this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
294 points (94.8% liked)

Technology

59653 readers
3958 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@fry.gs
L4s@fry.gs
enu@lemmy.world
294
Disenshittify or Die (pluralistic.net)
submitted 3 months ago by moonleay@feddit.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
66 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 61 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The last time Congress managed to pass a federal consumer privacy law was in 1988: The Video Privacy Protection Act. That’s a law that bans video-store clerks from telling newspapers what VHS cassettes you take home. In other words, it regulates three things that have effectively ceased to exist.

Corey Doctorow always hits so hard

[–] irreticent@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago (2 children)

And even though it's being labeled as a "consumer privacy law" it was actually spurred by a politician getting upset that people might find out what he was renting. It was a self-serving law that had the side effect of also helping consumers.

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Wasn't it because a couple of anti-porn politicians were outed as having renting porn tapes (yet another thing that doesn't really exist anymore)

[–] irreticent@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

IIRC that was what happened.

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

That's exactly right. It's called the bork tapes, and it gives rise to the eponymous phrase, "getting borked."

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

I wonder if there's any case law that could support applying that law to other media, such as preventing streaming sites from handing watch history over to the media.