Stop begging Google, Facebook etc. to be nice Digital overlords: Fix the Internet by sidelining Big Tech
Everyone in the tech
world claims to love interoperability - the technical ability to plug one product
or service into another product or service - but interoperability covers a lot of
territory, and depending on what’s meant by interoperability, it can do a lot,
a little, or nothing at all to protect users, innovation and fairness. Let’s start with a
taxonomy of interoperability:
Indifferent
Interoperability
This is the most common
form of interoperability. Company A makes a product and Company B makes a thing
that works with that product, but doesn’t talk to Company A about it. Company A
doesn’t know or care to know about Company B’s add-on. Think of a car’s
cigarette lighter: these started in the 1920s as aftermarket accessories that
car owners could have installed at a garage; over time they became popular
enough that they came standard in every car. Eventually, third-party companies
began to manufacture DC power adapters that plugged into the lighter
receptacle, drawing power from the car engine’s alternator. This became
widespread enough that it was eventually standardized as ANSI/SAE J563.
Standardization paved
the way for a variety of innovative new products that could be made by
third-party manufacturers who did not have to coordinate with (or seek
permission from) automotive companies before bringing them to market. These are
now ubiquitous, and you can find fishbowls full of USB chargers that fit your
car-lighter receptacle at most gas stations for $0.50-$1.00. Some cars now come
with standard USB ports (though for complicated reasons, these
tend not to be very good chargers), but your auto manufacturer doesn’t care
if you buy one of those $0.50 chargers and use it with your phone. It’s your
car, it’s your car-lighter, it’s your business... read more:
https://www.juancole.com/2019/07/facebook-overlords-sidelining.html
