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Because the companies in control of that data won't let them have it for free, like what is happening in the article.

Or, they'll just create more technically sophisticated workarounds to get what they want while avoiding a bad precedent that might cost them more money in the long run. Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute.

Now apply the same logic to laws, except that laws are a lot slower to change when they find the next workaround.

And it's a lot harder to get the law to stop doing something once it proves to cause significant collateral damage, or just cumulative incremental collateral damage while having negligible effectiveness.

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