…they start to lobby. It happens everywhere, and the pattern is identical.
Google, Facebook- -do not track- bill a threat to California economy
The Swedish car industry has been doing the same for many years, even though it’s already doomed, but bail-outs, acquisitions and other arrangements have saved them so far. The “people will lose their jobs” argument is identical, etc etc.
I definitely don’t say the Web 2.0 business is doomed, with or without this legislation. Far from it.
So, is this good or not? My impression is that Californian law is lax on consumer rights (correct me if I’m wrong), so a little tightening up shouldn’t hurt in the long run. Also the fact that Californian law suddenly applies to the whole world through services like Facebook should be looked into.
So that you don’t forget, the business of companies like Google and Facebook is ad placement. Not search, not community, not recommendations etc (that are all offered for free), but ad placement. The tracking of those ads is what they are worried about.