[danogentili]

The current trend in govt regulation is actually going in the opposite direction, with telecom lobbies in Europe pushing for "fair share" (pretty much an implementation through law of what Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone Germany are doing right now) through the Digital Networks Act.

South Korea pioneered "fair share" govt regulations in 2016 (which caused Twitch to exit the market in 2024 due the exorbitant "fair share" fees).

[stego-tech]

Because western governments (and those whose governments were modeled from western regimes - like post-war South Korea and Japan) have become victim to regulatory capture and corruption. It’s why the FCC has repeatedly killed, blocked, or reversed reforms like net neutrality or “nutrition labels” on ISPs, and why South Korea gave in to “fair share” regulations that deterred further investment. Tech money is hugely influential, and the industry is almost exclusively made up of rent-seeking slumlords at this point, particularly at the top (Oracle, Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Apple, etc). It’s why DMCA reform is blocked, why pirates get jail time while AI grifts get a hand-wave, and why right-to-repair or data privacy remains a fractured and piecemeal reform instead of a national agenda item.

The problem isn’t regulation, but regulatory capture ensuring companies get the regulations they desire and benefit from.

[tick_tock_tick]

> The problem isn’t regulation, but regulatory capture ensuring companies get the regulations they desire and benefit from.

Aka regulation..... Nearly all regulation is for regulatory capture and if you think of something that isn't it probably just outlived who it was designed to capture for.

[stego-tech]

That’s an incredibly nihilistic and naive way of viewing regulation. Pre-Reagan but post-Depression, much of the regulations passed were beneficial to society and harmful to Capital interests: forcibly dividing investment banking from retail, for instance, to protect consumer deposits; the FDA, for gradually weeding out snake oil “cure-alls” and ensuring the safety of foodstuffs; eliminating child labor, setting livable minimum wages, creating overtime rules, protecting Unions and workers; safety standards for buildings like fire sprinklers, protected evacuation stairwells, engineering rules and sign-off requirements; and on, and on, and on.

Regulation is overwhelmingly positive, but the past fifty years have been a deliberate demonstration of the frailty and abusability of regulations by entrenched capital via regulatory capture, mainly to create people who (often unknowingly) champion a return to flammable mattresses, tainted foodstuffs, and corporate monopolies in the name of deregulation.

Regulations are a tool, a tool that can be wielded for the benefit of society or the benefit of Capital. It’s up to the electorate to be educated enough to advocate for proper use of said tool, rather than ignorantly swallow propaganda to let Capital run roughshod with them.

[port11]

Lobbying amounts have gone up almost everywhere. This issue almost always comes down to regulators allowing Capital to purchase influence, such that regulations end up not being pro-citizen. I don't know how we fix this.

[inemesitaffia]

The "tech" companies are on the other side of Telcos.

See Hivane and HOPUS

[wmf]

Unfortunately you're going to get regulatory capture and extortion when the "bad guys" are local but the "good guys" are foreign.