Re:Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech
by throwaway0a5e on Friday June 11, 2021 @01:47PM
(#27476371)
The amount of lobbying you need is going to depend a lot on what your industry is.
If you're building mines or manufacturing plants that take years to build and then another year to get running right and then another five to be profitable and your margins are thin you have a much larger interest in ensuring regulations don't change or at least not fast because a few percent change in profit could mean you never recoup your investment over the lifetime of the facility.
It can still take years to build stuff but rarely is it 3+yr and tech margins are fatter and once you have something your can scale up and down much more rapidly.
I think the "natural" amount of lobbying is going to be lower in tech than for industries that do physical things because tech has some things that make working with regulatory uncertainty less terrible.
If you're building mines or manufacturing plants that take years to build and then another year to get running right and then another five to be profitable and your margins are thin you have a much larger interest in ensuring regulations don't change or at least not fast because a few percent change in profit could mean you never recoup your investment over the lifetime of the facility.
It can still take years to build stuff but rarely is it 3+yr and tech margins are fatter and once you have something your can scale up and down much more rapidly.
I think the "natural" amount of lobbying is going to be lower in tech than for industries that do physical things because tech has some things that make working with regulatory uncertainty less terrible.