Fighting Technology With The Old System
On a number of occasions, I made the point that too many institutions, especially government, are simply ill-equipped to deal with the age of technology. Instead, they try to take their present system and imprint it upon the digital world.
The best example of this was back in the Napster days. Suddenly, with the introduction of that company, file sharing because huge. The biggest loser in this was the record companies (and artists). Who can forget the members of Metallica discussing how they have to stand up for it; that it was like taking their children.
So what did the record companies do? The only thing that they knew: they got their legal department on things and sued their customers.
Of course, they won some lawsuits and got judgements against people for many thousands of dollars. This fell upon the parents since many of these cases were centered around the actions of their children.
How did it work out for the record companies in the long run? Because of technology, they ended up losing money on recorded music for more than a decade and a half. It was only in the last couple years that they figured out how to profit from recorded music. This, naturally, is only the ones who are still in business. Many record companies went under.
Hence, it is evident that when trying to deal with a technological problem by utilizing old world tactics, we are bound to see failure.
Now we see a similar thing out of Florida in relation to social media.
That state passed a law that the Governor signed which prohibits the social media companies from banning candidates running for state offices.
Under the law:
Platforms cannot ban or deprioritize candidates for state office. Platforms cannot ban or deprioritize any news outlet meeting certain size requirements. Platforms must be transparent about moderation processes and give users notice of moderation actions. Users and the state will have the right to sue companies that violate the law. Statutory fines could be as high as $250,000 per day for some offenses.
This case will end up in a lawsuit, so we will see where it goes.
However, it is trying to push an old model into the world of technology. The government, like the record companies before them, is trying to use the courts as a means to defend against behavior that might have been illegal at a time in the past.
Here, that era is no longer around. We are in a new age of technology which means there are a completely different set of rules.
Even if the state does prevail in this, it shows how outdated governments and established entities can be. They simply are not adapting with the times.
Obviously, the solution here is fairly simple. Social media, as well as most other centralized entities, are ripe for decentralized disruption. There is no other way around it. A platform that can offer similar features and functionality will simply appeal to those who are displaced. Account ownership is something that is crucial in this environment.
Much of our existing system was designed and constructed when we operated in the physical realm. Today, geography means a lot less than it use to. Networks are often more impactful than governments on some people. Digitization makes things easy to send, receive, and duplicate.
In short, the establishment is not cut out to compete with this.
This is a very important factor to consider going forward. The world is in dire need of new governance models because the old ones are going to break completely down. If this problem with social media, can you imagine what kind of headaches they will have with a virtual world?
Basically, they can write whatever laws they want; they will be totally unenforceable. Down the road, it is unlikely they will even be able to serve a lawsuit (sound familiar?).
It is just another example of how obsolete many of our institutions are becoming. This will only get worse as time goes by and more development takes place.
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