Facebook is like chairs. No, telephones. No, cars. No …

Facebook’s comparison of its products to inventions of yore is “ironic, because these people are often trying to fight off regulation,” said Lee Vinsel, a professor of science, technology and society at Virginia Tech. “But the reality is that one of the reasons so many technologies around us have become acceptable is because we’ve regulated them. We’ve taken the sharp edges off of them.” Vinsel pointed to the strict federal rules governing aviation, the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of chemicals and pollutants, and building codes that constrain modern construction.