I took the liberty Polymate in the “Christmas Newspaper” with optimistic additions by Prof. Michał Kosiński, presented a week earlier in interview for Anita Karwowska and Waldemar Pasia. Who is Waldemar Paś, by the way, 14 years ago convinced me to set up a blog (when I remember this conversation, I remember our desks at the time – we both sat downstairs due to the fact that “Gazeta Wyborcza” was at the time specified a large institution that it occupied 2 floors).
As a master of self-promotion, I will immediately point out that for PT bloggers there will most likely be nothing fresh in this text (except for the anecdote on Cardinal Richelieu, a media pioneer). But since cyber-optimists repeat the same arguments over and over again, we as cyber-pesimists nominating volens must repeat the same arguments.
Professor Kosiński late had a tour in Polish media in which he presented classical cyberoptimism in a version which – as I naively thought – we buried together with the supercreet book "The fresh Digital Age" by Cohen and Schmidt from 2014. The classical promise of cyberoptimism said that corporations specified as Google or Facebook would collect and supply large amounts of information so good for humanity that they should not be actively constrained by regulations.
It seemed (mi) that after Snowden and Cambridge Analytics had already reached everyone that it was not. And that the GAFA cartel balance sheet is mostly negative for us. These companies have long done more bad than good.
It turns out that cyberoptimism passed only a insignificant rebranding, explaining everything (as Prof. Kosiński does) with a simple slogan "two steps forward, 1 step backwards". But where are these "steps forward", pray tell?
When you press prof. Kosiński here, he flies distant in science-fiction kind "artificial intelligence will cure cancer". No, it won't, even due to the fact that cancer isn't 1 disease.
But even if so, specified investigation should be carried out by state-funded individuals, financed by taxes collected from cybercorps. Not cybercorps in their spare moments since stealing our data and improving cat animation techniques.
GAFA cartel should be regulated and broken. Let us not let ourselves be told that the substance is complicated and nuanced: it is very simple.
Cyberkorps should be primarily prohibited from creating vertical cartels – in 2004, the European Commission prohibited Microsoft from connecting the browser and player to the operating system. It was erstwhile Microsoft that seemed to be a power unmoveable – Washington lay in front of him a pie, but Brussels defeated him. He can handle the Bezos and Zuckerbergs if he wants to act.
Like that solution, Amazon must get an offer that can't be rejected. It can be either a global store “with everything”, or a streaming platform, or a hosting service. But it cannot combine Amazon Prime, Amazon Web Services and Amazon store as one.
So would Alphabet/Google gotta choose – search engine, Android or Youtube? And Facebook part with Whatsapp and Instagram.
Let's besides Facebook-freak interoperability. In practice, it already is, but one-sided. any of you, dear Committees, are logging in on this blog with your Facebook account – it should besides be possible to log in on Facebook with a wordpress account (i.e. a general login of any EuroID on all commercial services operating in the EU).
Of course, the European Union cannot order American companies to do anything. But it can prevent them from making money in the European market. I can see Cook, Zuckerberg, Bezos or Brin getting all sedated and leaving us. Bye-bye, I won't miss you.
Microsoft was affected by this bogeyman. It will work on Google.
Don't forget that we don't owe these companies anything, so we don't owe them anything. They didn't make the Internet. They didn't invent the search or social networking.
They just monopolized it, inhibiting further development. They should be broken up in business – quoting Senator Elizabeth Warren – "the next kid who comes along".
It's so simple. That's what I would do as an EU commissioner. And I would like to vote for politicians who would push specified an agenda in the EU forum (I would alternatively not know what the opinion of Biedron is).
