Coding in the open: how to do it securely

Re:Coding in the open: how to do it securely by hinkley on Wednesday September 27, 2017 @12:25PM (#15349390)

Let's say they decide to put a tarrif on something a lot of people hate or think problematic. Let's say for argument's sake, 2 stroke generators. But they have a lot of power (and users) so you don't think you can swing a yearly tax. But a tax on new purchases/builds might be tractable. They get to keep all the existing ones but they can't build more. That's grandfathering.

If you give the wrong people to the end of the year, they'll grandfather in as many as they can, even if they sit unused. So now you're putting off curbing the installed base and instead you've actually created a glut. Now your tax will have zero net effect for four or five years and will make things (say, smog) far worse in the short term.

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Re:Coding in the open: how to do it securely by SomeStupidPoint on Wednesday September 27, 2017 @12:47PM (#15349658)

It can actually end up unwinding your tax (or regulation) --

If the people rushing to buy up the supply to simply store them off-line happen to cut off people who need them for what are sensible and essential reasons, you end up with a litany of cases of the tax causing problems paraded about as it comes into effect, and it ends up repealed or undercut because of political pressure.

(Usually 1-year window extended because "we need more time to phase it in" and by the time the second window would close, it's gutted.)

It's not just that it can end up counter productive in the short term, it's that it can undercut itself as a law as well by destabilizing a market that usually has low, but important volume.

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