7 ms·

Regulatory arbitrage of some sort seems to be involved in many recent digital business models. Whether it concerns or involves (lack of) data privacy regulation

Regulatory arbitrage of some sort seems to be involved in many recent digital business models. Whether it concerns or involves (lack of) data privacy regulation, "reinventing" labour contracts or undercutting taxation frameworks, it is a most cruel reminder of how poor the management of the commons. While many of the efficiencies and attractions of re-inventing various businesses for the "digital age" seem genuine, their deployment within a fog of regulatory risk seems like a lose-lose proposition for anybody but the most short-term minded.

cblconfederate 5y ago
It was there from the start, piracy was rampant in most companies that appear "serious" today, youtube is the most memorable.
throw_m239339 5y ago
> Regulatory arbitrage of some sort seems to be involved in many recent digital business models. Whether it concerns or involves (lack of) data privacy regulation, "reinventing" labour contracts or undercutting taxation frameworks, it is a most cruel reminder of how poor the management of the commons. Well here is the thing, in my country the majority of Airbnb rental are(at least were) illegal. Authorities knew this but hypocritically, illegal rentals were good for tourism, so the state cracked down on a few illegal rentals, for the example, while allowing 99% of them. This is regulatory arbitrage. Uber on the other hand, didn't have the same luck since legal taxi drivers started to beat up Uber drivers so Uber quickly shut down their operation, as they were running illegal taxis and they couldn't have their cake and eat it too with the justice system... Sometimes it does backfire. One of the reasons why all these SV tech business got away with it is the fact that they are all located in US, only the landlord or the driver are taking real risks legally. As I said before, if I tried such an operation in my own country, I'll be shut down in no time and sent straight to jail for running illegal hotels. "it's just an app" wouldn't work. I still think that my government could have banned these apps if they really wanted to at first place, they are so eager to shutdown torrent/illegal VOD websites for instance, but they didn't.
- naveen99 5y ago
  The irony of law abiding vigilante drivers beating up regulation abritraging drivers
  - throw_m239339 5y ago
    > The irony of law abiding vigilante drivers beating up regulation abritraging drivers Who's going to go file a complain? Uber running illegal taxis? Judges looking into this would be delighted for Uber to get a local presence in order for them to file a complain so the police could arrest a few of their executives...
    - short12 5y ago
      Wouldn't they just send a lawyer. Even if they did send an executive there is zero chance of an arrest being made
  - yetihehe 5y ago
    Recently I heard a joke about postmen leaving aviso instead of delivering post. If you see him leaving aviso, you can legally beat him. You have his signed proof that you weren't home at the time.
    - secondcoming 5y ago
      'aviso'?
      - yetihehe 5y ago
        Written notification about tried delivery of a letter or package which can only be received in person. If you are not home, you can go to nearest post office and receive it there. Sorry, I thought it's english word.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
beckman466 5y ago
> a lose-lose proposition for anybody but the most short-term minded. "[I]n recent years the realisation has dawned that what’s good for Silicon Valley is not always good for everyone. What started with scrappy upstarts promising to make the world a better place has morphed into something more sinister: a pantheon of faceless multinationals who collectively dominate the world’s digital infrastructure, flouting regulations, avoiding taxes, and taking advantage of precarious labour to make a small number of people tremendously wealthy." https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/01/abolish-silicon-valley https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/01/abolish-silicon-valley
- tim333 5y ago
  There's some good and some bad out of Silicon Valley like with most things but you can always ban the bad and take advantage of the good.
  - jfrunyon 5y ago
    Can you? The businesses that were actually illegal have legalized themselves, and the businesses that virtually everyone agrees do bad things have been getting "investigated" by Congress with no action for the past decade...
- pdimitar 5y ago
  It hasn't "morphed" into anything. It always was a way to easy money (while lying through their teeth), but way too many people are naive and couldn't see it earlier.
  - beckman466 5y ago
    > but way too many people are naive and couldn't see it earlier. right, yeah, so others are dumb and you're enlightened? > It hasn't "morphed" into anything. It always was a way to easy money (while lying through their teeth) i don't get comments like yours. i'm sharing this quote because i like that whole article by Wendy Liu. Wendy agrees with you, and so do i. so why not just read it? your comment comes across know-it-all-y and bitter.
olalonde 5y ago
It's a most cruel reminder of how bad regulations are.
- tim333 5y ago
  Some regulations.
  - WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
    The ones passed in response to fat campaign donations. eg:anti municipal broadband, ever-ratcheting copyright laws
    - ralfn 5y ago
      Sounds like you dont have a problem with regulations, but with political corruption. Obviously, if we just get rid of regulations entirely, the corruption problem will be solved. .. or maybe the carton of milk i buy can now kill me.
      - WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
        The presence of corruption poisons the soil for well-constructed, effective regulation. Corruption fueled regulation thrives in those toxins.
- ralfn 5y ago
  I like the regulation where you can't physically murder your competitor.
AbrahamParangi 5y ago
The prosocial case for regulatory arbitrage is that regulations can be good or bad but either way are usually sticky- so when they’re bad they’re bad for a long time. Societies, like all things, accumulate cruft over time and without arbitrage bad regulations won’t get reset until govt or economic collapse forces a major reset. Arbitrage offers exposure to a world without some regulation and people can decide if they like that or not.
- kevinventullo 5y ago
  Right. Regulatory arbitrage aside, I think it’s hard to make the case that Uber was anything but a massive improvement over incumbent taxi companies.

