BRotD - Entry 0259 Regulating Technology

Best Reading of the Day

"Robber Barons"

That's what they were called.

In the late 1800s they industrialists who used questionable methods to get rich came to be known as robbers. 

Here is a bit more on that subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robber_baron_(industrialist)

That is the language now in use to describe Google, Facebook, Amazon and more who have convinced the masses of the population to hand over their valuable personal data for free.  Time for regulations of these giants in technology?  There is an argument to be made.

Read more here:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611425/its-time-to-rein-in-the-data-barons/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

When Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress earlier this year to discuss how the now-defunct political-data company Cambridge Analytica acquired data of up to 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge or consent, one of the few pointed questions came from Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina. “Who’s your biggest competitor?” Graham demanded. After Zuckerberg replied that Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft all had some overlap with various Facebook products, Graham chafed at the answer.

“If I buy a Ford and it doesn’t work well and I don’t like it,” pressed the senator, “I can buy a Chevy. If I’m upset with Facebook, what’s the equivalent product I can go sign up for?”

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant