7 ms·

Congress Is Woefully Unprepared to Regulate Tech

25 points by ericsaf 3y ago

ericsaf 3y ago
Potential solutions mentioned in the article.
solardev 3y ago
They're not much better at regulating anything else, for that matter.
smileysteve 3y ago
On the edge of political rules for the site; and blunt cynicism. Congress seems woefully unprepared to regulate X; Committees have limited effectiveness; even if some members carefully listened to all testimony; partisan gridlock at present would be a limiting factor over the last 10 years. - Privacy Laws; Congress proposed laws including device manufacturers giving encryption certificates to the government; at a similar time where leaked NSA tools have become the primary tool of Ransomware. - Agriculture; The conclusion is generally that farm subsidies, ethanol subsidies aren't based on what's good for the country or energy efficiency, but one of the first primary caucuses. - Immigration; Decades of high numbers of h2b (migrant) visas with no path to citizenship for DREAMers; Inflation partly caused by lack of workers thanks to a large retiring generation (and lower average life expectancy), while legal immigration limits keep potential workers from legal jobs.
- User23 3y ago
  H-2B isn't an immigrant visa. It's for seasonal labor who comes when there is work to be done and leaves when there isn't.
exabrial 3y ago
> Congress Is Woefully Unprepared to do anything Fixed if for you. Unless it's giving themselves a raise of course.
- lockhouse 3y ago
  The founding fathers would tell you that this is a feature, not a bug. They really didn't want it to be easy for the federal government to do much. The states were meant to hold most of the power as they were closer to the people.
  - Dig1t 3y ago
    Which seems good to me. California has been leading the way on this, passing laws ranging from requiring diversity quotas on corporate boards to its own privacy legislation. To me, it doesn't make sense to have very many laws that apply nationally because people lead such completely different lives depending on where they live in the country. e.g. a person living in San Francisco leads a wildly different life than someone in rural Montana, and passing laws that both people actually _want_ is difficult. The more granular and narrowly scoped laws are, the better, in my opinion.
  - lapcat 3y ago
    > The founding fathers would tell you Why should we care in the 21st century? The founders weren't omniscient, benevolent gods. They were just wealthy landowners looking out for their own interests — it's crucial to note that they ignored over half the population of the colonies, i.e., women and black people — and they borrowed the majority of their (now long outdated) ideas from 17th century British philosopher John Locke. The US Constitution is woefully unprepared for the present and future.
    - lockhouse 3y ago
      I disagree. They had a lot of great ideas for the prevention of tyranny. They weren't perfect, and some parts of the Constitution as originally ratified were simply a product of reaching a compromise that both Northern and Southern states would both be on board with. The beauty of the Constitution is that it can be changed via amendments, but it is intentionally resistant to change to ensure proper debate and compromise so that it benefits the country as a whole.
sieabahlpark 3y ago
[dead]

25 points by ericsaf 3y ago

ericsaf 3y ago

Potential solutions mentioned in the article.

solardev 3y ago

They're not much better at regulating anything else, for that matter.

smileysteve 3y ago

On the edge of political rules for the site; and blunt cynicism. Congress seems woefully unprepared to regulate X; Committees have limited effectiveness; even if some members carefully listened to all testimony; partisan gridlock at present would be a limiting factor over the last 10 years. - Privacy Laws; Congress proposed laws including device manufacturers giving encryption certificates to the government; at a similar time where leaked NSA tools have become the primary tool of Ransomware. - Agriculture; The conclusion is generally that farm subsidies, ethanol subsidies aren't based on what's good for the country or energy efficiency, but one of the first primary caucuses. - Immigration; Decades of high numbers of h2b (migrant) visas with no path to citizenship for DREAMers; Inflation partly caused by lack of workers thanks to a large retiring generation (and lower average life expectancy), while legal immigration limits keep potential workers from legal jobs.

User23 3y ago
H-2B isn't an immigrant visa. It's for seasonal labor who comes when there is work to be done and leaves when there isn't.

exabrial 3y ago

> Congress Is Woefully Unprepared to do anything Fixed if for you. Unless it's giving themselves a raise of course.

lockhouse 3y ago
The founding fathers would tell you that this is a feature, not a bug. They really didn't want it to be easy for the federal government to do much. The states were meant to hold most of the power as they were closer to the people.
- Dig1t 3y ago
  Which seems good to me. California has been leading the way on this, passing laws ranging from requiring diversity quotas on corporate boards to its own privacy legislation. To me, it doesn't make sense to have very many laws that apply nationally because people lead such completely different lives depending on where they live in the country. e.g. a person living in San Francisco leads a wildly different life than someone in rural Montana, and passing laws that both people actually _want_ is difficult. The more granular and narrowly scoped laws are, the better, in my opinion.
- lapcat 3y ago
  > The founding fathers would tell you Why should we care in the 21st century? The founders weren't omniscient, benevolent gods. They were just wealthy landowners looking out for their own interests — it's crucial to note that they ignored over half the population of the colonies, i.e., women and black people — and they borrowed the majority of their (now long outdated) ideas from 17th century British philosopher John Locke. The US Constitution is woefully unprepared for the present and future.
  - lockhouse 3y ago
    I disagree. They had a lot of great ideas for the prevention of tyranny. They weren't perfect, and some parts of the Constitution as originally ratified were simply a product of reaching a compromise that both Northern and Southern states would both be on board with. The beauty of the Constitution is that it can be changed via amendments, but it is intentionally resistant to change to ensure proper debate and compromise so that it benefits the country as a whole.

sieabahlpark 3y ago

[dead]