Tech is a tool: who does it serve?

Consider a radical idea: technology should serve the goals of its end-users rather than just serving the financial benefit of the people who created it.

We've become accustomed to internet services optimizing their systems to predict and change our behavior. But that's not the only way the internet can work. The internet is at its best when it is a tool that extends the agency of the user, rather than a mechanism of control and manipulation.

The simplest example of this is Proactive Content Recommendation (PCR) - features that cajole, befuddle, and addict their users into spending more and more time on a platform through infinite feeds of attention grabbingcontent. Regulating these features is not only possible, but relatively simple. This document makes the case for why legislative action is nescessary, and how it could be achieved.

This site has two parts:

• A "recursive essay" that makes the case against PCR at different levels of detail. Click on a link to read my reasoning behind the argument.
• A "model legislation builder" that creates legislation to regulate PCR - intended for State legisltators within the United States.

Get started by expanding this idea: Proactive Content Recommendation systems should be age restricted and have an opt-out.