It also tramples on more express legal rights, such as the right to free speech and the right to use one's property. Regulation always has unintended consequences, and costs. My interests often coincide with the interests of business, as a customer with an ongoing relationship with a company and trust in its brand, or as a stockholder. Thus, costs that affect businesses may well affect me as an individual. It is a useful fiction for advancing other political agendas.
Society is comprised of myriad competing interests.
I recognize that a Web site is private property, and that no portion of it belongs to me. Thus, I do not own, or claim the right to control other's perceptions, measurements or truthful free speech about my behavior on their property. Matt Carolan is Online News Editor for Interactive Week . He is also a columnist for Newsday . 810, the high-tech dream machine.