Deconstructing one of the lazy tropes that enables bad internet regulation.
Ahead of its return in September, I want to offer some constructive thoughts on how the Online Safety Bill's weaknesses should be improved. That's an academic exercise, though, because this Bill is not fixable.
The trope of the Internet as an "unregulated wild west" is a lie, and those who ply it know it; they need it as a means to a political end.
The next time a policymaker tells you that the internet is an "unregulated wild west", point them here to take the shine off their sheriff star.
When someone says the internet is the "wild west", what he's really saying is that he has a personal fantasy about being the sheriff.