click-through license
To Regulate Tech, Nullify Click-Through Contracts
The techlash phenomenon emerged in 2018, as many scandals erupted and Big Tech's reputation took several blows. Surveillance Capitalism was the meme of the day, and the media was hyperventilating about the "ethics crisis" in computing. In response, I wrotea in January 2019, "If society finds the surveillance business model offensive, then the remedy is public policy in the form of laws and regulations, rather than an ethics outrage." The reaction to my call for regulation of technology was a collective shrug. Today's meme is generative AI, and the debate is now about human extinction.