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It's hard not to get really depressed when you think about all the political institutions that were setup to protect consumers and have since been hijacked by t
by OedipusRex 7y ago
It's hard not to get really depressed when you think about all the political institutions that were setup to protect consumers and have since been hijacked by the corporations to protect them from the consumers.
- mikedilger 7y agoMaybe you won't be so depressed when you realize that some of the quotes in that article by Gigi Sohn ("complete and total abdication of oversight") are prima facie hyberbole, and thus we can dismiss them as politically motivated. How can I say it's hyberbole? The rest of the article tells us that there are lawsuits, prosecutions, and FCC investigations. That doesn't sound like a complete and total abdication of oversight. Is the problem serious? yes. Is it ongoing? yes. Is there regulatory capture? yes. But is nothing being done about it? no.
- nnvvhh 7y agoI think you're overreacting. The Sohn quote is referring specifically to oversight by relevant government agencies. Lawsuits are not relevant to the statement. The article implies that the FCC investigation into location data sharing was, at best, proceeding slowly.
- mikedilger 7y agoPerhaps. I mostly concur with the article. I think FCC deregulation was poorly done. I'm not happy with the wording of my prior statement but I'm not going to edit it. What I was thinking when I wrote it was "cheer up, things will work out okay"
- supertrope 7y agoIt's inevitable unless regulators and consumer activists maintain the upper hand (in which case businesses will complain about a business unfriendly environment). Badly behaved businesses reap concentrated benefit while imposing diffuse losses on others. It's kind of like how a factory worker in a declining city notices the harm of a layoff much more than the benefit of TVs costing 25% less.