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Richard Stallman Asks: Should Big Tech Be Taxed For Hurting Society? (stallman.org)
Richard Stallman weighed in Friday on what he calls "massive commercial surveillance of individuals," saying that the two camps arguing about it "both miss the point." First there's the trustbusters who want to break Big Tech companies into smaller firms too small to eliminate their competition or exert undue influences on regulators. Then there's those who urge carefully-calibrated regulations to ensure tech companies always act in a way that's good for society.
RMS writes: By arguing about whether to divide up the power that this data gives to businesses, or to regulate the use of it (perhaps nationalizing it), they miss the point that both alternatives destroy our privacy and give the state a perfect basis for repression.
The danger is to collect that data at all.
More generally, I think the idea of taxing companies for the magnitude of harm that they do (regardless of whether they broke any rules to do it) is a good one.
RMS writes: By arguing about whether to divide up the power that this data gives to businesses, or to regulate the use of it (perhaps nationalizing it), they miss the point that both alternatives destroy our privacy and give the state a perfect basis for repression.
The danger is to collect that data at all.
More generally, I think the idea of taxing companies for the magnitude of harm that they do (regardless of whether they broke any rules to do it) is a good one.
But even more interesting is the question about. What is it about today's culture and our society that makes normal individuals into individuals with no empathy. Who feel it is OK to murder innocents. in order to get their 15 minutes of fame and notoriteity on social media?
;)
Are these big tech. and social media corporations part os that problem?
Just my 2 cents
Take your meds, and remember the election was quite some time ago.
Locally we had two large strip malls. All closed except for an Arby's & Dollar General. There is 1 Sam's Club almost 30 miles away, that does help & you got to buy in bulk from Sam's.
Everything else in town has died off in the last 10 years.
Not Amazon's fault completely, but customers would walk in a store, look at something, then order it from Amazon + Free Shipping. Oh, no sales taxes collected anymore, so less money for fixing up the local roads that free shipping uses.
A NATIONAL SALES TAX of 20% would be a good way to balance the scales, along with requiring Amazon to collect sales tax for ANY USA address it's shipping product into.
Amazon posts billions in profits from $10 hour workers... while communities die.
Now they want to take over your food too.
BOYCOTT AMAZON & Save your town.
USA also needs to BAN Robot cars & trucks because once you replace all jobs with robots - what do you do with several of millions of surplus humans ???
With thousands more pouring into USA over the border with Still No Wall...
VOTE Trump 2020