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How do we deal with big tech in ancapistan? Anonymous 08/31/2021 (Tue) 14:33:52 Id: 703503 No. 4562
This is a very serious problem that I don't know if libertarians have an answer to (I'm not a statist btw, I'm an ancap too, but this is one problem that I just don't have an easy answer to). The problem is this: big tech companies are a new breed of corporations that we've never seen before. Many libertarian books were written when these companies didn't exist (or weren't anywhere near as big and powerful as they are now), so they didn't provide a solution to their existence. I know that society would work better if all aspects of it were handled by the private sector in a free market full of competition, but that's the problem with big tech, there IS no competition, and there never will be! It is LITERALLY impossible for anyone to start a new big tech company from the ground up. Even in ancapistan, I highly doubt anyone could step up to compete against the giants, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, etc. These companies get away with doing things that we criticize the government for doing, such as censorship and controlling information, and I'm not going to defend them just because "at least it's not the government". The only times when big tech were wacked in the head for attempting to do something heinous is, unfortunately, when the government steps in. Yes, I know big tech works hand in hand with governments, but there have been a few times when even the government has had to step its foot down and not allow these companies to do something, and that's just unfortunate, that the only leverage we (the common people) have against these giants is... the government. I'm sure that there's a solution to this that works within libertarianism, but I just can't see it. What do you think?
The thing is that all of those big tech companies were propped up by the government. Amazon for example has been getting over 1 billion dollars from government funds since 2000. It would have never grown as big if not for that.
I've thought about this a lot myself, anon, so I'll provide my three cents on the matter: >but that's the problem with big tech, there IS no competition, and there never will be! FOSS provides a good bulwark against this, which is why Big Tech keeps trying to co-opt/silence the free software movement every five seconds. Look up (((ethical software))) and the recent smearing of RMS if you don't already know. With more and more people, both anons and normalfags, ditching Google and Microsoft, and with the accompanying upswing in FOSS generally and Linux in particular, we now have a powerful weapon in the resistance against Big Tech, one that is increasingly able to keep people employed and innovative. Things like the PinePhone and Freedom Phone, for all the worry surrounding their actual nature, are nevertheless a great sign, as they indicate market trends moving in the direction of popular distrust of the state and its corporate vassals. However, the most potent thing to remember, as >>4565 mentions, is that bailouts are just as crucial to the Big Tech oligopoly as they are to any corporate hijacking of the market more generally. Thus, in an unregulated economy where the little guys aren't being taxed/regulated to death, and the big guys can't rely on bailouts to save them, both will have to rely on innovation and pro-worker, pro-consumer practices, or risk taking serious losses. I would like to think that this will have a domino effect on the shareholders, too, at least to the point where investors are eventually less likely to invest in reckless companies, since they would, as time goes by, experience diminishing returns in doing so due to the aforementioned reclamation of the economy by small businesses and consumers. Again, FOSS is absolutely key here, as are similar endeavours such as the right to repair, open-source infrastructure, and the cryptoanarchist movement. Remember, too, that in a proper voluntaryist/ancap/agorist/whateverthefuck society, covenant communities would ideally be as self-sufficient as possible. I could absolutely see autonomous communities relying entirely on FOSS technology, since they would likely only need to use it for the purposes of sales and infrastructure, both of which are easily doable in that vein. Actually, in the formation of ancapistan, such technology would undoubtedly be instrumental in evading government loyalist surveillance. Proprietary garbage would only really need to be used in certain specific cases, and even then, would likely be optional. TL;DR, Support free software, deny ad revenue to the big companies whenever possible, set up alternative economies and infrastructure, and push to equalize the economy by removing both taxation and bailouts.
>>4562 >hello my fellow kulaks >the only leverage we the politariat volk have against these giant capitalist swine is... the government! What can ancap society is going to respect "intellectual" property? How would anyone maintain a monopoly on an idea without using coercion. These companies don't succeed on anything else. IPs, copyrights, corporations themselves are all state enforced entitles. If /pol/ or /leftpol/ wants to pull one on us, they're better off using an appeal to culture or some other tie to the people than to ask for subjugation. Degeneracy and hard times, use those for propaganda.
Pretty much what >>4568 said. I would also add that an ideal ancap/voluntaryist society was embrace decentralized networks (ZeroNet, Freenet, IPFS, I2P, the Fediverse, LBRY, cryptocurrencies, meshnets, etc.). A decentralized infrastructure would eliminate the need for several middlemen services like hosting, domain registrars, DNS servers, DDoS protection, payment processors, banks, among other things. These decentralized networks are becoming more popular as centralized "alt-tech" services like Gab, Parler, and BitChute are increasingly proving themselves to be honeypots. >>4565 Not only that, but some were likely created by the government itself. Look up LifeLog which was meant to collect data on a persons life including connections, day to day activities, etc and it was ended the exact same day Facebook was launched. I can't stand the fact that other right-wingers want the government to make Big Tech sites public services when the government works with Big Tech already, especially during the scamdemic with Facebook working with the CDC to suppress "misinformation". Regulating these services like public utility will just make the situation much worse and it's probably what the government wants all along.
>>4576 > I would also add that an ideal ancap/voluntaryist society was embrace decentralized networks (ZeroNet, Freenet, IPFS, I2P, the Fediverse, LBRY, cryptocurrencies, meshnets, etc.). A decentralized infrastructure would eliminate the need for several middlemen services like hosting, domain registrars, DNS servers, DDoS protection, payment processors, banks, among other things. These decentralized networks are becoming more popular as centralized "alt-tech" services like Gab, Parler, and BitChute are increasingly proving themselves to be honeypots. I'd also like to chime in. Let's not just stop there, we can make physical infrastructure too. We need to decentralize everything across the board, because hyper-centralization is currently killing america. If we spread everything out and let people create their own communities, towns, cities, small businesses and encourage them to use alternative currencies, then we'd be set. The feds won't be able to fuck with anyone all at once. Imagine being able to set up your own house or power plant that you bought from a kit.
>>4576 >I can't stand the fact that other right-wingers want the government to make Big Tech sites public services when the government works with Big Tech already, especially during the scamdemic with Facebook working with the CDC to suppress "misinformation". If they aren't individualist free-marketers, they aren't right wingers. Right=individualism Left=collectivism Libertarian ideologies are right-wing, leftist ideologies, including communism, nazism, and many branches of conservatism are leftist and cancer. I might be stretching a bit with the conservative part because my country's conservative party are socialists
>>4562 >The only times when big tech were wacked in the head for attempting to do something heinous is, unfortunately, when the government steps in. To which the people, instead of having the big companies adapt to the legislation, sign their new state defenses away to private corporations.
Americans say that tax cuts are the only reason there is a trade deficit, but maybe regulations make US exports expensive.
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>How do we deal with big tech in ancapistan? evil corporations at least need to pay for security in ancapistan instead of your tax dollars paying for their protection
The very same Americans who scream that they hate the police state then turn around and support the police. WTF?


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