Posted on 03/20/2018 8:58:03 AM PDT by GoldenState_Rose
European regulators are clamping down on Silicon Valley companies because they are “jealous” of the success of the technology industry in the US, according to PayPal co-founder and investor Peter Thiel.
Speaking about the looming threat of regulation for these companies, Thiel said that the “threat is probably greater in Europe” and there are “good reasons and bad reasons”.
“The good reasons are these privacy concerns and the bad reasons are there are no successful tech companies in Europe and they are jealous of the US so they are punishing us,” he said at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday.
At the same time, Europe has produced successful technology companies, including Spotify, Skype and Asos – although none have the scale of Facebook, Apple or Google.
Thiel acknowledged that “privacy in a digital era deserves to be rethought” but said that “as a libertarian I always dislike regulation”.
Thiel also explained why he felt Silicon Valley was losing its edge as the epicentre of the technology industry and that innovation would be more distributed across the country in the future. This was partly relating to the cost of living in the Bay Area, but also because of what he described as “lemming-like” behaviour of investors and an “almost totalitarian” ideology that is unwelcoming to conservatives and libertarians. This, he said, explained why he recently decided to move to Los Angeles.
“It’s striking how what had always been a very liberal place has become almost a one-party state,” he said. “When you have complete unanimity that tells you that political correctness may have gone a little bit too far.”
Thiel felt this acutely when he backed Donald Trump for president.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
He's so libertarian that he won't let people use PayPal for firearms or forearms-related purchases...
Right. He moved to Los Angeles, California, that world-renowned bastion of conservatism and libertarianism. You won't find any ideological lemmings there - no sirree...
Apparently L.A. is going through a “conservative renaissance”
How about uncountable, widespread, egregious, continuing violations of their own Terms of Service? Good for you, Europe. “It’s a private company!” only goes so far when they torch their own contract, hit the PURGE button, and shrug their shoulders.
Europe has made blunder after blunder—but at least they get that allowing foreign corporations to spy on their residents may not be a good idea.
Like a broken clock—have to get the time right at some point during the day!
“He’s so libertarian that he won’t let people use PayPal for firearms or forearms-related purchases... “
Peter Thiel no longer is part of PayPal. He sold his stake.
On the other hand, whether I support PayPal’s decisions regarding sales of firearms, I am all for private property rights, and as PayPal is a private entity and not the government I respect its private rights to pick and choose how its services can be used. I may not like it, but I defend their right to it. Now then, if only Libs would have the same legal respect for decisions by Conservative businesses.
I’ve also heard reports of flying pigs being spotted off the Santa Monica Pier...
I hope my post did not appear to imply that I think PayPal should be forced to allow their service to be used for firearms purchases.
My intent was to simply point out that the man may not be as “libertarian” as he says he is.
They didn’t start that until after ebay bought it from him. I dropped my account after that.
In that case, I will give Mr. Thiel the benefit of the doubt regarding that policy.
However, I reserve my right to question his judgment in moving from Silicon valley to Los Angeles because he thinks LA is more conservative/libertarian than Silicon Valley...
;-)
“My intent was to simply point out that the man may not be as “libertarian” as he says he is.”
My point was he has not been connected to PayPal for some time. I doubt the policy you speak of belongs to him personally going back to when he was part of PayPal.
European governments don’t want the competition from uncontrollable companies, period. They spy quite well on their own citizens.
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