I'm not in favor of state regulation of private businesses. For that matter I'm not in favor of the state. How could I be in favor of the state regulating anything when it is the thing which most needs to be controlled?
However, I'm not sure how I could consider the big "social media" platforms or data controllers "private businesses" anymore.
I've never been convinced that a corporation is a private business. They chose to get in bed with the state for special favors. They frequently use government "laws" to stifle competition. And, recently, they sell out their users to the state. They look, feel, and smell state-like to me.
No, this doesn't mean I want government to "regulate" them. Nor do I want them "taxed". It just means I don't trust them. That some of them are agitating to be regulated by the state makes me trust them even less. It's a dirty move.
So far, I still have the option to not use their "services", although in many cases it means crippling myself "socially" to some degree. I recently put several social media sites on indefinite suspension for violating my terms of service and scaled back my use of others. I don't see them as friendly institutions. They aren't on my side. They collude with my enemy, so doesn't that make them my enemy?
Yet, as always, I don't want my enemy subjected to "laws", even if they'd happily subject me to the same because a more powerful state is always worse than the alternative.
"They collude with my enemy, so doesn't that make them my enemy?"
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, do you have a drivers license and/or buy gasoline for a vehicle to use on roads?
ReplyDeleteIf you do buy gasoline aren't you paying some kind of tax and thus colluding with your enemy?
If that's the case would you be your own enemy?