I hope you realize that "sowwy, there's too much code :3" will not fly with whatever government decides to regulate software after the next major cock-up. We can either grow up and set our own terms, or we can have them forced on us by bureaucrats whose last computer was an Apple II. Choose.
The fact that China is X number of years behind us, is easily demonstrable.
The amount of code running in the US, Y, is relatively easy to estimate by asking around.
Proving the amount of time it would take to modify Y lines of code to match any given law will exceed X number of years, thus putting us behind China, is also fairly easy to demonstrate, even if the exact amount of time is not.
Even our Apple II-era regulators know that going beyond that much effort (call it Z) is suicidal politically, economically, technologically, you name it. They might not understand tech, but they know it’s everywhere, and falling behind is not an option.
On that note, stop stereotyping our legislators. They have smartphones, younger aids, many of the oldest ones are retiring this cycle, etc.
