5 ms·
While Google is functionally a public utility, it's not something that I want to be regulated like a public utility. If the government can't be trusted to law l
by Aunche 5y ago
While Google is functionally a public utility, it's not something that I want to be regulated like a public utility. If the government can't be trusted to law lines on a map that aren't blatantly rigged to favor their own political party, I can't trust that they won't tamper with search results the same way.
- ziftface 5y agoUnfortunately that skepticism is warranted today. American politics were always somewhat broken in the past, but the blatant partisanship today makes any kind of progress almost impossible.
- epigen 5y agoThe cost-per-search is negligible even if every user had to pay. Instead of running the search the government could implement policies that make search advertising illegal and thus forcing another business model. Pay-per-search would be cheap enough for municipalities to negotiate subscriptions for their entire broadband network as a part of broadband service.
- qxga 5y ago> Pay-per-search Yeah, the last thing I would want my search history to be tied to is my payment information.
- amadeuspagel 5y agoWhat an awful idea. A municipality would probably only have one search engine, search engines would serve municipalities which could pressure them to suppress stories, there'd probably be one search engine targeting republican municipalities and one targeting democrat ones, there'd be pressure groups trying to get municipalities to use another search engine that doesn't show results they don't like and it would be incredibly hard to start a new search engine.
- leafmeal 5y agoAt least with government we have the powers of oversight and political organizing. It seems like a better bet then a corporation who's accountable to a bottom line, or owners.
- wyager 5y agoI trust "political organizing" (codeword for astroturfing and cathedral control) less than I trust Google's profit interests.
- crocal 5y agoI guess you are ready for dictatorship then?
- wyager 5y agoCould you explain this take further? I’m tempted to write this off entirely, but I’m curious if you actually have some reason to associate corporatism with monarchy.
- adamcstephens 5y agoCorporatism in practice is an oligarchy. The people at the top decide the fate of everyone lower than them. In some companies it is effectively a monarchy, as a sole person is driving the decisions.
- whimsicalism 5y agoI would rather be governed by a public actor with constraints than the arbitrary interference of a private actor. This is the core republican (as in the political philosophy: Discourses on Livy, Philip Pettit, etc.) insight. If you want a stable society, you cannot leave space for arbitrary private individuals to become domineering forces on the rest of society. It's literally textbook how civilizations will fall, yet as a species we seem incapable of avoiding our own mistakes.
- gnopgnip 5y agoSo trusting a private company that doesn't answer to the public at all is better than trusting elected officials that favor the incumbents?