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Legally, the government can force compliance by large technical companies. In practice, there's no current chance of that happening. Believing that Facebook, Go

Legally, the government can force compliance by large technical companies. In practice, there's no current chance of that happening. Believing that Facebook, Google, Twitter et. al. are beholden to the government given the past several years is somewhat laughable. Government is slow, and tech business is fast. Our politicians cannot keep up, even when they try.

b112 4y ago
Tech corporate change has slown down significantly, in as, the market is now full of entrenched players, and the market place is extremely static compared to 20+ years ago. Plus, 20 years ago only a small number of people were on the internet compared to now. Where did all of Google's, of Facebook's growth come from? An expanding internet. That's over. US adoption rates went from basically single digits, to essentially everyone, over 15+ years. Other places are even pulling away, or becoming more restrictive. EG, China, Russia, and even the EU slapping fines around. Google, Facebook, the massive growth is over here, in their entrenched markets. Meanwhile, more and more politicians grew up with the internet, use it daily, have smart phones, and "get" it. EG, an early adopter at 18, in 2000, would be 40 now. And, adopters of tech at 30, in 2010, are 42 now! During the rise of Google, eg 2000s, even the youngest Senators and Congress members were unaware of email, or the implications of smartphones, ad networks, tracking. Now, they almost all use the Internet daily, see annoying banner ads, notice how they are tracked. Further, some ... before entering politics, will experience the horrors of trying to deal with a real problem with Google, Facebook, and their lack of customer service. My point is, it was not the speed of market change, but instead, that it was a new market. That's over now. The tech market is old.
- b112 4y ago
  And to speak to this... Electronic computers have essentially been around for a century. The internet is easentially a subset of that market, and bam!, that massive growth. With that growth has come all of this change. Some of this change is not even about the internet, but instead, about storage, capacity growth, and thus centralized control. (Not just govenment, but for example, large banks have a central office approve or deny things, where 50 years ago branches made such decisions). My point is, big change in an existent market, due to new tech. That market has cooled, with repect to change. Another grows. Biotech. Fueled by computing changes, and other tech changes, it will soon be as transformative as the internet was. Just genetically engineer humans as a start. But all the other tech surrounding this, it will make the change the internet wrought seem tiny in comparison. Just imagine furries everywhere, for example. shudder
  - Beldin 4y ago
    > Electronic computers have essentially been around for a century. That's like saying cars have been around for more than a millennium, since the Romans and Egyptians already had horse-drawn carriages. World War 2 spurred innovation in automated computing. Post-war, the first computers appeared. Still not enough for the famous quote from the 60s "i believe there's a world market for maybe 5 computers". Whether or not that's an urban legend, in the 60s, that quote was not a priori ridiculous. And let's not claim that less than 5 suffices for "being around" (eg, animals considered extinct have later been found in such numbers). Nevertheless, let's graciously say that computers have been around since 1960. That's 62 years; rather far short of a century.
    - b112 4y ago
      Eniac was around in the 40s, and electromechanical computers before it. Eniac meets the test, hands down. But, 80 years or 100, close enough.
tomc1985 4y ago
This sort of naive, haughty attitude is why I can't stand hanging out with tech people in person any more.
- IntrepidWorm 4y ago
  Naive - definitely. But I'm speaking to what seems to me a fairly common observation. Feel free to criticize! I'm not so sure about haughty- that doesn't feel like a good faith interpretation.
  - tomc1985 4y ago
    > tech business is fast Not nearly as fast as it used to be, except when it comes to breaking things. They get away with it because of folks' relentless optimism towards anything tech-related, and the fact that we are all used to muddling through random issues Every time I hear someone express that users' bandwidth or compute are free and freely available, I cringe so hard...

b112 4y ago

Tech corporate change has slown down significantly, in as, the market is now full of entrenched players, and the market place is extremely static compared to 20+ years ago. Plus, 20 years ago only a small number of people were on the internet compared to now. Where did all of Google's, of Facebook's growth come from? An expanding internet. That's over. US adoption rates went from basically single digits, to essentially everyone, over 15+ years. Other places are even pulling away, or becoming more restrictive. EG, China, Russia, and even the EU slapping fines around. Google, Facebook, the massive growth is over here, in their entrenched markets. Meanwhile, more and more politicians grew up with the internet, use it daily, have smart phones, and "get" it. EG, an early adopter at 18, in 2000, would be 40 now. And, adopters of tech at 30, in 2010, are 42 now! During the rise of Google, eg 2000s, even the youngest Senators and Congress members were unaware of email, or the implications of smartphones, ad networks, tracking. Now, they almost all use the Internet daily, see annoying banner ads, notice how they are tracked. Further, some ... before entering politics, will experience the horrors of trying to deal with a real problem with Google, Facebook, and their lack of customer service. My point is, it was not the speed of market change, but instead, that it was a new market. That's over now. The tech market is old.

b112 4y ago
And to speak to this... Electronic computers have essentially been around for a century. The internet is easentially a subset of that market, and bam!, that massive growth. With that growth has come all of this change. Some of this change is not even about the internet, but instead, about storage, capacity growth, and thus centralized control. (Not just govenment, but for example, large banks have a central office approve or deny things, where 50 years ago branches made such decisions). My point is, big change in an existent market, due to new tech. That market has cooled, with repect to change. Another grows. Biotech. Fueled by computing changes, and other tech changes, it will soon be as transformative as the internet was. Just genetically engineer humans as a start. But all the other tech surrounding this, it will make the change the internet wrought seem tiny in comparison. Just imagine furries everywhere, for example. shudder
- Beldin 4y ago
  > Electronic computers have essentially been around for a century. That's like saying cars have been around for more than a millennium, since the Romans and Egyptians already had horse-drawn carriages. World War 2 spurred innovation in automated computing. Post-war, the first computers appeared. Still not enough for the famous quote from the 60s "i believe there's a world market for maybe 5 computers". Whether or not that's an urban legend, in the 60s, that quote was not a priori ridiculous. And let's not claim that less than 5 suffices for "being around" (eg, animals considered extinct have later been found in such numbers). Nevertheless, let's graciously say that computers have been around since 1960. That's 62 years; rather far short of a century.
  - b112 4y ago
    Eniac was around in the 40s, and electromechanical computers before it. Eniac meets the test, hands down. But, 80 years or 100, close enough.

tomc1985 4y ago

This sort of naive, haughty attitude is why I can't stand hanging out with tech people in person any more.

IntrepidWorm 4y ago
Naive - definitely. But I'm speaking to what seems to me a fairly common observation. Feel free to criticize! I'm not so sure about haughty- that doesn't feel like a good faith interpretation.
- tomc1985 4y ago
  > tech business is fast Not nearly as fast as it used to be, except when it comes to breaking things. They get away with it because of folks' relentless optimism towards anything tech-related, and the fact that we are all used to muddling through random issues Every time I hear someone express that users' bandwidth or compute are free and freely available, I cringe so hard...