U. Washington Prof Wants to Nationalize Facebook
Here’s an idea that has disaster written all over it. Let’s take an incredibly successful company and turn it over to the government.
As we all know, the government is so much better than the private sector at running things. Right?
As reported by Joe Newby in The Examiner:
On Thursday, Philip N. Howard, a professor of communication, information, and international studies at the University of Washington, suggested nationalizing Facebook in an article posted at Slate.
While recognizing that Facebook “has become a public good and an important social resource,” he observes that “as a company, it is behaving badly.”
Citing a survey that says “almost half” of Americans say the site will eventually “fade away,” and observing that the “business side” of the company has not done well since going public, he suggested that the site be nationalized.
“By ‘nationalizing Facebook,'” he wrote, “I mean public ownership and at least a majority share at first.”
This act, he says, will restore the public trust and accomplish three things.
“It could fix the company’s woeful privacy practices, allow the social network to fulfill its true potential for providing social good, and force it to put its valuable data to work on significant social problems,” he added.
But would such a move really fix whatever problems the company may have, or simply exacerbate them?
Imagine what could happen if a government agency is tasked with watching what people post, and where.
Comments
Dunno about you, but at the first HINT of that I would close my account so fast…
Wow, does Howard actually understand what he’s suggesting?
A copy of Atlas Shrugged to this professor, STAT.
(and, geez, I didn’t know that an internet social network had become that essential to our nation’s survival…first they came for the social networks…)
This is a misleading post. It’s not a real professor who’s responsible for this idiocy, it’s a professor of communications.
DJ, it isn’t the post that’s misleading.
So many academics go unchallenged in their group-think worlds. It would be fascinating for this prof to be asked to provide examples of government run institutions in which the public has great confidence. USPS? UPS and FedEx are infinitely more respected and trusted to get your package to its destination. If the delivered mail….well, there wouldn’t be a USPS would there? Medicaid and Medicare? Lately the confidence in those institutions is at a record low.
Welcome to the real world, Professor Howard. Because you can rationalize it within your social sciences terms (I’m not sure how expertise in communications give him the tools to form an opinion on business and society….) doesn’t make it functional or realistic.
> “Citing a survey that says “almost half” of Americans say the site will eventually “fade away,” and observing that the “business side” of the company has not done well since going public, he suggested that the site be nationalized.”
Smart dictators know that the businesses you want to nationalize are the ones that are raking in the money. This guy wants to nationalize something that he claims is on the way out. That’s dumb even for a totalitarian.
I don’t think this is about money. This is about control.
I think it is even not completely about control. It is simply blind ideological thinking in contrast to reality. Only in a protected sanctuary where it is assumed (not proven) that anything involving masses of people and private profit is a guarantee of abuses and violations on a grand scale, would such an idea be seen as valid and inarguable (?). After all, this ‘professor’ suggests Facebook is guilty of privacy violations. One need only ask him about, say for example, the Patriot Act which has been supported by two very ideologically different administrations to refute such a silly position that the government is so much better at protecting individuals and privacy.
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