Facebook Is Why We Need a Digital Protection Agency - Paul Ford, Bloomberg

Paul Ford, Bloomberg:

I know that when you think of a Superfund site, you think of bad things, like piles of dead wildlife or stretches of fenced-off, chemical-infused land or hospital wings filled with poisoned families. No one thinks about all the great chemicals that get produced, or the amazing consumer products we all enjoy. Nobody sets out to destroy the environment; they just want to make synthetic fibers or produce industrial chemicals. The same goes for our giant tech platforms. Facebook never expected to be an engine that destroys America. Lots of nice people work there. Twitter didn’t expect to become the megaphone of despots and white nationalists. But the simple principles of “more communication is better” and “let’s build community” and “we take your privacy seriously” didn’t stand a chance under the pressure of hypergrowth and unbelievable wealth creation.

Paul is about as level-headed as they come, and he understands that the problems we’re facing weren’t necessarily premeditated by a bunch of evildoers. But here we are, and we can’t rely on the same people and policies that got us here to fix anything. Maybe it will take something like a “Digital Protection Agency”.