Re:Dutch foundation seeks consumer damages over Apple, Googl...
by ocdtrekkie on Wednesday February 16, 2022 @03:16PM
(#30365122)
Possibly, but if we're going to punish corporations, why not put capital punishment on the table? At what scale of massive recurring societal harm (Google, Facebook, etc.) should we confiscate all assets, disband the company, and auction off everything.
Re:Dutch foundation seeks consumer damages over Apple, Googl...
by dragonwriter on Wednesday February 16, 2022 @03:27PM
(#30365244)
There's two different things here with different answers:
> At what scale of massive recurring societal harm (Google, Facebook, etc.) should we confiscate all assets [...] and auction off anything.
At the point where criminal fines and civil damages and penalties exceed the value of assets of the firm.
> disband the company
This is less clear. A difference between a juridical and a natural person is that you can't simply swap out the decision-making apparatus of a natural person. You can, if need be, to a juridical person like a corporation, so its not clear what purpose disbanding the firm (whether assets not needed to be obligations are returned or seized—the former being more analogous to the death penalty) serves.
Alternatively, jail the company itself; for some period of time (days? Weeks?) it is unable to conduct any business, run any services, transfer or process any money, etc. Let imprisonment be as potentially life-ruining for a company as it is for the average man.