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randallsquaredtoday at 4:08 PM3 repliesview on HN

> examples of the ideology that powered and continues to power tech

Would that it were so.

Semi-connected rant: What happened to so many startups to kill the mood was the pattern of: Do something technically legal (or technically illegal!) in a way that seems fixable at first, scale to huge size to get lawyers and lobbyists, pivot to strongly supporting government efforts to rein in "lawlessness" or "combat fraud" or "protect children", and then entrench oneself as the status quo while authoring or suggesting legislation to raise a moat against any competitors that might newly start up. PayPal, Facebook, Airbnb, Uber, and others tried this. Backpage and e-gold are unsuccessful examples of the same strategy.


Replies

oh_my_goodnesstoday at 4:36 PM

The article walks through the logic. Briefly, wide adoption of the ideology expressed in that Davos declaration ("you can't make us obey laws if we're online") enabled the lawbreakers you mention (corporations violating the law while saying "you can't make us obey the laws if we're online").

lorecoretoday at 5:14 PM

Indeed, that phenomena is called regulatory capture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture

bethekidyouwanttoday at 5:00 PM

I have trouble supporting the viewpoint that these things should’ve been “illegal” in the first place.

The pendulum swings I suppose…

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