Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
doctorow.medium.com
Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
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Re: Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
#2> Regulating tech is a great idea (assuming the regulations are thoughtful and productive, of course),
I’m not nearly as enthusiastic for these calls to bring heavy regulation on to the tech industry.
Articles like this have a hypothetical ideal mental image of regulations that will punish only the bad guys while protecting themselves and the content they like. There’s also an implicit assumption that regulation will only apply to Facebook, without bringing negative effects on to the sites and services the tech community prefers.
This article may be well-meaning in intentions, but how would such regulation work in practice? Writing regulation that outlaws companies from forbidding customer API automation sounds good if you’re a tech user who wants to automate some clicks, but would that also mean that spammers must have free reign on the API as well? How would such a law be structured to force sites to allow consumers to use “good” tools while also allowing them to catch and stop the “bad” tools like auto-friend bots?
Some of these arguments are starting to feel like utopian fallacies where people want impossibly perfect regulations applied with the assumption that only their enemies will be affected. I’m also surprised to see authors like Cory Doctorow advocating for more government control and regulation of popular internet communication sites. Once we open that Pandora’s box of government control, it’s hard to imagine future politicians won’t be teaching for it as a way to push their agenda.
Re: Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
#3> Regulating tech is a great idea (assuming the regulations are thoughtful and productive, of course), I’m not nearly as enthusiastic for these calls to bring heavy regulation on to the tech industry. Articles like this have a hypothetical ideal mental image of regulations that will punish only the bad guys while protecting themselves and the content they like. There’s also an implicit assumption that regulation will…
Lately, it seems like our only remaining choice as a civilization is to decide if we want to be exploited or controlled.
Re: Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
#4The author seems to be filled with a sense of “knight-in-shining-armor-ism.” If Facebook’s actions really are a problem to most people, then most people would stop using it.
He calls Zuckerberg a "pope-emperor" of Facebook's users, but that's because the users choose to give him power. If the users stop choosing to give him power, he loses it.
Re: Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
#5> Regulating tech is a great idea (assuming the regulations are thoughtful and productive, of course), I’m not nearly as enthusiastic for these calls to bring heavy regulation on to the tech industry. Articles like this have a hypothetical ideal mental image of regulations that will punish only the bad guys while protecting themselves and the content they like. There’s also an implicit assumption that regulation will…
Just imagine the politician of your nightmares being in control of the regulations.
I think the real issue is that people live in black holes of misinformation on the internet because that is where they want to be. When I look at the many Herman Cain Award threads on reddit, it seems the predominate original source of most posts is groups that the user signed up for.
This isn't new, before Facebook, there were usenet and forums, AM Radio and even mailing lists and magazines.
Re: Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
#6The author seems to be filled with a sense of “knight-in-shining-armor-ism.” If Facebook’s actions really are a problem to most people, then most people would stop using it. He calls Zuckerberg a "pope-emperor" of Facebook's users, but that's because the users choose to give him power. If the users stop choosing to give him power, he loses it.
>If Facebook’s actions really are a problem to most people, then most people would stop using it
what do you call this argument, best of all worlds-ism? So a priori any institution that persists is beneficial to its constituents merely because it continues to exist? Do concepts like power and dependence exist in the kind of worldview that produces these arguments?
Re: Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
#7I'd add to this sentiment, Google Adwords. Google increasingly push people to put your money here and trust our systems. Except their systems and account managers push people towards what is good for Google and not the business.
It amazes me what they get away with. I suspect it happens out of lack of awareness, but if any switched on regulatory body looked into it, its ripe ground for greater regulation.
Re: Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
#8> Regulating tech is a great idea (assuming the regulations are thoughtful and productive, of course), I’m not nearly as enthusiastic for these calls to bring heavy regulation on to the tech industry. Articles like this have a hypothetical ideal mental image of regulations that will punish only the bad guys while protecting themselves and the content they like. There’s also an implicit assumption that regulation will…
Just imagine the politician of your nightmares being in control of the regulations. I think the real issue is that people live in black holes of misinformation on the internet because that is where they want to be. When I look at the many Herman Cain Award threads on reddit, it seems the predominate original source of most posts is groups that the user signed up for. This isn't new, before Facebook, there were usenet…
> Just imagine the politician of your nightmares being in control of the regulations.
Exactly this! Every time I see someone proposing some new expansion of government reach and power, it seems to be considered only from the angle of “just think of what the (people I think of as the) good guys could do with this increased authority!”
“Yeah, but what could the bad guys do with this increased authority? Because as sure as the sun rises in the East, whoever you think of as the bad guys will eventually come to power and have this authority…”
Re: Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
#9The author seems to be filled with a sense of “knight-in-shining-armor-ism.” If Facebook’s actions really are a problem to most people, then most people would stop using it. He calls Zuckerberg a "pope-emperor" of Facebook's users, but that's because the users choose to give him power. If the users stop choosing to give him power, he loses it.
Like cigarettes? I have no sense of whether FB is physically addictive like smoking.
But, if a company directly contributes to decline in civil discourse and harms democracy, and thereby harms the users, then isn't it a government role to step in? And isn't this the governments role even if users can't see the harm at the micro-level of their daily interactions with the company? I guess that is the argument at least. Really its a balance between values: individual freedom and the collective good.
Re: Facebook shouldn’t be in charge of how you use Facebook
#10> Regulating tech is a great idea (assuming the regulations are thoughtful and productive, of course), I’m not nearly as enthusiastic for these calls to bring heavy regulation on to the tech industry. Articles like this have a hypothetical ideal mental image of regulations that will punish only the bad guys while protecting themselves and the content they like. There’s also an implicit assumption that regulation will…
Lately, it seems like our only remaining choice as a civilization is to decide if we want to be exploited or controlled.
All of us are controlled, all the time, by how reality happens to unfold.
With some practice, it’s possible to accept that this is just how the world is, and to no longer be bothered by it.