Biden versus Big Tech
President Joe Biden is at it again. In a recent op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal, he sets forth some proposals to increase governmental control over Big Tech. His justification is that this industry is abusing us, and so Big Government must come to the rescue.
Here is a brief summary of what he wants:
Set limits on how companies can collect, use, and share data.
Limit (or preferably ban) advertising directed to children.
Allow lawsuits based on site content.
Require details of a company’s algorithms (which ostensibly discriminate against minorities, abuse children, and other evils).
Increase antitrust enforcement to “promote competition”.
It’s no secret, of course, that Biden is the ultimate advocate for the notion that government knows best, government cares about us, government doesn’t makes mistakes, government is always completely honest, and so on. In his view, a perfect society with no problems whatsoever is in our grasp, if only government had more power, more control, more lawsuits, spent more money, raised more taxes, passed more laws and regulations, and threatened more of us with fines or imprisonment if we resist. The biggest targets, as always, are businesses, entrepreneurs, and employers. He uses the euphemism “unity”. But it’s really more like emulating communism.
The information technology (IT) industry has exploded in the last generation. Computers and global mass communication fostered by the Internet has created vast wealth, created zillions of jobs, and raised the standard of living for people all over the world. And one big reason for this is because, unlike other “legacy” industries, IT has been relatively free of governmental meddling.
But everything has its downside. These days, misinformation, society’s “addiction” to social media, excessive dissemination of personal data, and the upheaval of traditional (i.e. print) media has been noticed. Personally, I get irritated when I purchase something online, only to soon see a deluge of ads trying to sell me more of it. But let’s not make Big Tech the scapegoat.
So if government is not the best entity to rein it in, who is?
Well it starts with you, the Internet’s “customer” - and I use the term loosely because most Internet content is free. Let the customer beware! Internet trash and “addictive” websites cannot exist without clientele. Stay away from porn and other questionable sites that will surely track your browsing history. Be very cynical about entering any personal data. Never click on an unwanted email, for even clicking “Unsubscribe” tells somebody that this is a real email address with a real person reading it. As for those aggravating ads: either accept it as the price to pay for free content, or use tools like these.
And for gosh sakes, put down that @#$%& device and go enjoy the great outdoors!
This goes double if you’re a parent. Know what your child is doing with his/her device. Contrary to the orthodoxy of Biden and others, parenting our children is not a governmental responsibility.
Yes, the Internet is a jungle. The good thing about the Internet is: anybody can say anything. The bad thing about the Internet is: anybody can say anything. It is not a beast that government can tame with rules and regulations. Trying to rid it of trash, misinformation, hate, and other evils is like playing Whack-a-Mole. Ban it, and it just pops up someplace else.
Can (and should) government “promote competition”? As I have written before, this is pure nonsense. Antitrust is the ultimate example of a law that contradicts itself. It requires businesses to compete - but, they must not compete too much!! As any businessman well knows, competition is going to happen, whether you want it to or not. Even if your business was the first to come up with some amazing new product, before tomorrow morning, competitors will be sprouting like weeds. That is, competitors will appear IF government stays out of the way and doesn’t hamper and constrain startups via regulation, bureaucracy, licensing, taxes, fees, subsidies, bailouts, wage & price controls, and other interferences. And then blame lack of competition on a “failure of the market.”
Furthermore, with zillions of websites out there, and countless new ones every day, trying to say some site is a “monopoly” is ludicrous. If you don’t like Facebook or Twitter or whatever, there are oodles of alternatives. Or you can create your own site, for practically nothing. You’re visiting one right now.
Big Tech is not the enemy. And Big Government is not the solution to this, or any other “problem” that Biden or anyone can imagine.
I love this! Bravo!