philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Silicon Valley Is Now Public Enemy No. 1, And We Only Have Ourselves To Blame

[Philip Lelyveld comment; this article is a fair assessment of the problem.  Silicon Valley used to innovate in new, tech-focused, and uncharted industries.  Now they are 'disrupting' existing industries with little regard for the millions of people currently employed by them, or the rules put in place to protect consumers.]

At the heart of this controversy is Silicon Valley’s changing emphasis from pure technological advancement to disruption of existing manufacturing and service industries. For decades, the region worked in greenfield territory – spaces where existing incumbents were only other technology companies or simply did not exist.

Now that the Valley’s companies are increasingly competing against traditional businesses, society is not so quick to give us a pass on this behavior. Take Airbnb and Uber again, both of which have attempted to avoid regulations and taxes in their fields (hotel taxes and taxi and license commission regulations, respectively). The tech press often writes these up as “disrupting” unwieldy government regulations, and to a degree, this is accurate (the best writers also mention that many of these laws were designed with consumers in mind, back when cabs and hotels were far less safe than they are now).

For the most part, these companies have managed to mitigate their insubordination. Yet, the same special rules never seem to apply to small and medium size businesses like an independent bed and breakfast, which lacks the financial and legal muscle to ignore such regulations without risking its entire business. It is this exceptionalism that in the past has been heralded, but in the context of today’s economic environment invites significant blowback.

See the full story here: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/28/blowback-silicon-valley-is-now-public-enemy-1/?ncid=tcdaily