cblconfederate 5y ago

It was there from the start, piracy was rampant in most companies that appear "serious" today, youtube is the most memorable.

throw_m239339 5y ago

> Regulatory arbitrage of some sort seems to be involved in many recent digital business models. Whether it concerns or involves (lack of) data privacy regulation, "reinventing" labour contracts or undercutting taxation frameworks, it is a most cruel reminder of how poor the management of the commons. Well here is the thing, in my country the majority of Airbnb rental are(at least were) illegal. Authorities knew this but hypocritically, illegal rentals were good for tourism, so the state cracked down on a few illegal rentals, for the example, while allowing 99% of them. This is regulatory arbitrage. Uber on the other hand, didn't have the same luck since legal taxi drivers started to beat up Uber drivers so Uber quickly shut down their operation, as they were running illegal taxis and they couldn't have their cake and eat it too with the justice system... Sometimes it does backfire. One of the reasons why all these SV tech business got away with it is the fact that they are all located in US, only the landlord or the driver are taking real risks legally. As I said before, if I tried such an operation in my own country, I'll be shut down in no time and sent straight to jail for running illegal hotels. "it's just an app" wouldn't work. I still think that my government could have banned these apps if they really wanted to at first place, they are so eager to shutdown torrent/illegal VOD websites for instance, but they didn't.

naveen99 5y ago
The irony of law abiding vigilante drivers beating up regulation abritraging drivers
- throw_m239339 5y ago
  > The irony of law abiding vigilante drivers beating up regulation abritraging drivers Who's going to go file a complain? Uber running illegal taxis? Judges looking into this would be delighted for Uber to get a local presence in order for them to file a complain so the police could arrest a few of their executives...
  - short12 5y ago
    Wouldn't they just send a lawyer. Even if they did send an executive there is zero chance of an arrest being made
- yetihehe 5y ago
  Recently I heard a joke about postmen leaving aviso instead of delivering post. If you see him leaving aviso, you can legally beat him. You have his signed proof that you weren't home at the time.
  - secondcoming 5y ago
    'aviso'?
    - yetihehe 5y ago
      Written notification about tried delivery of a letter or package which can only be received in person. If you are not home, you can go to nearest post office and receive it there. Sorry, I thought it's english word.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]

beckman466 5y ago

> a lose-lose proposition for anybody but the most short-term minded. "[I]n recent years the realisation has dawned that what’s good for Silicon Valley is not always good for everyone. What started with scrappy upstarts promising to make the world a better place has morphed into something more sinister: a pantheon of faceless multinationals who collectively dominate the world’s digital infrastructure, flouting regulations, avoiding taxes, and taking advantage of precarious labour to make a small number of people tremendously wealthy." https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/01/abolish-silicon-valley https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/01/abolish-silicon-valley

tim333 5y ago
There's some good and some bad out of Silicon Valley like with most things but you can always ban the bad and take advantage of the good.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  Can you? The businesses that were actually illegal have legalized themselves, and the businesses that virtually everyone agrees do bad things have been getting "investigated" by Congress with no action for the past decade...
pdimitar 5y ago
It hasn't "morphed" into anything. It always was a way to easy money (while lying through their teeth), but way too many people are naive and couldn't see it earlier.
- beckman466 5y ago
  > but way too many people are naive and couldn't see it earlier. right, yeah, so others are dumb and you're enlightened? > It hasn't "morphed" into anything. It always was a way to easy money (while lying through their teeth) i don't get comments like yours. i'm sharing this quote because i like that whole article by Wendy Liu. Wendy agrees with you, and so do i. so why not just read it? your comment comes across know-it-all-y and bitter.

olalonde 5y ago

It's a most cruel reminder of how bad regulations are.

tim333 5y ago
Some regulations.
- WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
  The ones passed in response to fat campaign donations. eg:anti municipal broadband, ever-ratcheting copyright laws
  - ralfn 5y ago
    Sounds like you dont have a problem with regulations, but with political corruption. Obviously, if we just get rid of regulations entirely, the corruption problem will be solved. .. or maybe the carton of milk i buy can now kill me.
    - WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
      The presence of corruption poisons the soil for well-constructed, effective regulation. Corruption fueled regulation thrives in those toxins.
ralfn 5y ago
I like the regulation where you can't physically murder your competitor.

AbrahamParangi 5y ago

The prosocial case for regulatory arbitrage is that regulations can be good or bad but either way are usually sticky- so when they’re bad they’re bad for a long time. Societies, like all things, accumulate cruft over time and without arbitrage bad regulations won’t get reset until govt or economic collapse forces a major reset. Arbitrage offers exposure to a world without some regulation and people can decide if they like that or not.

kevinventullo 5y ago
Right. Regulatory arbitrage aside, I think it’s hard to make the case that Uber was anything but a massive improvement over incumbent taxi companies.