zlacker

>>ANewbu+(OP)
In short, governments and internet do no mix. Whenever they do, it ends in a disaster for the people.

>>gethly+cG2
But also, Internet with zero governance isn't any better for the people.

So what's left?

>>Sidebu+hG2
Are you sure?

Back in late 90s, 2000s, even 2010s, the internet was truly awesome. Only once governments started to get involved, by increasing the red tape and adding restrictions and whatnot, it became shit.

So I would argue that you are completely wrong. Yes, it might have been a bit of a wild west, but that is a good thing because you needed to have some smarts to navigate it and that filtered out the dumb masses that pollute it today and why we cannot have nice things.

I am not saying people should not have access to it, just that the less people there were, the better it was and the less attention it had by the governments. Which in turn made it much better experience than it is today.

But most people, actually, have not lived through those "early" days and cannot even comprehend how great it was back then and how crappy and restricted it is today.

>>gethly+2K2
> So I would argue that you are completely wrong.

You could argue that, but it would be idiotic. It would be deeply and deliberately ignorant of e.g. Facebook complicity in ethnic massacres in Myanmar. Cambridge Analytica. Youtube as an engine of algorithmic radicalisation. The continued extremism on what was once Twitter. Online anti-vax disinformation. QAnon. All of Truth Social.

You posit it as "people vs governments" but that is not the reality. There is a third force. "The people" don't run the internet any more. A few incredibly wealthy oligarchs control most of it, and this trend is strengthening. Elon. Zuck. Jeff. Satya. Sergey. Rupert. You know who I mean from one or two syllables each and that's telling. This state of affairs requires government inaction as power consolidates.

> But most people, actually, have not lived through those "early" days

I have been online since the mid 1990s, so whatever point you might be trying to make doesn't apply to me.

The idea that "Government red tape ruined the internet" is just nonsense.

>>Sidebu+bL2
Back then facebook did not exist. Hence, good times. Also, government regulations always come because people start complaining they got scammed or damaged in some way(usually due to their own ignorance), so government comes in and makes things worse for everyone. I am not saying there should be no legal framework for internet, but today it is just way too much and it stagnates progress, freedom of speech and overall usability of the whole thing itself.

>>gethly+HW2
> Back then facebook did not exist. ... so government comes in and makes things worse for everyone.

I really do not agree at all. The power consolidation that Facebook is a good example of is just not a government regulation thing at all. The opposite in fact. Government regulation being hands-off allowed the internet to become "5 giant websites that share screenshots from the other 4". And that they're largely uncountable.

The internet as it is today, with very little governance over the large websites that exist today, is terrible for the people who are online today. I stand by that. Removing regulation won't help, as the bad actors are already pretty much unregulated already.