Well written and important post, though I disagree with bringing in the government to regulate companies like google, but in my world they would not receive any public funds either though.
I would maybe regulate the ISPs at the most.
For the rest I think it's our job to patronize the platforms that are free of censorship (like Steemit) or that respect our privacy (like DuckDuckGo for searches, tutanota for e-mail, etc...).
Of course we also need to fight any atempt by governments to censor free speech, but if a company like Google voluntarely decides to delete accounts to me that is unfortunately within their rights...
Otherwise I think we open the door to a whole other level of government intrusion.
Funny enough, I came accross this article on Facebook this morning : https://www.rt.com/news/456434-facebook-oculus-vr-secret-messages/
They are NOT private corporations in the traditional sense, but GOVERNMENT-(i.e. people)-funded and founded SPYING OPERATIONS. We can't apply standard practice to these monstrosities.
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Totally agree, but the problem is more that the Government even has the authority to request all of that Data with a blanket warrant for an entire country, in my opinion.
On regulating ISPs I'm willing to compromise because the barrier to entry on the market is too big for freedom alternatives to be in place, but Facebook, Google, Youtube and similar services we use entire voluntarely, and could just as easily switch to an alternative.
The heart of libertarianism is that the Government is not supposed to protect us from ourselves.
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We ARE moving, slowly, as a people, away from those to less-censored alternatives. Unfortunately, the swamp will eventually be forced to find ways to censor those alternatives as well, or to just "kill switch" the internet.
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If they move to censor the alternatives, we'll have the moral highground and absolute duety to resist their encrosion upon our free will.
I hope on the fact that they need the internet too much for their surveillance state global infrastructure to just kill-switch it, I'd think they may use that as a last resort if things really get out of hand for them.
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It all depends, of course. Keep an eye on the degree to which the Julian Assange case is successfully pursued by the swamp. A lot will hinge on that...
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That will set a strong precedent indeed
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Wouldn't it though? I hope they slap those local bureaRATS down, HARD.
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Is this what you had in mind ?
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