Comment by robertlagrant
5 months ago
> A discount for allowing surveillance is identical to an extra charge for disallowing it.
I don't think this is necessarily true. You're right that there's an unknown base rate, but that means you can't say what you're saying as well. And if you have other companies that offer non-driving-pattern policies as well, and they're a similar price, you can see it's a discount not an added cost.
In fact, regardless, other companies are your best bet in combatting rising prices for any reason.
Yes. That is what "...unless the base rate is set externally somehow" means.
It is different initially, when only one company is offering the "discount" and they have not yet adjusted their base price upward. In fact, the people who want the discount will presumably flock to their service, which may even mean they won't raise the base price all the way up if it makes their costs lower. But if that works, the other companies will follow suit.
In short: there's a period of time when there's a difference, and you have a real choice. If the difference is real, it will get locked in to the entire industry. It's a positive economic profit, and those go away.
cf https://robert.ocallahan.org/2014/08/choose-firefox-now-or-l...