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@yabellini@fosstodon.org I don't know whether it's appropriate to say but I just keep thinking "they killed Aaron Swartz for allegedly trying to give people access to science _they've funded_ and they've given 5 billion to Sam Altman for stealing from everyone"

I'm not surprised but for some reason I just can't stop thinking it. I hate it. I hate it so much. They crushed him even though apparently there was a strong indication that what he was doing wasn't even illegal.

@aud @yabellini (Mostly) Unregulated capitalism is a cancer.

Edit: missed a word lol

@CarRamrod @yabellini @aud the reason for the contrast is that Swartz was enriching the commons, whereas Altman is enriching shareholders. It's called the profit motive. No amount of regulation can change the basic incentive structure of capitalism.

They even acquitted German corporate executives at Nuremberg who were working slaves to death worse than the SS at Auschwitz, because it was their "fiduciary duty to company shareholders" to do so, and therefore it was ruled they had no choice...

@alter_kaker there was a time when a company wasn’t considered an entity. Being able to transfer responsibility to basically nowhere (shareholders don’t know and CEOs must not care) as we do it today is not a natural state of the world, but the result of actual choices of actual (powerful) human beings.

It can be changed without having to topple the world first.

But you need to know where you want to go (a plausible vision) and you will see opposition.
@CarRamrod @yabellini @aud

@ArneBab @alter_kaker @CarRamrod @yabellini @aud

I see the value of being able to reduce liability. Without that, there would be enormous risk to small business owners.

Where I'd want to see a change is keeping the existing structure as it relates to civil risk, but criminal risk would pierce the corporate veil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piercing_the_corporate_veil).

Executives could then be criminally liable for the actions of the company, and I'd love to see white collar criminals go to jail over fraud, especially health and safety issues.

I genuinely believe that while the data is poor on jail time being preventative for violent crime, the fear of jail would be a real deterrent to white collar crime.

@serge when you’re the owner of a small limited liability company, you have the obligation to declare bankruptcy, if the expected liabilities become larger than the capital of the company.

Though this limited liability doesn’t always seem to work.

When Limewire (LLC) was sued for copyright infringement, it’s CEO Greg Bildson was held liable with his personal belongings.

So who’s liable and who isn’t seems to depend on who sues …
@alter_kaker @CarRamrod @yabellini @aud