| > these private companies control communication. I think verbs are important. Another way to say this is that these companies enable or provide communication. Imagine that COVID-19 had hit in the 80s before we had all of this. It would have been miserable, isolating, tragic. But would it make sense to blame the tech companies we have now for not existing then? Would it have been someone's fault? > All my communication with everyone I know is done via private companies. Another way to frame that is just to be thankful that those companies are there to enable that communication. That, of course, doesn't mean they are free from moral consequences or anything. But we are only beholden to them because they are providing us so much value. > The protections around freedom of speech were put in at a time where it was inconceivable that a huge majority of worldwide speech could be mass-monitored and auto-censored by a few giant private companies that self-police what can and can't be said It was also authored in a time where "broadcasting" meant literally printing copies of pamphlets and physically depositing them in every town square you wanted to reach. I don't know if we have any clue how the Founding Fathers of the US would have interpreted today's communication systems. I think we need principles that are designed for the structures we do have without necessarily assuming any at-the-time-excellent principle from the 1700s must be directly mapped to today's needs. |
This isn’t a future dystopia - this all already happens on Facebook. And that’s why this involves a level of control over being a neutral communication channel.
> Another way to frame that is just to be thankful that those companies are there to enable that communication.
Yes be thankful to mega corp. mega corp good. Mega corp has our interests at its heart.