Drupal Creator Floats an "FDA For Data and Algorithms"

jeffengel writes: When Facebook's news feed and Google's search bar have the power to influence voter decisions, is it time for government oversight? That's what Dries Buytaert, creator of Drupal and co-founder of Acquia, is proposing: an "FDA for data and algorithms." The move would aim to boost transparency, but it also raises tough questions. What exactly would such an agency be tasked with monitoring, and what would its penalties look like? Would it wield too much power, pushing the U.S. closer to China levels of information control? Buytaert is pitching the idea as part of a broader push for a more open Web that reduces the dominance of a handful of platforms.

Comments

Which government?

[tomhath]

What country, or state, or city gets to decide truth? The entire proposition is absurd; people need to be educated to understand that all media outlets are biased rather than trying to have some government agency decide what bias is acceptable.

Really?

[rickb928]

"Buytaert is pitching the idea as part of a broader push for a more open Web that reduces the dominance of a handful of platforms."

So, to state this plainly, the plan is to get the government involved to make the marketplace more open to other competitors.

Sure, that's gonna work out real well. Morons.

Re:Really?

[Kohath]

"Buytaert is pitching the idea as part of a broader push for a more open Web that reduces the dominance of a handful of platforms."

Because the handful of dominant platforms would never, ever have any influence on policy. Why would government regulators listen to a small number of well-recognized experts when they could listen to hundreds of chattering upstarts?

The idea that government regulators will protect us from "the dominant few" is very common and tragically naive. Why do people keep falling for this?

as long as we are floating ideas...

[Gravis Zero]

how about securing Drupal's codebase before releasing it?

my lawn: get off it!