Well, damn. Within a blink of the eye (on the geologic time scale) of me quitting Facebook because of my issue with the company’s seeming inability to treat its users fairly, this comes out: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/opinion/delete-facebook.html
In short, the author argues that Facebook users shouldn’t be faced with quitting or not quitting the platform based solely on privacy or ethical reasons. Rather, it is a case of whether lawmakers will step up and exercise their regulatory powers or not. By making the decision to quit Facebook rather than lean on my elected representatives to do their job, well… hmmm. That’s a good point. But for me, it comes down to who my elected representatives are. While I trust Senators Murray and Cantwell to land on the right side of the decision, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, my House representative and the closest connection to me and my life, well, she is a complete loser on this (and most other) regulatory issues. So… yes, the current Facebook issue could be and should be dealt with at a regulatory level. But so should climate change.
Until such a glorious day arrives, I just have to do what I can do at the individual level and carry on. And it seems, unless I’m mistaken here, that that glorious day might arrive sooner if the companies I’m railing against have less clout and less money to peddle their influence. That’s where individual action comes in.
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