> you seem to dismiss the notion of the "collective action problem" as a phenomenon at all No, I'm just objecting to the claim that governments can solve such

> you seem to dismiss the notion of the "collective action problem" as a phenomenon at all No, I'm just objecting to the claim that governments can solve such problems. > the only way to avoid Google in this situation has incredibly high cost, out of proportion to its benefit That's because the current situation was created by a collective action failure, one which governments have not done anything to help and have in fact made worse, by doing the same thing individuals have been doing: shortsightedly taking advantage of "free" services from Google without considering the actual (non-monetary) costs. Governments are not going to fix this situation. The only way to fix it is to invert the collective action that caused it in the first place. I agree that, because of the depth of the hole we have dug ourselves into, climbing out of it is a huge effort. That doesn't change the fact that the problem won't be solved any other way.