nybble41 @ nybble41 @programming.dev

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2 yr. ago

What if they never even hear the FDA recommendation?

Then the FDA isn't doing a very good job, are they? Ensuring that people hear their recommendations (and trust them) would be among their core goals.

The rare fringe cases where someone is affected indirectly without personally having choosen to purchase the product can be dealt with through the courts. There is no need for preemptive bans.

The monopoly issue won't be resolved so long as there is artificial exclusivity over the content, i.e. copyright. That's the most critical monopoly of all. Different streaming services can't compete on how good they are at streaming because their content isn't interchangeable; you can't just swap one show for another even when they're similar in style and production quality.

The absolute minimum requirement to resolve this would be obligatory "reasonable and non-discriminatory" mechanical licenses allowing any streaming service to stream any content on equal terms regardless of source.

To put it another way: do you think we should have the FDA? Or do you think everybody should have to test everything they eat and put on their skin?

There is a middle ground. The FDA shouldn't have the power to ban a product from the market. They should be able to publish their recommendations, however, and people who trust them can choose to follow those recommendations. Others should be free to publish their own recommendations, and some people will choose to follow those instead.

Applied to online content: Rather than having no filter at all, or relying on a controversial, centralized content policy, users would subscribe to "reputation servers" which would score content based on where it comes from. Anyone could participate in moderation and their moderation actions (positive or negative) would be shared publicly; servers would weight each action according to their own policies to determine an overall score to present to their followers. Users could choose a third-party reputation server to suit their own preferences or run their own, either from scratch or blending recommendations from one or more other servers.