Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google • Hacker News Board

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#11

Post by hdieonds » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:27 AM UTC

mdorazio wrote: post #3

If true, this will be a landmark case and should scare FB and Amazon as well. Personally, I think this is a good thing and it's past time for the government to at least set some boundaries, but there's no telling how it will play out with the current administration and amount of lobbying dollars flying around.

Considering how the current administration has - or at least feels it has - been treated by social media companies, I’d give good odds that the administration is the impetus behind the investigation.

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#12

Post by Despegar » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:27 AM UTC

daenz wrote: post #7

Can someone knowledgeable in this area lay out some of the potential anti-trust points that could be shown by the probe?

This WSJ story has details about the FTC recommendation to sue Google (overruled by the commissioners at the time). They accidentally sent the WSJ every other page in a botched FOIA request.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-u-s-antitrust-probe-...

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#13

Post by aleister_777 » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:28 AM UTC

Good. To quote an old friend who worked for Google:

"I'm worried that if the rest of America knew what we were actually doing here they would literally come here and kill us..."

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#14

Post by ok_coo » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:32 AM UTC

Finally.

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#15

Post by infinity0 » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:34 AM UTC

aleister_777 wrote: post #13

Good. To quote an old friend who worked for Google: "I'm worried that if the rest of America knew what we were actually doing here they would literally come here and kill us..."

Can you elaborate? I left Google years ago but it wasn't that bad.

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#16

Post by daenz » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:36 AM UTC

aleister_777 wrote: post #13

Good. To quote an old friend who worked for Google: "I'm worried that if the rest of America knew what we were actually doing here they would literally come here and kill us..."

Suddenly, any regret from not pursuing a Google interview is gone...

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#17

Post by mav3rick » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:43 AM UTC

aleister_777 wrote: post #13

Good. To quote an old friend who worked for Google: "I'm worried that if the rest of America knew what we were actually doing here they would literally come here and kill us..."

There are many many people who do good work at Google. Quote a random to suit your pitch forks. No name, no context , no source.

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#18

Post by raleigh_user » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:44 AM UTC

Yep. Been coming. Platforms are super interesting with laws/regulations. Going to be interesting to watch what is decided.

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#19

Post by oldjokes » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:44 AM UTC

aleister_777 wrote: post #13

Good. To quote an old friend who worked for Google: "I'm worried that if the rest of America knew what we were actually doing here they would literally come here and kill us..."

I wonder how severe the backlash is going to be, not just for Google but all the tech giants. Our anti-trust laws were mostly written around monopolies abusing pricing power to rip off consumers, but with the intersection of data and hosting and analytics and everything else the potential to abuse people is far greater than just raising prices. And they have expanded their ability to profile and experiment on individuals worldwide, regardless of whether you create a Google account.

It's just getting scary at this point.

Re: Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google

#20

Post by devoply » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 1:45 AM UTC

aleister_777 wrote: post #13

Good. To quote an old friend who worked for Google: "I'm worried that if the rest of America knew what we were actually doing here they would literally come here and kill us..."

If he or she worked for Google why did they not bother exposing them when he got out. They could do it anonymously through a media outlet in the UK like the Guardian.

I mean I would guess it's pretty much yeah we have everything you have ever typed into Android, almost every site you have visited, a detailed dossier of your porn habits, all your Google Home conversations... All your e-mails. List of your friends. Your driving habits. And we've been pretty much trying to kill all our competition pretending like there are bugs in our software when often it's been intentional... oh and we've been sharing everything with the government so it's been looking the other way.