Anyone who thinks this is the functioning of a "normal" internet is mistaken. This is a symptom of a decades-in-the-making problem. It strongly appears those in charge of legislation are not technically minded and have no idea "how" the internet works. Or they do and they have data-sharing agreements with all the 'big tech' software and are okay to "appear" to legislate but cannot actually change anything substantial in fear of retaliation (losing access to all that juicy data they collect). Imagine the power Google wields in this scenario, to me they are more scary than any drug cartel boss. I genuinely can't see how this isn't akin to a Coup d'état of the internet as a means of transmitting information. We cannot shut down these tentacles because of how deeply ingrained they are (remember when FB's SDK was having issues? Hundreds of third parties apps just broke).
Google should have been regulated years ago, instead, they have been allowed to snap up every smaller company to solidify their position in the market and ensure they and only they are allowed positions of power, control and authority.
If Google dislikes you (or their baseless algorithms that are detached from reality) then you are toast. How long before Google's algorithm results in an actual human death? Doesn't seem totally far fetched and entirely plausible.
Yet, you let this happen, or rather, it seems this isn't concerning enough for it to warrant a massive protest, after all, Big Tech controls protest online and can just shut it down. Amazon seems to have been mightily effective at stopping any "union" movement, so we know the censor machines are fine tuned and ready to fire at any moment.
We need to be talking about this daily, in needs to be front and center for weeks and weeks, and we need to demand accountability. We are ruled and governed not by elected officials but by faceless, nameless and non-human machines. They do not Think. They do not Talk. They do not care.
Yet this thread will disappear in a few short hours, and this will be just another episode of the weekly "Google's systems are out of control and one developer got caught out, too bad I hope they are okay".
This is happening to thousands of others undoubtedly that do not make hackernews or have the resources/energy to fix it.
> It strongly appears those in charge of legislation are not technically minded and have no idea "how" the internet works.
Of course they know. Everybody knows, it's just a series of tubes.
But that's not the point. The people in charge also know:
> If Google dislikes you (or their baseless algorithms that are detached from reality) then you are toast.
Replace here Google with FAANG, and see how whole countries are completely depended on those companies. At this point those companies can blackmail any government on earth into almost anything they want. FAANG are actually even richer than most countries on this planet.
You’d think there would be a business opportunity for advocacy consulting, but I think the total lack of regulatory consequences for ruining people’s livelihoods renders that moot. FAANG can just ignore advocacy that isn’t backed by regulatory teeth.
I think if FAANG didn’t already control so much of our communications you might see such advocacy groups, but as it is...
Do you want to be the face of a campaign that will piss off FAANG?
Google should have been regulated years ago, instead, they have been allowed to snap up every smaller company to solidify their position in the market and ensure they and only they are allowed positions of power, control and authority.
If Google dislikes you (or their baseless algorithms that are detached from reality) then you are toast. How long before Google's algorithm results in an actual human death? Doesn't seem totally far fetched and entirely plausible.
Yet, you let this happen, or rather, it seems this isn't concerning enough for it to warrant a massive protest, after all, Big Tech controls protest online and can just shut it down. Amazon seems to have been mightily effective at stopping any "union" movement, so we know the censor machines are fine tuned and ready to fire at any moment.
We need to be talking about this daily, in needs to be front and center for weeks and weeks, and we need to demand accountability. We are ruled and governed not by elected officials but by faceless, nameless and non-human machines. They do not Think. They do not Talk. They do not care.
Yet this thread will disappear in a few short hours, and this will be just another episode of the weekly "Google's systems are out of control and one developer got caught out, too bad I hope they are okay".
This is happening to thousands of others undoubtedly that do not make hackernews or have the resources/energy to fix it.
We should demand better.