The syllabus this week directed us to consider the differences between how the Supreme Court and Congress are treating copyright and patent law. This article touches on the intersection of Congress and “Big Tech,” as it relates to privacy concerns. While this article doesn’t speak directly to patent or copyright regulation, I thought this article and the rising trend of “cracking down” on tech implicates a broader regulatory environment that is coming as the “techlash” continues.
It is interesting how the law has had to play catch up with startups as “they’ve grown from dorm-room startups into media behemoths … they haven’t acknowledged that that kind of power comes with responsibility.”
This relates to our prior discussion about entrepreneur personalities, where the startup founder tends to not enjoy/succeed at the more surface level regulatory and compliance aspects of the business. Looking at any of the well-known entrepreneurs (Zuckerberg, Ellison, Branson, Musk): all seem to have gotten in trouble for compliance at some point. As startups gain momentum and become “behemoths”, perhaps it would be better for everyone if those Founder’s stepped into Chairman positions rather than active CEOs.
Maybe this is a good idea (to have entrepreneurs leave the company or occupy a less intensive position); but when do we know when that moment should happen? I think it’s a delicate situation, as we don’t want to limit the potential of the company by ting the hands of the individual who brought it to where it was, but we also don’t want to encourage risk in companies with larger market holds.