4 ms·

Honestly, I don't believe any company would "do the right thing". Companies exist to make money, as much as they possibly can. They might start off with good in

Honestly, I don't believe any company would "do the right thing". Companies exist to make money, as much as they possibly can. They might start off with good intentions, but inevitably, they will start looking for alternate ways of revenue. Sure, maybe some not for profit, good intention, fairly tale business might pop up. But they will in NO way get to billions of users, and will be dwarfed by the free alternatives.

ASalazarMX 9y ago
> Honestly, I don't believe any company would "do the right thing". Companies exist to make money, as much as they possibly can. Don't forget that companies are a tool for people to make money, It they lack ethics it's because a) the people who run them lack ethics, or b) they are too removed from the operation it only means a quarterly stream of money. I think granting legal personhood to conceptual entities was one of the biggest mistakes of capitalism.
- ethbro 9y ago
  Sometimes it simply means it's the globally winning move. Two hypotheticals. 1) Users pay Facebook a monthly fee to use the platform (enough to fund it profitably, so say $25/month) 2) Users pay Facebook a monthly fee AND Facebook markets their information (if not through direct advertising, then other methods) If the fee is the same, and there's no fundamental reason it shouldn't be, Facebook is under a fiduciary duty to always choose (2). The only path to not monetizing users is Apple-esque "Make so much money you can forgo profit in service to branding that the market forgives you". And I don't see Facebook ever commanding those kinds of margins. Absolutely agreed on corporate personhood. Teddy Roosevelt's biography and the 1850 - 1920 period is instructive, as you see what it really takes to claw back control from corporations (aka "combinations" at the time).

4 ms·

Honestly, I don't believe any company would "do the right thing". Companies exist to make money, as much as they possibly can. They might start off with good in

by overcast 9y ago

ASalazarMX 9y ago
> Honestly, I don't believe any company would "do the right thing". Companies exist to make money, as much as they possibly can. Don't forget that companies are a tool for people to make money, It they lack ethics it's because a) the people who run them lack ethics, or b) they are too removed from the operation it only means a quarterly stream of money. I think granting legal personhood to conceptual entities was one of the biggest mistakes of capitalism.
- ethbro 9y ago
  Sometimes it simply means it's the globally winning move. Two hypotheticals. 1) Users pay Facebook a monthly fee to use the platform (enough to fund it profitably, so say $25/month) 2) Users pay Facebook a monthly fee AND Facebook markets their information (if not through direct advertising, then other methods) If the fee is the same, and there's no fundamental reason it shouldn't be, Facebook is under a fiduciary duty to always choose (2). The only path to not monetizing users is Apple-esque "Make so much money you can forgo profit in service to branding that the market forgives you". And I don't see Facebook ever commanding those kinds of margins. Absolutely agreed on corporate personhood. Teddy Roosevelt's biography and the 1850 - 1920 period is instructive, as you see what it really takes to claw back control from corporations (aka "combinations" at the time).