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There are lots of more compelling ways to reboot the internet that we're currently neglecting. I think we should begin by enacting government regulation to stri

There are lots of more compelling ways to reboot the internet that we're currently neglecting. I think we should begin by enacting government regulation to strip more power from the big tech companies, and transfer that back to the hands of everyday users. GDPR was a step in the right direction. We should go one step further, and actually enact the data portability promises that GDPR failed to deliver. We should develop internet-wide schemas for ubiquitous concepts and then require companies/governments to use them as their public-facing data representations. Data rights should be extended to ensure that users can migrate that data around. And no, I'm not talking about transferrable NFT's. I'm talking about internet standards and protocols that are designed for interoperability.

noodles_nomore 5y ago
What really excites me about the possibilities for a new web are all the regulations we can draft up and enforce on everyone.
- notpachet 5y ago
  We're going to end up with interoperability standards one way or another. The alternative is to just roll over and let the tech companies build them to their satisfaction and enforce them on us instead. That sounds very Web 2.0 to me.
AlchemistCamp 5y ago
Your plan is to achieve technological progress through regulation? I'm very, very skeptical the result will be anything other than grinding progress to a halt. Just take a look at at computing systems within highly regulated industries such as consumer banking or medicine. Do you find either inspiring? How about nuclear power plants still using technology from our grandparents' era because doing so was legislated? I'd bet that if such regulations came to pass in a country or market, in 15 years the internet there will lag considerably behind the internet in freer places.
- notpachet 5y ago
  It isn't technological progress I'm after. It's social progress. I want to live in a world where it's easier for different groups to exchange information using a well-defined set of semantic data standards. I'm not advocating for the imposition of any new technologies here. Everything I outlined is readily achievable using technology we have at hand today. It's just a question of holding organizations accountable to the good of the people on this planet instead of just to their own bottom line. I don't think the purpose of consumer banking should be to inspire us with technological wizardry. It should be to provide a stable suite of services to customers, with protections to safeguard those customers where appropriate. If 50-year-old Cobol mainframes are serving that goal, well and good. If they're not (say, because they're more susceptible to breaches), then those companies running outdated software should be penalized until they upgrade their shit. For each of your points, there are counterpoints to be made where government-imposed regulation had a positive effect on the citizenry. Do you find Teflon-induced cancers inspiring? What about marketing cigarettes to children? Should we get rid of all FDA labels on food products? More pertinently, should we do away with Sarbanes-Oxley and give corporations free reign over how they manage their financial affairs? Restrictions on liberty are a fundamental part of living in a society, whether we're talking about individual or corporate liberties. This isn't to say that all regulation is perfect, or that there won't be some bumps in the road. Far from it. But I consider it a hallmark of our immaturity as a society that we see the regulatory landscape in such black-and-white terms as "regulation kills innovation". Of course, entrenched industries spend tons of money trying to convince the average person that this is the case, so perhaps it is excusable that so many people feel that way...
  - AlchemistCamp 5y ago
    There's no point in our history where I'd like technological progress to have been halted. We live longer, healthier lives than our ancestors ever did. It would be a terrible gamble to assume we've reached the pinnacle and should stop or even slow down here.

noodles_nomore 5y ago

What really excites me about the possibilities for a new web are all the regulations we can draft up and enforce on everyone.

notpachet 5y ago
We're going to end up with interoperability standards one way or another. The alternative is to just roll over and let the tech companies build them to their satisfaction and enforce them on us instead. That sounds very Web 2.0 to me.

AlchemistCamp 5y ago

Your plan is to achieve technological progress through regulation? I'm very, very skeptical the result will be anything other than grinding progress to a halt. Just take a look at at computing systems within highly regulated industries such as consumer banking or medicine. Do you find either inspiring? How about nuclear power plants still using technology from our grandparents' era because doing so was legislated? I'd bet that if such regulations came to pass in a country or market, in 15 years the internet there will lag considerably behind the internet in freer places.

notpachet 5y ago
It isn't technological progress I'm after. It's social progress. I want to live in a world where it's easier for different groups to exchange information using a well-defined set of semantic data standards. I'm not advocating for the imposition of any new technologies here. Everything I outlined is readily achievable using technology we have at hand today. It's just a question of holding organizations accountable to the good of the people on this planet instead of just to their own bottom line. I don't think the purpose of consumer banking should be to inspire us with technological wizardry. It should be to provide a stable suite of services to customers, with protections to safeguard those customers where appropriate. If 50-year-old Cobol mainframes are serving that goal, well and good. If they're not (say, because they're more susceptible to breaches), then those companies running outdated software should be penalized until they upgrade their shit. For each of your points, there are counterpoints to be made where government-imposed regulation had a positive effect on the citizenry. Do you find Teflon-induced cancers inspiring? What about marketing cigarettes to children? Should we get rid of all FDA labels on food products? More pertinently, should we do away with Sarbanes-Oxley and give corporations free reign over how they manage their financial affairs? Restrictions on liberty are a fundamental part of living in a society, whether we're talking about individual or corporate liberties. This isn't to say that all regulation is perfect, or that there won't be some bumps in the road. Far from it. But I consider it a hallmark of our immaturity as a society that we see the regulatory landscape in such black-and-white terms as "regulation kills innovation". Of course, entrenched industries spend tons of money trying to convince the average person that this is the case, so perhaps it is excusable that so many people feel that way...
- AlchemistCamp 5y ago
  There's no point in our history where I'd like technological progress to have been halted. We live longer, healthier lives than our ancestors ever did. It would be a terrible gamble to assume we've reached the pinnacle and should stop or even slow down here.