Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suppose it was somewhere between when you said that government shouldn't regulate or try to fix the problem until they have a better understanding of it ( "this is a complex issue and the "LETS REGULATE IT" feels premature given how complex and subtle the issue is...We need to understand the full scope of the problem, rather than try to fix what isn't fully grasped" ) and that you don't think the government is capa…
Are you open to the possibility that you treated me overly harshly, and that I've never actually taken the position you seem to badly want me to have taken? Or is that beyond the pale, and this is exclusively my fault? To try and contribute to this conversation a small amount, it makes the most sense to me to establish a Professional Engineer like system for the software industry. I don't know all of the details abou…
Professional engineers are generally not liable unless they have substantially neglected the standard of practice, so no, a company using tracking data would not result in personal liability for that engineer (unless they, say, got hacked due to personal negligence on his part).
No professional engineer would ever agree to personal liability for all actions of a company. Only the things they themselves have signed off on. You will never be able to sue an engineer because a company used your personal data for tracking. Period. The professional engineer doesn't have to sign off that the visitor's lounge is hypoallergenic.
Furthermore, who exactly do you imagine regulates this professional engineer system? Who makes sure that everybody on the internet is appropriately licensed before "a spam bot calls you"? Where exactly does that responsibility lay in this system? Does a phone company have to make sure that a client for each phone number they assign is engaging a professional engineer before placing a call? What if it's Google and everything is just SIP calls from various IPs? Does Google have to make sure that everyone assigned an IP has signoff from a professional engineer? What if I just pick up a phone and dial a person? Who has the liability if I then voice an unsolicited commercial solicitation? What happens if I send a packet that wasn't approved by the professional engineer that Google had sign off on my computer system?
You've outlined a system that is hilariously unsustainable and ill-thought-out, where nobody is allowed to do anything without a Professional Nanny literally watching over their shoulder as they place a phone call or send packets over the internet. But you also think that Professional Nannies will definitely agree to personal liabilities for whatever their clients do.
As if the Professional Nannies wouldn't be just as effective here as Credit Rating agencies were in 2007. Sure, nervously watch the phone all you want - if you don't sign off on it, we'll find someone who will. And yes, you'll be personally liable too, since individuals lack the negotiating power that firms (like Credit Rating agencies) do.
Here's a maxim for you: the broader the need for these professional engineers, the less authority and independence they will have. Professional Engineers actually only work because they only have to sign off on complete negligence - life or death stuff, their buildings falling down. If they have to sign off that the visitor's lounge is hypoallergenic the system falls apart.
But I understand your religion here, the Free Market will undoubtedly provide. Nothing bad can ever happen under a Free Market, because people would just buy from someone else. We just need to make sure that everybody has personal liability and the NAP will guarantee that no problems ever exist.
I certainly don't think I was wrong to pin you as a Libertarian right from the first comment. Regardless of whether you claim to deny the label.