.
- fspeech 9y ago
  The federal government can forbid any of its employees from using the said service out of security concerns, a la Kaspersky. With network effect this can be an insurmountable challenge. Why should anyone try?
  - KGIII 9y ago
    For the thought exercise, I suppose. With the already entrenched services, it seems unlikely to change to whole new services. At least not any time soon. There were services that came before, but they lacked the inertia the current incumbents have. The userbase of Facebook, Google, etc. is huge in the Western world. Even if another company came along and built a great service, I doubt it would see mass adoption due to the massive numbers involved with the current providers.
    - AmIFirstToThink 9y ago
      They can still watch youtube videos about molecular biology all they want. The numbers don't really matter in that regard. And why would Google care if whatsapp is banned? Facebook didn't care that google search was banned. Banning Facebook would actually give a boost to their productivity, not much to lose there.

dreamfactored 9y ago

If a hostile foreign company starts getting significant market share, you can be sure that the local companies will be seen to cry out for regulation and the government will oblige