Governments and regulators have no idea about technology. The simple fact is the bureaucratic nature of government can’t keep pace with the world.
Nowhere is this more evident than the laughable story that’s come from the US this week.
This week a man attended a cinema in Ohio. Midway through watching Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit the man was asked to leave the cinema by a number of intimidating people. Once outside, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents held the man in custody for several hours.
The ICE agents interrogated the man under suspicion of illegally recording the movie.
First thoughts are innocent until proven guilty. But it seems these ICE agents had made up their mind as soon as they approached the man.
But no, this man was innocent. After hours of interrogation, he was cleared and released. He didn’t have a video and he didn’t record the movie. Oh and for his troubles the cinema gave him four free tickets…
So what was all the fuss about? The man was wearing Google Glass.
In an interview with Tech Crunch the man explained,
‘As I was taken out of the theater – the DHS agent had my Glass because he snatched it off my face – I started shaking and I was thinking I should call the police. Outside the theater when they asked me for the first time why was I recording the movie I realized it was a misunderstanding and I wanted to clear it as soon as possible. I unsuccessfully tried for a couple of hours to convince them to connect Glass to a computer or put it on their face and check, and when they finally did so they realized I wasn’t doing anything illegal and let me be and left.‘
It took the ICE agents a couple of hours to figure out he wasn’t doing anything illegal. A simple five minute check of his Google Glass would have ended it all there and then. In fact the man said to the agents to put on the Glass and check it.
But idiocy prevailed and the resultant storm in a teacup ensued.
So it appears wearing Google Glass is akin to being a terrorist. Of course wearing Glass into the cinema in the first place probably wasn’t the best idea. After all it can be a recording device. But almost every single person these days has a smartphone. So why aren’t ICE agents placed at every cinema across the world?
Surely if the threat of piracy is so strong a ‘suit’ in some dark shades talking into his wrist would tear my stub for cinema 8?
But this isn’t the only time Google Glass has run afoul of the law. In October last year police gave Cecilia Abadie a ticket. It was for ‘Driving with Monitor visible to driver (Google Glass)’. Thankfully sense prevailed. A judge dismissed the ticket just this week.
Government is Lagging
But the worrying issue is that government agencies, regulators and law enforcement simply can’t keep pace with technology.
It’s not always the fault of the officer or agent involved. There’s no directive, no law, no regulation for any of these technologies. That doesn’t mean there should be. I can’t imagine that the ‘Google Glass Act of 2014′ would be a good use of legislator time and effort.
The problem is government generally wants to regulate everything and anything it can.
But the example of the cinema incident is proof that government can’t control or regulate with any great authority anymore.
With mounting evidence it’s plausible the world will go one of two ways in the coming future.
Either technology driven networks will have greater influence in the world than any government, or government will stifle and slow technological progress and innovation. The by-product of this is it will also stifle and slow economic growth.
Perhaps government control is on borrowed time. This won’t be something that happens over two or three years. This is something that’s building momentum now and will happen over the next 10, 25 and 50 years.
Government will lose its grip on power and lose even further touch with the people. It’s socially connected, distributed, technology driven networks that will seize the power. In other words, people who are a part of these networks will use technology to make decisions that directly impact their way of life. They’ll do this outside of the realms of government regulation and control.
Faith and Trust
There are real examples of this happening in the world now.
The most topical of these is Bitcoin. It completely defies the rule of the state. It snubs central banks and relies on the network to ensure security, legitimacy and its very existence. And of course regulators and government around the world are scrambling to define and regulate the use of this economy busting technology.
Peer to Peer lending is another. Whether it’s Lending Club in the US or Zopa in the UK both of these have banks running scared. Wells Fargo has even banned its employees from using peer to peer lending.
Then you have the likes of Uber and AirBnb. These two seem to have a new lawsuit filed against them daily.
Take Uber for example. In Paris, lawmakers enacted a law stating that anyone who orders an Uber cab has to wait 15 minutes before entering the cab. So if your Uber cab arrives in 5 minutes you have to stand outside it for another 10 before getting in. These laws are to ‘protect’ the taxi industry in Paris. Protectionism laws…really? So much for competition and democracy.
Needless to say Uber has attracted its fair share of haters in Australia. The Australian Taxi Industry Association is calling for more regulation of Uber and other taxi ‘apps’. They want the same regulation as normal taxis. What they fail to recognise is the existing taxi network is a failure. As the current system doesn’t work these new technologies like Uber are growing in popularity and size.
Then there’s AirBnb. The New York City Attorney General in October last year filed a lawsuit against AirBnb for the records and data of all New Yorkers using AirBnb to list rooms and rentals. Of course you mustn’t forget that government takes a very handy little cut from hotels in the form of occupancy taxes. With AirBnb government collects nothing.
Technology is influencing our day to day lives more and more every year. The explosion of competitive, disruptive companies over the last couple of years has been a huge factor in this shift. These companies and technologies are specifically targeting markets and networks that for too long have had cushy, easy rides.
These technology driven networks that are the foundation of these companies give everybody a platform to make a difference.
You see Bitcoin is so popular because people have lost trust and faith in banks. Uber is so popular because people have lost trust and faith in the taxi industry. AirBnb is so popular because people have lost faith and trust in the hotel industry. See the common link…? People in general are losing trust in established industries and turning to these new, start-ups and new technologies. Why?
Because these technology driven networks do something that most regulators and governments fail to do…listen to the people and act on what they hear.
Regards,
Sam Volkering+
Technology Analyst
Ed Note: Soon Sam will launch a new free daily eletter – Tech Insider. Each day, Monday to Friday (plus a weekly digest on Saturday) Sam will reveal and explore the latest technological developments and explain how these technologies could impact your life. Importantly, Sam will explore these technologies from an investment angle too, by showing you how easy it is to invest in some of these remarkable technologies. Look out for more in the coming weeks, including details of how you can subscribe to Sam’s new free daily eletter…
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