[jstewartmobile]

Take off the mainstream ideology glasses. I'm talking about good old fashioned civil law.

Just being able to sue them in court for damages (even if it's only small claims) and work out some form of legal precedent on where the rights and responsibilities are would be a huge start. As-is, if AT&T defrauds you, or Google just takes your stuff down without warning, I hope you're happy with the $5 check you get from the class action suit three years later.

Almost every other profession is constrained by more regulation and liability than tech companies, and last I checked, we're still not communist China.

edit: Unlike McArdle's point that it's all just too hard to do anything.