We've seen this with companies as well as with government: One of the things they still respond to is outsized pressure. Perhaps at its most basic, the fear t

We've seen this with companies as well as with government: One of the things they still respond to is outsized pressure. Perhaps at its most basic, the fear that people will quit them. (Lost business, lost good will, lost votes.) A few years ago, there was a lot of outrage about Facebook's relentless "publification" of user data. And it did produce some at least temporary retraction as well as some degree of redesign. In lieu of other mechanisms and options, people are "voting" with their voice. And past a certain volume, this appears to produce some success with respect to the concerns of those voices. Remember a year ago, when the front page was full of SOPA posts and commentary? Well, that appears to have led to something that -- at least temporarily -- was in favor of the majority of those posting. "60 Minutes" [1], for and by the masses. Tick tick tick tick... ---- [1] A prominent U.S. TV news / investigative journalism program. (I think it's now been somewhat internationalized, or "franchised".) Although its credibility has come increasingly into question in recent years. Its opening segment and transitions display a ticking stopwatch. Some of its stories have been credited with producing significant private and public policy shifts -- in perception, or substance, or both.