Re:The question is not whether there is a problem
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Information Poisoning
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· Score: 1
How about this: name a problem that private enterprise or individual action has solved, with no recourse to government intervention.
Well, a couple of candidates:
- drunk driving decreases. The drop in drunk driving in the US is almost entirely due to the change of social attitudes towards it, mostly due to MADD and allied groups. (There has been some change in government regulation and enforcement, but they just followed MADD's lead - without public pressure, judges wouldn't throw the book at DUIers.) Admittedly, the problem is not solved, but even the government rarely solves problems.
- electrical safety. Underwriter's Lab in the US is a private inspection service that checks (mainly) electrical equipment to see if it meets basic safety requirements, required for product liability coverage. Not a government program.
There is also the problem that when government steps in to solve a problem, they tend to crowd out other actors in the area. Bureaucracies also are self perpetuating and will do whatever necessary to keep going on.
I think that some level of government regulation is required in an industrial society, if for nothing else but to address issues of the Commons (such as pollution, fishing rights, etc.) The problem is that government service rewards sameness and consistency, not innovation and experimentation. I like that a Jack Taco is just as greasy in San Francisco as it is here in Houston, but sometimes I want to try the daily special at the local chef-owned cafe. With government you get MickeyD's regulation - the same way all the time and with the same level of artistry as a Big Mac.
Carr is asking for a solution that will lead to even more corporate domination of the internet, not less. Who else will be able to afford the legal beagles needed to interface with the US Department of Internet Veracity?
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- drunk driving decreases. The drop in drunk driving in the US is almost entirely due to the change of social attitudes towards it, mostly due to MADD and allied groups. (There has been some change in government regulation and enforcement, but they just followed MADD's lead - without public pressure, judges wouldn't throw the book at DUIers.) Admittedly, the problem is not solved, but even the government rarely solves problems.
- electrical safety. Underwriter's Lab in the US is a private inspection service that checks (mainly) electrical equipment to see if it meets basic safety requirements, required for product liability coverage. Not a government program.
There is also the problem that when government steps in to solve a problem, they tend to crowd out other actors in the area. Bureaucracies also are self perpetuating and will do whatever necessary to keep going on.
I think that some level of government regulation is required in an industrial society, if for nothing else but to address issues of the Commons (such as pollution, fishing rights, etc.) The problem is that government service rewards sameness and consistency, not innovation and experimentation. I like that a Jack Taco is just as greasy in San Francisco as it is here in Houston, but sometimes I want to try the daily special at the local chef-owned cafe. With government you get MickeyD's regulation - the same way all the time and with the same level of artistry as a Big Mac.
Carr is asking for a solution that will lead to even more corporate domination of the internet, not less. Who else will be able to afford the legal beagles needed to interface with the US Department of Internet Veracity?