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Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

dispatch.com

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Re: Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

#51

Post by 35fbe7d3d5b9 »

dantheman wrote: post #38
izacus wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that this behaviour shows up in non-monopolistic markets as well. Apple does it. PayPal does it. Heck, our European banks have started doing it despite there being ample competition. What the competition did, is made sure EVERY competing entity does that because it's cheaper and costs were brought down with race to the bottom. I don't get where this bizarre belief that "moar free market" will solve issues. Let…

Freedom of association is important, and you shouldn't have to do business with people you don't want to.

"Sorry Mr. Jones, we've decided your, ahem alternative lifestyle and beliefs are fundamentally incompatible with the views of our company. Your electrical service will be discontinued in three to five business days."

Re: Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

#52

Post by leetcrew »

mc32 wrote: post #44
dantheman wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freedom of association is important, and you shouldn't have to do business with people you don't want to.

So it’s okay for banks to choose who they’ll let bank with them? In any case, I disagree. Some things are basic necessities.

yes...? if you overdraw your account and/or bounce checks over and over, it's not unreasonable for the bank to close that account eventually.

Re: Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

#53

Post by question000 »

mikestew wrote: post #9

A Republican seeking to "nationalize" a private company? Sounds a little...socialist, don't ya think?

If you want to talk about specific political parties on HN you have to use coded phrases or you will get flagged and downvoted. The current ones are "college educated" (democratic) or "average American" or "not city dwelling" (republicans)

Re: Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

#54

Post by [deleted] »

MarkusWandel wrote: post #5

Well, a public utility also doesn't have the right to do this: "You did something wrong, we won't tell you what it was, there's no chance of appeal, and you are now banned from receiving water service again, ever, for the rest of your life, no matter where you move. And don't try moving in with someone else who's still receiving service, because they'll get banned too."

[deleted]

Re: Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

#55

Post by woodruffw »

jolmg wrote: post #24
bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s pretty much impossible to function in modern society without an email address that you can rely on.

But Google isn't the only provider of email addresses. In contrast, water utilities typically hold monopoly over their region. EDIT: Many people are replying with some variant that the problem is that Google can block the email account that people have tied to their financial and government services. But the same is true of any other email provider. If Google is somehow turned into a public utility, how does that sol…

I don't know where I stand on the public utility argument, but to make the strongest possible case for this analogy: most peoples' online lives (including their financials) are tied to a singular email address. That email address forms the ground truth for their identity, including being able to access services that they've lost their credentials for.

Google's ability to unilaterally revoke access to the account that ties you to your banking accounts, your state's online service portals, &c. gives them the kind of power that we'd normally only see in regional monopolies like water utilities.

Re: Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

#57

Post by ziftface »

Aunche wrote: post #25

While Google is functionally a public utility, it's not something that I want to be regulated like a public utility. If the government can't be trusted to law lines on a map that aren't blatantly rigged to favor their own political party, I can't trust that they won't tamper with search results the same way.

Unfortunately that skepticism is warranted today. American politics were always somewhat broken in the past, but the blatant partisanship today makes any kind of progress almost impossible.

Re: Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

#58

Post by RobRivera »

Hamuko wrote: post #2

So Republicans have completely flipped on the sovereignity of private companies? Or is this just posturing to please the number one of the GOP (Dave Yost filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of invalidating 2020 votes in Pennsylvania)?

No

Re: Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

#59

Post by Animats »

Hm. Here's Ohio's definition of a public utility.[1] It might be argued that Google is a telephone company or a messenger company, but that's a stretch.

Regulating Google as a common carrier would make more sense. Common carriers (which, by the way, UPS and FedEx are not, but Union Pacific is) are required to accept and deliver cargoes for anybody who ship according to their posted rates and terms.

[1] https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4905.03

Re: Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

#60

Post by ericmay »

gumby wrote: post #48
ping_pong wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a direct result of their monopoly, which is why Google should be broken up. Because they have such a huge monopoly, they can afford to ignore customers and have a draconian approach to people, and can get away with it. If there were better competition, they wouldn't have been able to ignore their customers. Breaking them up will alleviate this by ensuring that each company needs to be able to survive on their…

> ...their monopoly, which is why Google should be broken up. Not denying their monopoly position, but how could Google meaningfully be broken up? It's really just a single business (advertising) with a gaggle of loss leaders adding up to less than 20% of revenue. Even pushing advertising down to 80% took a huge amount of effort. It's not like Standard Oil which was a vertically integrated trust of several points in…

Even just divesting YouTube would be a start.
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