The difference between a helpmeet and a parasite is power. If we want to enjoy the benefits of intermediaries without the risks, we need policies that keep middlemen weak. That’s the opposite of the system we have now.
Take interoperability and IP law. Interoperability (basically, plugging new things into existing things) is a really powerful check against powerful middlemen. If you rely on an ad-exchange to fund your newsgathering and they start ripping you off, then an interoperable system that lets you use a different exchange will not only end the rip off – it’ll make it less likely to happen in the first place because the ad-tech platform will be afraid of losing your business
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Kinda ironic that you are discussing the nonsense of “how things should work” on a federated service where you control the intermediaries you work with and through, which is, IMO, the way things should work.
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The problem is, once the middlemen gain power, they’re never gonna give you up. Music producers are a great example of this, as are telecoms companies.
All the current SaaS stuff is similar; the offerings LOOK similar, but they’re explicitly designed not to be a 1:1 match, so you can’t just take your business elsewhere, just like the mattress companies of old.
We’re even seeing this play out in the streaming video market, where each player has its own differentiator, moreso than we ever saw with traditional cable TV.
Standards are great, but middlemen have no incentives to not subvert them.
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Did you think this blog post was aimed at the people with power, to petition them to change the laws?
It’s aimed at us, the people getting fucked over, to point out what (among the many other things) we should be fighting for. Commentary like this is important to align the goals of the organizations, charities and lobby groups that defend YOUR civil rights by filing amicus briefs, publishing articles, encouraging activism and drives to get citizens to write to their representatives on the important matters that affect their rights. You don’t even have to do anything and there are thousands of people out there trying to protect you from getting more fucked by Big Tech and capitalism, on a volunteer basis.
It sounds to me like you’ve just given up hope that any progress can be made on this front, given the new status quo.
Never give up. Just because civil rights defenders will be on the defensive for a few years does not mean that discussions of what is worth defending no longer have value.
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You removed the emphasis on “You” from my quote which changes the meaning. I specifically meant that you, the person that I am replying to, don’t need to do anything, and there are people who will do something on your behalf.
Nothing that you’ve said changes my critique of your critique btw. You said:
No, actually he presented a well thought out analysis of the way that the relationship between business and customer/user in our current system, along with the relationship between business and legislator, both entrenches monopolies and causes a pathological dependency whereby customers cannot exercise their right to freely choose with whom they do business, and so their rights are severely diminished.
The main point of my reply was that you are arguing against a straw-man here since the intended audience of the article is not “the people with power.”
A non-sequitur and then a baseless dismissal of the argument that suggests that you either didn’t read it, or didn’t understand it.
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Heaven forbid someone point out the reasons things suck and the ways we could do thibgs different, even if you know no one’s going to change.
Better to just shrug everything off and tell folks “that’s life, get used to it”, right? That does a lot of good!