Stories like this one really upset me. Why is it that we call for the government to provide “oversight” of private companies like this?
The Federal Trade Commission is being asked to investigate Internet search giant Google for a lack of security
in its cloud-computing services, a framework of software and services in which applications and data reside on third-party servers that provide remote access through Web-based devices.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a Washington, D.C.-based public-interest group, filed the complaint and is asking for an injunction by the FTC to stop Google from offering any of its cloud services until the FTC has investigated Google’s safeguarding of consumers’ information.
Ok, great, so you’ve found issues with Google’s security. Why isn’t just announcing this fact enough? Why is there a government agency involved here? The problem is that government really doesn’t have the resources (nor should they) to police private industry like this. Just look at how well they “regulated” the banking industry, and the power industry, and monetary policy, and they’re getting into fast food. I could go on and on. They pass laws, people find creative ways around them. If someone gets caught, they get fined, but what happens to the private investors in that scenario? We get bent over the barrel.
Do you think that consumers are more careful about where they put their money in an “unregulated” (by that I mean not government regulated) system, or where where the government “regulates” things. In systems where the government says they are “regulating” things, all they are really doing is providing a false sense of security to the private consumer, which is really worse than no sense of security at all. The distributed knowledge of the people is far greater than any limited political body of bureaucrats can comprehend.
So if you’re interested in keeping as much of your money as government will let you, just remember, that watchdog that is looking out for you, someone else put him there, and he obeys them, not you, and he’s old, deaf, blind and can’t smell anymore.
Tags: economy, regulation
[...] have they really? Has regulation of the market helped anyone at all? I do agree with him on that last sentence though. First, the Fed has proved itself incapable [...]