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Re:Goodreads plans to retire API access, disables existing A... by kaibee on Sunday December 13, 2020 @09:08AM (#25406638)
> The formation of something new, and independent, means it would also be less susceptible to corruption.

"independent" is doing a lot of work here. Government regulators are, at least in theory, independent because they're paid from taxes collected, and have no incentive . What mechanism is supposed to keep the new 'independent' entity, actually independent?

Re:Goodreads plans to retire API access, disables existing A... by Proziam on Monday December 14, 2020 @06:30PM (#25424859)
I can think of a few mechanisms that work but they all go after the money. It can be direct (betray the public trust, don't get donations) or indirect (betray the public trust and lose the beneficiary status on the trust that the government dumps your budget into...)

How it's designed is important, but even under the most elaborate schemes it would be less costly and human resource intensive than having the government directly take charge of it.