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Comment by lovich | Hacker News Reader

China's policy is pro China only and to suggest that they're regulations wouldn't change if Alibaba was 20 times the size of Amazon or any other reversal of size between US and Chinese companies is ridiculous.

The GPDR might end up being bad regulation, but we we're already getting bad results for the average citizen. If the industry wasn't going to regulate itself, and it's hurting citizens, are governments supposed to just stand back and hope it works out for the best? Maybe in a libertarian paradise, but no national government is currently running on that paradigm

Edit: also free speech != No regulations. Companies aren't people and they shouldn't be getting the same rights as people. You can't just do whatever you want to make a dollar and then try and claim free speech protections

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Companies absolutely should have free speech rights. A company is a group of PEOPLE who have joined together to sell or promote a product, service, or policy.

Should a union be denied freedom of speech? Because a union is a corporation as well. What about the Sierra Club? Should they be silenced? They too are a corporation. Should a teachers union be allowed to speak, but Khan Academy denied the same right? Should organizations advocating free WiFi be allowed speech, but Comcast be denied the same right?

The “companies are not people” tripe being parroted since Citizens United is a naïve and dangerous road down which people are attempting to travel. At the core of the issue is the right of free association. Free association is fundamental to free speech and a free society. Profit motive is irrelevant because profit is just as valid of a goal as “better schools” or “better public policy” or whatever the cause might be.

People are composed of cells that work together for a common purpose. Is a person a cell, to be treated the same way we treat actual cells?

Governments are people who have joined together for the common purpose of governing. Does that make a government indistinguishable from an individual person, which is basically just a cell?

Is there a difference between one kid running across your lawn and 10,000 kids organized for the purpose of running across your lawn?

I don’t know why you are downvoted since your comment is a well formed addition to the discussion.

I upvoted you and I am seeing this on HN more often now. That people would use downvote as a signal of disagreement.

We're in a thread where people are claiming that China's approach to regulation is objectively better than the EU's because it let's them do whatever they want as a company. I was always going to upset some people who are the pro corporate ideology by claiming that companies aren't people and HN has been turning more and more into reddit as it's gotten more popular

People are granted free speech because they are considered valuable, unique, irreplaceable, self-conscious entities.

A corporation is a piece of paper registered for $100 that can be destroyed without penalty. It is a tool for achieving an objective, just like a computer. Many people join together to make Wikipedia, but we don't grant that website free speech...

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