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So, how much do you know about pharmaceuticals, building safety and cows? We tightly regulate all those industries precisely so that people can rely on vendors

So, how much do you know about pharmaceuticals, building safety and cows? We tightly regulate all those industries precisely so that people can rely on vendors and not get hurt, even if it might be more profitable to substitute a few components in a vaccine, skip the earthquake retrofit and ignore whatever animal disease popped up. And this is without getting into the issues of oligopolies, network effects, vendor lock in and user manipulation/deception by vendors. The companies dedicate entire specialist teams worth of effort to this. The average person doesn't stand a chance without help. IT in general is really not so special that it should be exempt from governmental consumer protection efforts. Especially since it is one of the most profitable sectors by far, so you really can't argue that there isn't room for tighter controls. Apple and Facebook specifically are two of the most profitable companies in the world. They can afford it. And if they drop to "merely" being in the fortune 500, that is still completely fine with me. And if some exploitative business models become unprofitable, that's fine as well. That's kinda the point. And before you argue that it would kill innovation: there is ample precedent for regulations that depend on the size of the company or the customer base.

rektide 5y ago
I still see a computer more as a tool for freedom & exploration & less as a consumeable commodity or domicile. we use our will every second of our interactions with the computer, we pilot the tool through the information. the premise that this experience must be built into a completely failsafe environment where the user has no possibility to ever do any harm to themselves is foolish. a pen if wielded improperly can hurt someone. but we don't regulate pens to make them utterly safe. and pens don't regulate what they will write. the consumer does need protection, though, for sure. I don't see it as desirable that apple be the sole arbitrator of how their computers may be used though, as reasonable determiners of what parts of the internet we might connect to.
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rektide 5y ago

I still see a computer more as a tool for freedom & exploration & less as a consumeable commodity or domicile. we use our will every second of our interactions with the computer, we pilot the tool through the information. the premise that this experience must be built into a completely failsafe environment where the user has no possibility to ever do any harm to themselves is foolish. a pen if wielded improperly can hurt someone. but we don't regulate pens to make them utterly safe. and pens don't regulate what they will write. the consumer does need protection, though, for sure. I don't see it as desirable that apple be the sole arbitrator of how their computers may be used though, as reasonable determiners of what parts of the internet we might connect to.

deleted 5y ago
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