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The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

rankscience.com

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Re: The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

#391

Post by scarface74 »

rmacqueen wrote: post #390
scarface74 wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No people didn’t choose to have Microsoft. Microsoft forced OEMs to bundle Windows with all of their computers. Even if the OEM decided not to bundle Windows, they still had to pay a license fee. No personal computer comes with Chrome installed by default unless the OEM made a deal with Google to bundle it along with other crapware. Users have to explicitly download Chrome. It’s a lot easier to change your default se…

The issue isn't how Google achieved its search engine dominance - it's what it is doing with that dominance. No one denies Google became the search platform of choice because it is genuinely better. That doesn't change the fact that Google is now using that position of near total dominance to stifle competition in other areas, such as e-commerce. That's the (sound) basis for the anti-trust charge.

I’m saying that government intervention through anti trust actions were useless the last two times in the modern era - MS and IBM.

Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google came to prominence by being able to execute. Even MD stayed relevant while the other four were growing through better execution.

Why would anyone think that the government has all of the sudden become competent when it comes to regulating tech when we have forty years that shows just the opposite?

Did you see the dog and pony show when it the government trotted out the 4 tech CEOs? Would you really trust them to be both competent and not corrupt.

Re: The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

#392

Post by fl0wenol »

xadhominemx wrote: post #344
revnode wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is correct. The best you can usually do is 2% cash back, so really the consumer is being charged 1% for the convenience of using a credit card. Obviously most consider that worth it, which is why credit cards are so popular.

Banks basically break even on interchange after paying out awards and security costs and then the merchant acquirer + network get like .2% - 1% depending on the size of the merchant. V/M is one of the most benign duopolies out there.

I mean, if it wasn't I guarantee some fintech company would come out of the woodwork to disrupt it because the potential upside is huge once you scale.

Re: The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

#393

Post by tehjoker »

Nasrudith wrote: post #330
tehjoker wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those issues are all interrelated. We can't solve them because of corporate domination of the political system and the buying off of the American intelligensia.

Where did that assumption come from? Just because people disagree doesn't mean they are bought off. Citation definitetly needed to even remotely approach a pattern like "bought off" let alone a proof.

It comes from years of observation and study of the structure of the government and society. If you're interested there are many books about this from Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman to critiques of the academy that shut up after the state started funding them extravegantly after WW2, to the current ossification that is easily observed where no policies are allowed to shift that benefit the wealthy at the expense of society. It is so extensive that one or two citations isn't sufficient and deserves a lifetime of study.

Re: The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

#394

Post by chillacy »

12xo wrote: post #303
chillacy wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the prices of clicks are determined by auction? So if it's $50 a click it's because your competitors find they can still make money paying that much. Most categories have PPCs in the sub $1.00 range last I checked.

The floor is set by Google or FB or whomever, so there is no real auction. Especially considering the buyer has no other choice if they want to buy that inventory. Its not like you are purchasing a product at market. You're buying from the only supplier. A true auction would have a zero floor. An open market would have other options.

> Especially considering the buyer has no other choice if they want to buy that inventory. Its not like you are purchasing a product at market. You're buying from the only supplier.

Okay but that's because a specific ad placement served to Bob on 4:32 PM on his google search for "back pain Chicago" is a very specific, limited piece of inventory.

If these are not real auctions then neither are a lot of things I would have considered real auctions:

1. If a Picasso painting is being auctioned off, again it's the only one, there is no exact replacement piece. Yet it can be auctioned.

2. Auctions on ebay can have hidden reserve prices too, as well as obvious minimum prices. Yet I would have considered these to be auctions as well.

Re: The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

#395

Post by dang »

a123b456c wrote: post #295
jancsika wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a beautiful implementation of a tactic to shift a conversation. OP starts with a seemingly related pivot to the topic of how to prioritize the regulation of a company like Google with the regulation of other companies. Such a conversation would obviously involve at least few points about why Google ought not top the list. (And hopefully many points given OP says Google is "by far" not top priority.) I was cer…

OP may have created some of the child replies, along with rings of upvotes. Classic astroturfing.

Posting like this is explicitly against the site guidelines. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules, we'd be grateful.

Re: The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

#396

Post by fomine3 »

wz1000 wrote: post #198
jeffbee wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way that people underestimate the scale and complexity of Google's indexing always makes me chuckle. I'm especially fond of the idea that other parties will just wantonly copy it, like for research purposes or something. Also I'm sorry to inform you that the way the index shards are produced, arranged in memory/on disk, and the manner in which they are queried and ranked are inextricably linked. You can't make a…

> The way that people underestimate the scale and complexity of Google's indexing always makes me chuckle. The same approach that works for Google can also work for a public body supported by public funds. It can also use much of the same systems and maybe even personnel that Google currently employs for this purpose. I'm essentially asking for the search division of Google to be appropriated by the government. > Als…

Any tech corps shouldn't be owned by US Gov. Please.

Re: The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

#397

Post by machello13 »

shadowgovt wrote: post #94
machello13 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's extremely naive to think that only Republicans are responsible for that.

They are not, alone, responsible for it, but it is still a fundamental difference in the parties; some Democrats are pro-big-business, but only one party has public-private partnership as a party plank.

Democrats may profess to be anti-big-business, but in practice they clearly aren't.

Re: The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

#398

Post by qwertycrackers »

ALittleLight wrote: post #326
xnx wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also the best way to get accurate data on how many searches for "heroku" there are. Without an ad running, you only get estimates.

That's an interesting idea. I just looked up "heroku" on Google's keyword planner and the max cost per click is 3.00. Is it really worth three dollars a click to know the ratio of people who click heroku over people who search it? Seems like a crazy loss of money to me.

Afaik, on Google ads, cost per click scales inversely with page quality. So clicks on the heroku ad searching for heroku generally find what they are seeking and therefore don't cost very much. If Google thinks you are advertising people toward trash, they charge a lot more.

Re: The case for why Google should be regulated as a public utility

#399

Post by Press2forEN »

Nasrudith wrote: post #332
Press2forEN wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People should have feel the burden that taxation places on them. Payroll withholding already artificially dampens the strain that taxation imposes on everyone that earns a paycheck. Issuing a pre-filled out form is another step backwards. Paying taxes should be burdensome and uncomfortable.

That is an ideology and a rather twisted one. We were over this when people were opposing anaglesia and anaesthesia. Wanting people to suffer needlessly is a bad thing.

Then stop over taxing us.
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