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Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

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Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#41

Post by yowlingcat »

glenstein wrote: post #16

I don't have a problem with this. But I wonder why there isn't similar willpower to pursue, say, telecoms, banks, Monsanto, Luxxotica, Disney, and the like. Why is it just big tech?

Big Tech has a corporate sophistication problem. The other industries are far more savvy when it comes to optics and fixing image problems. Remember Monsanto's reverse merge into Bayer that cleverly sidestepped the bad PR trail it received? That never caught up with them. It likely never will.

Sadly, I imagine that big tech will catch on. It has the resources. It's just still in the process of developing the playbook.

Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#42

Post by tombert »

ghastmaster wrote: post #9
diogenescynic wrote: post #6

I really hope they start splitting tech giants up. It would be a boom for the economy, jobs, and create much needed competition.

> It would be a boom for the economy Why? Are they inefficient? Have their resources been mis-allocated? > jobs For the sake of jobs? That pay more or less? > create much needed competition Are they charging too much?

> Are they charging too much?

The total ownership of virtually all the data for a huge percentage of the population could be argued to be a high price, depending on your perspective.

Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#43

Post by pb7 »

xoxoy wrote: post #34
glenstein wrote: post #16

I don't have a problem with this. But I wonder why there isn't similar willpower to pursue, say, telecoms, banks, Monsanto, Luxxotica, Disney, and the like. Why is it just big tech?

how is banking a monopoly? or Disney?

How is Google or Amazon or Facebook a monopoly?

Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#44

Post by xoxoy »

leoh wrote: post #26
glenstein wrote: post #16

I don't have a problem with this. But I wonder why there isn't similar willpower to pursue, say, telecoms, banks, Monsanto, Luxxotica, Disney, and the like. Why is it just big tech?

Telecom, etc. are far, far more harmful IMHO

Much more regulated. And the T-Mobile + Sprint deal did get a lot of scrutiny, much more than any tech acquisition has ever gotten.

Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#45

Post by akersten »

iateanapple wrote: post #36
akersten wrote: post #23

I will continue to believe that this is another tentacle of William Barr's political harassment of Google and tech in general until he leads the same crusade against other 'monopolies' of the same degree like Comcast, Apple, Boeing, Amazon, United Airlines, etc.

Are any of those companies (except Amazon) even in the same league in terms of negative impact as big tech?

I mean, your choices for flying somewhere are what - Delta or United? Some small regional carriers? What about for internet service - just a single ISP in most areas. Sometimes a monopoly by law, where no one else can lay fiber and they're free to charge as much as they want.

Your choices for searching something on the internet, hosting a video, doing email, etc. are innumerable.

So you'll have to qualify what you mean by "negative impact" before I can answer that.

Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#46

Post by nojito »

foxtr0t wrote: post #15
Despegar wrote: post #7

This antitrust case is the most straightforward one for prosecutors to win. It's been a long time coming and the FTC would have brought one during the Obama administration if they weren't so captured by the tech industry and Google in particular [1][2]. I expect Google will lose their antitrust cases globally. Cases against other tech companies like Facebook and Amazon seem less certain, but I haven't really thought…

Isn't settlement far more likely than losing all the way through appeals? And in what way is it straightforward? Does it not require a new interpretation of antitrust law? Google isn't using monopoly power to increase prices for consumers.

>Google isn't using monopoly power to increase prices for consumers.

This is whole reason for the criminal trial. If they can prove Google stifled competition in the advertising business, it is going to be a cut and dry case.

Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#47

Post by burkaman »

pb7 wrote: post #11
noad wrote: post #3

Amazon and Facebook should be next. Break them all up with extreme prejudice and put strict new anti-trust laws around acquisitions in place for the future. We're going to do this and open technology back up to innovation and progress, or just watch the tech giants continue to grow in power and abusiveness year after year while new startups continue to decline.

Break them up into what?

AWS, Amazon Studios, Amazon the online marketplace, Amazon the producer of goods sold on that marketplace, Whole Foods, Ring, Twitch, whatever else they own

Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#48

Post by chrischattin »

quattrofan wrote: post #14

The big one is Amazon. The revenue from AWS funds the ability for them to crush the high street on the shopping side. They should be forced to sell off AWS as a separate company.

This is all beneficial for the consumer, no?

Having a competitive advantage is not illegal. Someone correct me, but isn't the law's intent to protect people from abuse of monopolistic power? Which wouldn't be the case here.

Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#49

Post by snazz »

nojito wrote: post #39
noad wrote: post #3

Amazon and Facebook should be next. Break them all up with extreme prejudice and put strict new anti-trust laws around acquisitions in place for the future. We're going to do this and open technology back up to innovation and progress, or just watch the tech giants continue to grow in power and abusiveness year after year while new startups continue to decline.

How so? Google is infinitely worse than Amazon and Facebook put together. They just so happen to be an advertising company so they internet doesn't know about it yet.

> Google is infinitely worse than Amazon and Facebook put together.

> They just so happen to be an advertising company so they internet doesn't know about it yet.

Could you share your reasoning for coming to that conclusion?

Re: Justice Department, states likely to bring antitrust lawsuits against Google

#50

Post by ianmobbs »

nojito wrote: post #39
noad wrote: post #3

Amazon and Facebook should be next. Break them all up with extreme prejudice and put strict new anti-trust laws around acquisitions in place for the future. We're going to do this and open technology back up to innovation and progress, or just watch the tech giants continue to grow in power and abusiveness year after year while new startups continue to decline.

How so? Google is infinitely worse than Amazon and Facebook put together. They just so happen to be an advertising company so they internet doesn't know about it yet.

Why do you say Google is worse than Amazon and Facebook put together?
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