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Being against government intervention is naive. If the US did what the EU has done with allowing people to avoid being tracked the big tech companies would be n
by weeksie 9y ago
Being against government intervention is naive. If the US did what the EU has done with allowing people to avoid being tracked the big tech companies would be nudged toward developing smarter business models. Maybe it's not necessary but it's foolish to dismiss government out of hand.
Allowing your largest companies to compete over hijacking your public's attention is precisely the sort of thing that reeks of government failure.
This generation of internet users is a lot more willing to pay for content than mine was. Gen X's reluctance to spend money online is what created the attention economy to begin with. Maybe the shift will happen on its own, but how much damage will we do in the meantime?
- mgraczyk 9y agoIf the US did what the EU has done, I would probably have to wait another 50 years for products I use every day like - Google Maps - Google Speech Recognition - Google Photos Search - Google Home I'm thankful that my government has allowed innovation to continue. I'm glad they have represented my interests as a consumer by favoring technological growth over protection I neither want nor need.
- pimmen 9y agoEver used Skype? Spotify? Trivago? Those are EU tech products many people use everyday, just goes to show that intervening from time to time doesn't necessarily mean that we live in some socialist, repressive regime. You're welcome, by the way.
- hackbinary 9y agoAlso, YouTube.
- killjoywashere 9y agoYouTube is from San Mateo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_YouTube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_YouTube
- blfr 9y agoGoogle offers plenty of minor services but Maps is in a completely different league than Skype or even Spotify. YouTube is closer to Spotify but would probably still be impossible without Google's massive investment. Dailymotion is pretty far behind.
- NicoJuicy 9y agoOpen street map then ;)
- dreamfactored 9y agoNote that China has reproduced to a large extent and in some areas exceeded these services within a few years precisely through massive government intervention
- brucephillips 9y agoWhat does it mean to "exceed" a service?
- dreamfactored 9y agoWechat vs Whatsapp
- brucephillips 9y agoThat doesn't answer the question.
- dreamfactored 9y agoExceeds the utility to user obviously
- brucephillips 9y agoAnd how does WeChat do that?
- DashRattlesnake 9y agoIIRC, by being a ubiquitous mobile payments platform.
- brucephillips 9y agoThat's a good point. Monopolies can be better than open competition at creating standards.
- jacksmith21006 9y agoExactly. Last thing we want is the EU type of heavy handed influence on free markets.
- ovao 9y ago> This generation of internet users is a lot more willing to pay for content than mine was. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest this is the case. Do you know of any?
- bdibs 9y agoI’d actually guess it’s the opposite. Why pay for a news subscription when you can get “news” for free on Facebook and the like.
- DashRattlesnake 9y ago> Why pay for a news subscription when you can get “news” for free on Facebook and the like. Did you miss the whole Facebook "fake news" thing last year?
- bdibs 9y agoThat’s why I put news in quotation marks, I actually have a couple news subscriptions and no Facebook account.
- snowwrestler 9y agoTwo examples I can think of off the top of my head are news subscriptions, and Patreon. Both seem to be growing a good clip. A decade ago there was a lot of talk about digital subscriptions as a business model, but few if any success stories.
- xPhobophobia 9y ago> If the US did what the EU has done with allowing people to avoid being tracked the big tech companies would be nudged toward developing smarter business models. Maybe it's not necessary but it's foolish to dismiss government out of hand. Do you think that they would really get "better" for a consumer, or more covert as they become "smarter"? I'd assume the latter.