The Forced Purchase Canard

With discussions ongoing on net-neutrality or as I like to call it, congress taking Al Gore’s invention and ruining it with nonsensical burdensome regulations that what will ultimately lead to higher costs for less access, what needs more understanding ultimately is exactly what is meant by privacy on the interwebs. After all, privacy and equal access (whatever that means) are the stated goals of high-minded control schemes such as net neutrality.

An informative article in the Wall Street Journal online this morning makes an attempt at identifying ten internet privacy myths and then debunking them, most interesting to me is the following:

10) Targeted advertising leads people to buy stuff they don't want or need. This belief is inconsistent with the basis of a market economy. A market economy exists because buyers and sellers both benefit from voluntary transactions. If this were not true, then a planned economy would be more efficient—and we have all seen how that works.

This myth is oft repeated and typically put forth by democrat politicians as a protection for “the people” against the unscrupulous “big business”. In reality it is a misunderstanding of a market based economy by liberal politicians that apparently believe that “the people” are incapable of being responsible for their own behavior.

I know people that every time they have a dollar coming in have already spent two and the reason why they never drown in their debt is because of bailouts and “protective” mechanisms that keep them afloat. These people have no one to blame but themselves and should instead declare bankruptcy so that they no longer can get credit to buy things that they cannot afford. This instructional moment should serve as a moment of introspection and a learning experience. These types of people are too often deemed victims by power hungry legislators and “protective” actions invariably become ways for some to defer responsibility. While billed as compassionate, “protective” legislation is often anything but.

Much of the content on the web is offered at no cost to the consumer, paid for by directed advertisements. Without these advertisements there could not be any no-cost to the consumer services. These advertisements do not force the consumer to do anything. And when they direct the user to a product or service the consumer still does not have to do anything, it requires a conscious decision by a person to make a purchase. There is no coercion here and stating otherwise is a lie.