Regulating Big Tech is not enough. We need platform socialism(opendemocracy.net)
opendemocracy.net
Regulating Big Tech is not enough. We need platform socialism
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/technology-and-democracy/regulating-big-tech-is-not-enough-we-need-platform-socialism/
5 comments
> In a forthcoming book, I call this idea platform socialism – referring to the social ownership of digital assets and the democratic control over the organisations and digital infrastructure that have become so critical to our everyday lives.
> Platform socialism is about reclaiming collective self-determination through new forms of participatory and decentralised governance that ensure we no longer put profits over human needs. It focuses on how we can foster citizens’ active participation in the design and governance of digital platforms rather than relying on top-down regulations by a technocratic elite.
Not sure that I could come up with a worse name for this (at least for this side of the pond)
> Platform socialism is about reclaiming collective self-determination through new forms of participatory and decentralised governance that ensure we no longer put profits over human needs. It focuses on how we can foster citizens’ active participation in the design and governance of digital platforms rather than relying on top-down regulations by a technocratic elite.
Not sure that I could come up with a worse name for this (at least for this side of the pond)
I completely agree. Why on earth is anyone still using this stupid Marxist term for new ideas?
There are many new forms of collaborative and cooperative governance that we should be experimenting with that have nothing to do with communism or “socialism” in the political sense. It should be obvious how absurd it is to keep using this word unless you are genuinely using it I’m the Marxist sense.
There are many new forms of collaborative and cooperative governance that we should be experimenting with that have nothing to do with communism or “socialism” in the political sense. It should be obvious how absurd it is to keep using this word unless you are genuinely using it I’m the Marxist sense.
> ... Why on earth is anyone still using this stupid Marxist term for new ideas?
> ... unless you are genuinely using it in the Marxist sense.
The seems to be the case, it mentions the fediverse, but as an incomplete tool to achieve what the author is proposing. The main idea I got from the article is "social ownership" of the internet.
It seems that the author allows communities not backed/run by the state though. Maybe a throwaway line to appease critics.
> ... unless you are genuinely using it in the Marxist sense.
The seems to be the case, it mentions the fediverse, but as an incomplete tool to achieve what the author is proposing. The main idea I got from the article is "social ownership" of the internet.
It seems that the author allows communities not backed/run by the state though. Maybe a throwaway line to appease critics.
That’s not going to solve anything. The problem isn’t tech. It’s people. “Democratic control” doesn’t automatically mean good things happen. Democratic societies have engaged in slavery, oppression, wars of aggression, and genocide long before big tech ever existed.
A quick reminder that the public sector doesn't need Mastodon to adopt this space, they can simply shoehorn the necessary publication protocols into their content management systems like WordPress or Drupal to be direct participants in this ecosystem from publicly run infrastructure.
- https://www.drupal.org/project/activitypub
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/activitypub/