Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful? • Hacker News Board

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#121

Post by RestlessMind » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 4:58 PM UTC

It is a particularly dangerous moment for American Tech giants.

In the US, liberals / Democrats hate them because: Tech is the biggest reason behind the decline of existing publishing business model and people in those industries lean liberal, Tech's contribution to rising inequality (due to automation etc), very apparent gentrification by Tech workers in places like SF / NYC.

Conservatives / Republicans hate Tech because of its perceived liberal bias - see Facebook controversy in 2016 about suppression of Conservative topics, or Eric Schmidt campaigning for Hillary, or overwhelming majority of left-leaning people in these companies.

Apart from US, other countries (eg. EU) hates Tech because they are foreign companies who are blind to local cultural sensitivities (eg. privacy, right to be forgotten, free speech to a near-absolute degree), and also the reasons why US left hates Tech (see above).

Countries like China hate US Tech co's maybe because geopolitical reasons and CCP wants to nurture local Tech giants instead of rolling out a red carpet to American Tech.

American Tech giants should really be nervous.

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#122

Post by RestlessMind » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 4:59 PM UTC

super-serial wrote: post #99

The ISPs and mobile carriers are too powerful. At least Google/Facebook have to innovate, or buy companies like Instagram or Whatsapp that innovate. ISPs get their billions in revenue from monopoly. All they have to do is buy off politicans and put people like Ajit Pai in power. Now that they've started to acquire tech companies like Yahoo, no one can stop them from giving preferential treatment to their content and…

But ISPs don't pick war with those who buy ink by the barrels. So you won't see a flood of articles across the political spectrum about how bad ISPs are.

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#123

Post by ChuckMcM » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 4:59 PM UTC

Am I surprised that the New York times doesn't ask "Have the banking giants grown too powerful?" No I am not. I am also not sure why the NYT feels compelled to bash the Bay Area from time to time but whatever.

Do I think there should be more privacy reform? Yes. Do I think there should be more banking reform? Yes. Do I think for a minute that the current state of the world will persist for a decade? Not really.

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#124

Post by malandrew » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 5:10 PM UTC

white-flame wrote: post #26

The "tech giants" are creating and controlling core forms of communication, both interpersonal and broadcast/public. That's too important and fundamental to the health of society to allow it to be arbitrarily engineered, filtered, and slanted for maximizing profit. If they were acting like common carriers, it would be a completely different issue. But they're not; they have business models that necessitate the manipu…

Yes, but they are only controlling core forms of communication that they themselves built.

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#125

Post by neuromantik8086 » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 5:14 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #123

Am I surprised that the New York times doesn't ask "Have the banking giants grown too powerful?" No I am not. I am also not sure why the NYT feels compelled to bash the Bay Area from time to time but whatever. Do I think there should be more privacy reform? Yes. Do I think there should be more banking reform? Yes. Do I think for a minute that the current state of the world will persist for a decade? Not really.

> "Have the banking giants grown too powerful?"

The New York Times never asks this question because it doesn't make for news and the answer has basically been the same since the emergence of banking giants. Asking if banking is too powerful will always yield an affirmative, and the discerning NYTimes reader will react with a justified, "No shit Sherlock".

> I am also not sure why the NYT feels compelled to bash the Bay Area

The issue is cultural. Folks from the Bay Area tend to couch their money-making schemes with nonsense about making the world a better place. Finance workers in NYC have no need to sugarcoat what they do and are unabashedly trying to make ludicrous amounts of money. In New York, calling people out on their bullshit is deeply culturally ingrained, and the Bay Area is clearly full of it. :. The NY Times gives its primary demographic what it wants.

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#126

Post by kodablah » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 5:37 PM UTC

sctb wrote: post #69

kodablah wrote: post #42

Yet more pointless anti-tech drivel. I wish HN had a downvote option for articles (though I know some use the flagging feature for that). The cycle: news domain hosts newsless anti-tech article, people here and elsewhere say "yeah!", site gets clicks, narrative steered as intended, repeat tomorrow. We get it, many here and mass media are against big tech, can we just wait for news or at least unique perspectives befo…

> Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate. If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it. ... If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

To clarify my point, I don't believe it is spam, off-topic, or flaggable. I just disagree with the frequency across the spectrum. Not specific to HN so, granted, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned HN in my comment.

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#127

Post by ChuckMcM » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 5:45 PM UTC

neuromantik8086 wrote: post #125

ChuckMcM wrote: post #123

Am I surprised that the New York times doesn't ask "Have the banking giants grown too powerful?" No I am not. I am also not sure why the NYT feels compelled to bash the Bay Area from time to time but whatever. Do I think there should be more privacy reform? Yes. Do I think there should be more banking reform? Yes. Do I think for a minute that the current state of the world will persist for a decade? Not really.

> "Have the banking giants grown too powerful?" The New York Times never asks this question because it doesn't make for news and the answer has basically been the same since the emergence of banking giants. Asking if banking is too powerful will always yield an affirmative, and the discerning NYTimes reader will react with a justified, "No shit Sherlock". > I am also not sure why the NYT feels compelled to bash the B…

Fair enough.

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#128

Post by sqdbps » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 5:46 PM UTC

s73v3r_ wrote: post #118

sqdbps wrote: post #47

I really don't understand the self destructive desire to domestically pile on our tech firms while they are being shutout of the Chinese market by the government there which apparently appreciates the importance of these firms so much as to support their local companies financially, politically, and intellectually and on the other front the EU is using every tool at its disposal to hamstring US tech firms. Some comme…

I don't believe it's self-destructive to hold our companies accountable for what they do. Many of us also agree with what the EU is doing, and wish our government would get up off it's ass and do the same thing.

The EU is targeting US firms as a protectionist measure, you can read transcripts of their politicians' grandstanding and parroting local lobbyist to get the picture, they're not shy about it.

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#129

Post by kilotaras » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 5:49 PM UTC

ascendantlogic wrote: post #84

As someone old enough to remember when IBM seemed too huge to ever lose in the market, along came Microsoft. Then when Microsoft felt like it was unstoppable, along came Google and Amazon. Now those companies are reaching the same terminal velocity and a new breed of companies will rise up and dethrone them.

Both IBM and Microsoft got hit with anittrust lawsuits, which curbed their monopolistic behavior.

Re: Have the Tech Giants Grown Too Powerful?

#130

Post by ascendantlogic » Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 5:56 PM UTC

fjsolwmv wrote: post #98

ascendantlogic wrote: post #84

As someone old enough to remember when IBM seemed too huge to ever lose in the market, along came Microsoft. Then when Microsoft felt like it was unstoppable, along came Google and Amazon. Now those companies are reaching the same terminal velocity and a new breed of companies will rise up and dethrone them.

AT&T still dominates telephone service. Most phone companies are renamed Baby Bells. Facebook has the analytics information and wealth to buy any competitor. IBM gave itself away to Microsoft when an exec handed Bill Gates a sweetheart deal for DOS. Microsoft is still the dominant force in its original industry (desktop computing) which is still significant. The Internet disrupted companies that weren't ready for it.…

> The Internet disrupted companies that weren't ready for it. Do you think something new is coming alomg to replace the Internet?

Yes, this is the way of technology and it's happening faster and faster. One of the biggest reasons Microsoft ended up on its back foot in the 2000's was because it disregarded the threat of Linux, and woke up too late to the mobile revolution. In all these cases there's hubris mixed with inertia and when the landscape shifts these giants aren't paying attention.