RE: GPL & commercial software, the critical distinction (fwd)

[Matthew James Gering <mgering@ecosystems.net>]

Jim Choate wrote:
> See above examples. Hell, take a look at the wet pet food 
> market now for a perfect example of why non-regulation is 
> a bad thing and why liability and other such buzz words 
> don't work in the real world.

One thing that has changed fundamentally in the Information Age is the
ability for the consumer to get informed -- the ease if information
publishing and retrieval and the inability to control it. Reputation has
more value then ever. If anything the government should insure
information disclosure (and enforce laws against fraud). Don't prohibit
transactions, let the consumer decide. For example the market will place
a value on FDA approval, whether individuals will pay more for or only
consume FDA approved items, whether insurance will cover non-approved
items, etc (and the FDA should be funded fully by evaluation fees, it
simply becomes a sort of brand, it sells reputation).

Government cannot protect people from their own decisions, and should
not have the right to take those decisions away.

I wouldn't eat at McDonalds even with all the regulation.

More often than not regulation is a false sense of security, and often
protects companies from legitimate liability (although god knows our
liability/tort system is completely out of whack).

	Matt