[ef4]

No, that's not the assumption at all.

The assumption is that any business that's not deserving of trust is very easy to detect and kill in the internet era, solely through the distributed actions of consumers with good access to information.

And this distributed form of regulation is significantly less corruptible than centralized, political regulation.

[nitrogen]

Sadly, it seems that "good access to information" is the weak link in this chain, which can easily be broken by SEO, astroturfing, and the like.

[randall]

Can you imagine someone building an Uber scale business built on SEO, astroturfing, and the like and people continuing to use it? I can't.

[nitrogen]

I can definitely imagine an incumbent company using SEO and astroturfing to prevent people from knowing a would-be Uber-sized company exists.

[benched]

Really? That's what this is about? Whether Yelp reviews can substitute for government regulation?