Concern Trolling Is Taking Over Tech Policy


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When it comes to tech policy, "concern trolls" are becoming more and more common, writes Adam Thierer at the Daily Intelligencer.

They're "people who act like they support a particular belief, but really work to oppose it," he writes, likening them to "self-professed Luddites who criticize digital innovations from an honest position of opposition to technology."

In short, they "sow doubts about technology while disingenuously claiming to support it."

Take, for instance, the Federal Trade Commission's recent "advanced notice of proposed rulemaking" on data practices.

FTC Chair Lina Khan touts the digital economy as having "yielded striking advancements and dazzling conveniences," yet goes on to list her concerns about "dark patterns, data abuses, and the'surveillance economy,'" among other things.

"There is nothing wrong with asking a few questions, they will argue, because if the technology has done nothing wrong, it has nothing to hide," Thierer writes.

"But call them anti-technology and they will deny it.

And it is not that these issues are not important, but that does not mean they have to be the focus of every policy discussion nor should those raising these issues disguise their true motives."

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