[Governance] 170 orgs send an open letter to UN SG to stop plans for a new High Level Multistakeholder Body

[sivasubramanian muthusamy]

Dear Barry,


On Tue, Mar 23, 2021 at 2:21 AM bzs--- via Governance
<governance at lists.igcaucus.org> wrote:
>
>
> On March 21, 2021 at 20:45 governance at lists.igcaucus.org (Mueller, Milton L via Governance) wrote:
>  > By the way, has anyone at JustNet noticed that Facebook is joining them in
>  > their call for more internet regulation at the national level? Think about the
>  > implications of that for a moment: https://about.fb.com/regulations/
>
> Facebook has also taken out full page ads in The Economist recently
> calling for more internet regulation, expressing the same ideas as
> that link.
>
> FB wants to increase the cost of entry into social media.
>
> Similar to how historically large auto manufacturers, for example,
> (after perhaps some early resistance) applauded automobile safety etc
> regulation.
>
> It made it very expensive to start an automobile manufacturing
> company, paperwork costs etc. but only added a relatively modest cost
> on existing big auto companies, and equally on all of them.

Not really a comment on facebook, I have not seen the advertisements
nor have a theory on why facebook has called for regulation. But I
would agree with something in general.
Tougher regulations and complex processes do have an effect of
creating barriers, wittingly or unwittingly. In India till about 1984
we had two motorcar companies, one with a licence
to produce 30,000 cars a year, with a technology that did not change
since 1956, with styles that did not change since 1956, and another
car company with a similar licence also
made cars in a factory that did not change any factory equipment for
30 years. No one else was allowed to make cars, not even the companies
that had a licence to make trucks or
motorcycles.  We have a come a long way.

Another example, this one not related to innovation, but progress:  In
Washington DC four years in the metro, I was asking why the metro
system in Washington DC wasn't as advanced
as that of the rest of the US cities. The answer was that there were
too many accountability processes in place which slowed down decisions
on changes.

Essential regulations, in limited measure, (and in the Internet space,
intervention for a limited time), would help.  But "regulation" as a
term with its full import does not quite rhyme
with the terminology of Internet Governance. We need a few new magic
words and concepts.

>
> So conferred little if any competitive advantage or disadvantage among
> existing (large) companies. It would put potentially existential
> pressure on existing or new smaller companies or organizations.
>
> Consider the cost of raising the bar to scan, categorize, and respond
> to millions of messages per hour (at FB's size that's per minute)
> imposing large fines etc for failure.
>
> This is how oligopolies are enshrined via government regulatory power.
>
> --
>         -Barry Shein
>
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