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Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

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Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#51

Post by jessaustin »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #44
CodeWriter23 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A politician elected on a populist platform doing things to stand up for his people is an "ulterior motive"? To me, an ulterior motive would be getting elected on a populist platform, then taking actions to benefit his own commercial interests.

Why does your definition of an "ulterior" motive require commercial benefit? Are you suggesting that, if this man had a secret reason for going after Google, and that reason was that it was part of his plan to boost his popularity and name recognition with local conservatives by shitting on "liberal" companies in order to boost his chances of winning a seat in the Senate, it would somehow not count as an "ulterior mo…

I don't see anything in the currently-linked piece that speaks to an ulterior motive? Surely you're not just suspicious because he's a Missourian?

Having served in public office for about ten months, Hawley has very little record as a public official. He was a law professor before running for this office. Trying to read the fact that he's a Republican as some sort of secret clue to his motives is foolish.

I, for one, was delighted to be able to vote for an AG candidate who isn't a former prosecutor. Locking up hundreds or thousands of people for victimless fake crimes is toxic to one's soul, and usually we get a "choice" between two such corrupted sociopaths for this office. Time will tell if Hawley will be tempted down that awful path, but the fact that his first "big" initiative has nothing to do with taking revenge on pitiful unfortunates as a proxy for old people's frustration with the general direction of societal change is a good thing.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#52

Post by chiaro »

maxxxxx wrote: post #49
chiaro wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's neither? It has more market power than, say, Chevrolet, but less than AT&T. Receiving ~1.25Bn from the taxpayer where smaller companies wouldn't get anything is more a function of its size and institutional failure on behalf of the individual states.

I don't think Tesla is anywhere close to market dominance. Their problem may be more long-term survival than achieving a monopoly in my view.

They are leading in the niche, but that's besides the point: market power refers to the ability to raise prices above what is truly competitive, which they certainly have to some extent while not being a monopoly.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#53

Post by tyingq »

thephyber wrote: post #35
maxxxxx wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we should make life difficult for companies from a certain size on. These large companies kill competition and innovation.

I would prefer we "make life difficult" for companies based on their behavior, not their size. At the risk of sounding like a libertarian, I'm of the mind that monopolies aren't inherently bad until they start buying politicians and bills that reinforce their hold on the market. Tesla is huge for electric-only car companies, but I don't hear the average person screaming that they should be shut down in states where t…

Google has done a few things in the antitrust area that are noteworthy. http://graphics.wsj.com/google-ftc-report/

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#54

Post by jessaustin »

rdtsc wrote: post #24
dontnotice wrote: post #4

This is bizarre. It's also bizarre how the reporting on it doesn't mention how out of left field this is. Why Google? why Missouri? How come a republican is doing this? As for: The United States has lagged behind Europe in pursuing antitrust cases against tech giants This narrative is silly. The EU goes after "tech giants" partly because they are foreign, the US doesn't have that incentive.

> The EU goes after "tech giants" partly because they are foreign, the US doesn't have that incentive. Really? It went after AT&T before and split it up and it wasn't foreign. How do you see the "foreign" part being significant here? Though it would be interesting to think about Google pulling out of Missouri saying "Ok, you want to sue us? Fine no Google presence there" as soon as it detects an accounts or user conn…

Bring it on. That lawsuit would be open-and-shut. Also VPNs.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#55

Post by todd8 »

thebiglebrewski wrote: post #6

Yay! I am happy about this. I feel as if there are a ton of monopolies and trusts today that stifle competition. Does anyone else feel similar?

I don't.

Why do we want or even trust government to decide for us that a company is too big and needs to be smaller or that a company should conducts it business in the way that the government wants it to. As long as a company isn't somehow forcing me to use it services, I'm free to go elsewhere.

If you don't like Google don't use it. The fact that you desire something from Google that it isn't giving you (searching with more privacy, better free email service, whatever) doesn't give you some sort of moral claim against the company.

The public can vote for other companies by buying from or using them. As a last resort, start a new company and run it the way you want.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#56

Post by savanaly »

CottageCarry wrote: post #16
fishcolorbrick wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't. I use a mix of Google services and non-Google services, and I've never had a hard time finding a good competitor for a Google tool.

I'd love an actually decent competitor to Youtube.

I mean, I want the improvement in quality that usually comes with competition, but I don't actually want there to be competition. Does anyone really relish the idea of having to search multiple sites for a given video because you don't know or can't remember which one it's on, and having to have an account and different set of uploader subscriptions for Youtube A, B and C? And remember where the subscribe button is on A vs. B and does C support changing video speed or not? etc. Just one platform is a massive, MASSIVE perk of the current system.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#58

Post by bduerst »

mpweiher wrote: post #8
dontnotice wrote: post #4

This is bizarre. It's also bizarre how the reporting on it doesn't mention how out of left field this is. Why Google? why Missouri? How come a republican is doing this? As for: The United States has lagged behind Europe in pursuing antitrust cases against tech giants This narrative is silly. The EU goes after "tech giants" partly because they are foreign, the US doesn't have that incentive.

Nah, the EU also goes after local champions, see for example the Vitamin case: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-01-1625_en.htm It's just that the US has become extremely lax in its anti-trust stance.

That's from 16 years ago. To give context, that's six years before the treaty of Lisbon which defines the EU Commission today.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#59

Post by 5ilv3r »

todd8 wrote: post #55
thebiglebrewski wrote: post #6

Yay! I am happy about this. I feel as if there are a ton of monopolies and trusts today that stifle competition. Does anyone else feel similar?

I don't. Why do we want or even trust government to decide for us that a company is too big and needs to be smaller or that a company should conducts it business in the way that the government wants it to. As long as a company isn't somehow forcing me to use it services, I'm free to go elsewhere. If you don't like Google don't use it. The fact that you desire something from Google that it isn't giving you (searching…

That'd be a fine option if it was a real option.

Re: Missouri Attorney General launches investigation of Google

#60

Post by hyperpallium »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #48
bobajeff wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've found a good competitor to Google search?

Bing at least claims to be. Is Bing enough worse that it isn't a usable alternative?

I tried DDG for a while. Search results were pretty good for me (and w! so! etc are nice), but google is so much faster. That takes capital investment, for local centers around the world. I'll try bing for a while.
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