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Comment by thefurdrake | Hacker News Reader

I think regulation is definitely part of the solution.

The problem we're facing is that adtech is a multibillion dollar industry with the will and means to actively research and develop new and exciting ways to bypass legislation.

I can't control the legislation beyond who I vote for, and none of the voting options I'm given seem aware of how the internet works, so I am left with the avenue of "Angrily tell people on the internet to stop doing that" and try to encourage attrition as much as I can.

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Legislation can be written so that there is no bypass. Google's billions would not save them if tomorrow they embarked on building a private nuclear SLBM fleet.

>Legislation can be written so that there is no bypass.

It cant for existing profitable business models. You couldnt ban the google owned nuclear SLBM fleet if it already existed and represent the most profitable sector of the economy. Inertia exists and the more profitable the topics the harder it is to break from a central position. It would be economic suicide on a national level.

You would get some paper tiger checks and balances entrenching googles nuclear fleet monopoly.

>You couldnt ban the google owned nuclear SLBM fleet if it already existed and represent the most profitable sector of the economy.

Of course we can ban that. :laughs in EU:

There just isn't the political will behind it like it is on things like ICE cars or nuclear energy, because unlike the latter things, the politicians and voters don't understands it well enough to be outraged about it.

We can ban that on paper and pretend that the problem went away. We cant actually nuke large parts of the GDP.

edit: Saw your nuclear energy edit too late. Thats a great example for protectionism / having a frame for subsidies. We still require energy, that section of the GDP didnt just evaporate.

Car legislation is likewise just a driver for higher consumption.

You would need something equally profitable to do for the sub fleet supply chain to ban it.

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