3 ms·

This isn't even a tech problem. It's a lack of regulation to give recourse for individuals and lack of ability for them to be treated fairly by businesses. We

This isn't even a tech problem. It's a lack of regulation to give recourse for individuals and lack of ability for them to be treated fairly by businesses. We need to treat companies that put themselves into a position like utilities as utilities. Give individuals actual transparency of why actions where taken, and an ability to appeal these decisions with transparency. It will cost more, but that is ok. What we have now is that the actions have caused real harm and the companies are unwilling to justify them. That's an abuse that needs to be removed through law.

deleted 6y ago
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zionic 6y ago
This. The power company can’t cancel you for a tweet for a reason.
- beached_whale 6y ago
  Laws that provide meaningful mechanisms like this would also be a good signal to keep companies from being in such a powerful position. That is good for everyone.
RonanTheGrey 6y ago
I worked at Microsoft for several years about a decade after they lost those famous lawsuits and I can tell you that the company culture around monopoly power and user rights was incredibly well defined. The company was absolutely paranoid about doing anything ever again that would create that set of lawsuits and from what I can tell, in the 8 years since I left MS, that culture is still alive and well. It's probably why MS is the only company I still feel comfortable doing with, among the "tech" companies. The hard slap they got from the government was enough to apparently permanently change the company culture around treatment of users and other businesses. I see a lot of the excesses we see coming out of Google, Twitter, FB, to be a consequence of there being, well, zero consequences for their behavior. They're like petulant children who never learned limits and think it's ok to do whatever they want, no matter who they hurt. That's exactly how you teach children -- give them limits. Ironically, the same rule applies to adults.

deleted 6y ago

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zionic 6y ago

This. The power company can’t cancel you for a tweet for a reason.

beached_whale 6y ago
Laws that provide meaningful mechanisms like this would also be a good signal to keep companies from being in such a powerful position. That is good for everyone.

RonanTheGrey 6y ago

I worked at Microsoft for several years about a decade after they lost those famous lawsuits and I can tell you that the company culture around monopoly power and user rights was incredibly well defined. The company was absolutely paranoid about doing anything ever again that would create that set of lawsuits and from what I can tell, in the 8 years since I left MS, that culture is still alive and well. It's probably why MS is the only company I still feel comfortable doing with, among the "tech" companies. The hard slap they got from the government was enough to apparently permanently change the company culture around treatment of users and other businesses. I see a lot of the excesses we see coming out of Google, Twitter, FB, to be a consequence of there being, well, zero consequences for their behavior. They're like petulant children who never learned limits and think it's ok to do whatever they want, no matter who they hurt. That's exactly how you teach children -- give them limits. Ironically, the same rule applies to adults.