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> This could be (theoretically) replaced with a threat of penalty by Government, but entities like Facebook wouldn't treat this nearly as seriously as they do t

> This could be (theoretically) replaced with a threat of penalty by Government, but entities like Facebook wouldn't treat this nearly as seriously as they do the threat of being kicked out of the only means of app distribution on iOS. It's not as if laws and regulations don't already exist for other industries, and governments haven't enforced them. I'd trust my democratically elected government over a corporate that only cares about its self-interest than mine. (And no, I do not believe that Apple's self-interest are aligned with their consumers, and will never be under the current form of capitalism we have, however much they like to sell that idea).

simondotau 5y ago
Governments are usually too good at regulating industries they understand—and abysmal at regulating industries they don't. You don't need to believe that Apple's self-interest is aligned with their customers; that's an entirely valid view which you can exercise in the free market. Eliding the inferred red herring of perfect alignment, there are many people who would consider Apple's corporate interests to be more in line with their own when compared with their government's, or with Apple's closest competitors. One of my favourite quotes is by P. J. O'Rourke who said: "There is a simple rule here, a rule of legislation, a rule of business, a rule of life: beyond a certain point, complexity is fraud. You can apply that rule to left-wing social programs, but you can also apply that rule to credit derivatives, hedge funds, all the rest of it." Beyond a certain point, complexity is fraud. Nothing captures the dirty truth of modern life more succinctly than that, in my opinion. I think that Government has too much complexity to assertively claim that it is more aligned with my interests than, say, Apple is. For all of its (many) faults, one redeeming quality of Apple is that their corporate interest is brutally simple—almost nostalgically simple. They make a useful product, they convince me that it's worth a certain price, they sell it to me for that price.

simondotau 5y ago

Governments are usually too good at regulating industries they understand—and abysmal at regulating industries they don't. You don't need to believe that Apple's self-interest is aligned with their customers; that's an entirely valid view which you can exercise in the free market. Eliding the inferred red herring of perfect alignment, there are many people who would consider Apple's corporate interests to be more in line with their own when compared with their government's, or with Apple's closest competitors. One of my favourite quotes is by P. J. O'Rourke who said: "There is a simple rule here, a rule of legislation, a rule of business, a rule of life: beyond a certain point, complexity is fraud. You can apply that rule to left-wing social programs, but you can also apply that rule to credit derivatives, hedge funds, all the rest of it." Beyond a certain point, complexity is fraud. Nothing captures the dirty truth of modern life more succinctly than that, in my opinion. I think that Government has too much complexity to assertively claim that it is more aligned with my interests than, say, Apple is. For all of its (many) faults, one redeeming quality of Apple is that their corporate interest is brutally simple—almost nostalgically simple. They make a useful product, they convince me that it's worth a certain price, they sell it to me for that price.