Regulate the Internet like the real world or the real world like the Internet?

http://nickgrossman.is/post/76566568384/should-we-regulate-the-internet-like-the-real-world-or

by wrkng • 12 years ago

27 18 12 years ago

tptacek• 12 years ago

In every discussion like this I've ever read on HN, the implicit assumption is: all the companies who take advantage of the new regulatory system will be like Uber.

Why is that a valid assumption? The Internet is full of sleazy companies utterly undeserving of anyone's trust.

Schwolop• 12 years ago

Perhaps it's not a valid assumption - but does it matter? A large chunk of the point of the 2.0 regulation model (the graphic in the OP) is that over time reputation is crowd-sourced. Can we not just live with the existence of sleazy companies in the knowledge that over time they'll be weaned out?

gojomo3• 12 years ago

And in the world of real interactions (like the Uber and AirBnb domains), it quickly becomes obvious that they are sleazy unaccountable companies, and they die, faster than regulators could even send cease & desist faxes.

Where the stakes matter, community self-protection can now ramp up faster, make fairer distinctions, and preserve flexibility better than (often-incumbent-captured) regulatory agencies.

InclinedPlane2• 12 years ago

How does that differ from the norms of non-internet companies?

ef4• 12 years ago

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.

benched2• 12 years ago

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

nitrogen2• 12 years ago

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.

gojomo3• 12 years ago

"Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others, shall be the whole of the law."

dreamdu5t• 12 years ago

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

gojomo3• 12 years ago

Some may prefer Postel over Crowley.

InclinedPlane2• 12 years ago

As a side note I hat the terminology used here and I hate that it's so common.

The internet is the real world. Period.

benched2• 12 years ago

I don't see what this has to do with the Internet. Just because a business uses a web site or app in place of the telephone doesn't imply it needs more or less regulation.

datawander2• 12 years ago

Interesting post, however I have two things to bring up.

1) The author works at Union Square Ventures, which has a vested interest in '2.0' regulation. A quick search shows that although it might not be directly related to Uber, it is certainly in the ride-sharing space to the tune of $30 million [0]. I am sorry, but whenever someone (not the author personally, but still...) has that much money on the table, it's hard not to take what they say with a grain of salt.

2) What exactly is meant by the "real world"? Just because the Internet is not a thing we can touch or see, that does not make it "not real" and thus things that apply to the real world equally apply to things that are on the Internet and vis a vice (which is a nice point the author does make).

In either case, I do agree that something needs to be changed and there is something obviously foul with some of the things I have read recently such as that NYC had has gone from 10,000 to ~13,500 Taxi medallions over the past 30 years, which is just bupkis. Throw that in with the fact that American-born taxi drivers are a rare thing, the average taxi driver makes less than minimum wage and the owners of the medallions make a killing imply something is wrong. Please let me know if you'd like sources for what I just said, I'm sure I read most of this on HN though.

[0] http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/24/uber-rival-hailo-reportedly...

datawander2• 12 years ago

Just another thought, I have grown to completely mistrust any 'well-used' rating service and thus must say Uber and the like has a long way to go before I will trust their ratings by one iota.

I remember a friend once opened up a bakery and sent out an email to friends and family to review it on Yelp. So within a week of opening, there were 100+ 4-5 star reviews. I've stopped using Yelp since then and have found a great new review since then that I hope businesses don't discover, and so far they haven't, and so far the reviews are spot on.

The role of government (in theory) is to serve the people and it will not make any extra profit (aside from bribery, which again, leads to job loss) and in fact lose their "elected" jobs if their regulations fail to protect people.

Uber and other companies have a monetary incentive to squelch and play down bad reviews. In a pure capitalistic system, one should simply follow the money and realize that '1.0 regulation' doesn't sound so bad compared to '2.0' regulation by companies that have a vested interest in manipulating it to their means.

mwhite• 12 years ago

What's the review site? I won't tell.

pikachu_is_cool• 12 years ago

How about neither?

Regulate the Internet like the real world or the real world like the Internet?

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