What happens when a Kiwi firm founded and run by your friends gets sold to an American firm. They promptly take your personal data and upload it to Facebook without your permission. Why are companies so obsessed with giving information to Facebook? Do they owe Mark something?
@jackyan that sucks. Sorry to hear it. Companies, even our friends' , are untrustworthy, because they don't stay our friends or owned by our friends. Sad.
@lightweight @jackyan As a general strategy, we need to avoid creating organizations which can easily be bought by #BigTech, or where cash can be conveniently converted into influence. So cooperatives, non-profits and so forth.
@bob agreed. I also think that our gov't needs to stop subsidising 'startups'. They're a huge waste, and they make it easy for foreign corporates to buy up our best and brightest, with no benefits for NZ. Any gov't support for them is tantamount to supporting "trickle down economics". In other words, a bad joke.
@lightweight @bob Exactly what I told the EU parliament: https://ar.al/2019/11/29/the-future-of-internet-regulation-at-the-european-parliament/
@lightweight @bob Let’s take it even further: good societies bootstrap great people; they should also have a share of the ownership. If an org agrees to a charter that stipulates that they cannot be sold/bought and that their work must remain in the commons (eg., mandated AGPL license), then they should be an independent org that is funded from the commons for the common good. The independent bit is crucial though. You don’t want it to turn into govt control.
@Literally @lightweight @bob https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/108447631228605070
So, no, I wasn’t describing VC.
@aral @lightweight @bob
@aral haven't you just described venture capitalism? They aren't just gifting money, they get ownership as well.