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Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?

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Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?

#1

Post by stijnm »

Hi all,

I read the article "A Brief History of Google Killers" (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=616482) and saw these numbers: "[...] show Live Search’s share as fluctuating over the past couple of years, but never exceeding 2.6 percent. Google’s share? Eighty-one percent, up from 75 percent two years ago. [...]"

These numbers are indicative of a monopoly situation where for-profit organisations could/(do) shaft the end user.

Microsoft is in the news every so often about antitrust cases against them. Why not Google?

However, I do not keep abreast of litigation stories and don't want to go through reams of information to get insight into the issue

So, I am asking HN: What do you think? Where is it going?

Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?

#2

Post by ErrantX »

The thing is that where Live search is crap (really awful) Google gives good, solid, results.

It's hard to justify calling them a monopoly based on the market share when compared to lesser services....(not that I am disagreeing they could be a monopoly)

That market share comes from a combination of amazing brand value and from them, generally, being nice to users and giving us what we want... again I think it is hard to penalise a company for doing things right.

Having said that I think their acquisitions should be curbed somewhat.

Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?

#4

Post by csomar »

I'm happy that Google is a monopoly or MS is a monopoly if they provide good results. The bigger they are, the better results they'll give.

if you are afraid, read their privacy policy and terms of use, if you are ok with them.. then what's wrong?

Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?

#5

Post by mannicken »

As far as I understand, the legality of a monopoly depends on whether it takes anticompetitive actions. Microsoft wasn't put down just for being big -- it was put down for including Internet Explorer into operating system, thus using an unfair advantage to promote its monopoly.

Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?

#8

Post by davidw »

The Economist had a story about tech monopolies recently, which made for interesting reading.

http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13610959

It's a difficult problem, and there is likely to be a diversity of opinion here, from the libertarian "let them do whatever they want" to some on the other side advocating lots of government involvement.

The problem isn't really search in terms of end users, it's twofold:

* Search in terms of people/businesses being searched for: if Google removes you from their index, you are screwed.

* Online advertising. There are already a number of stories about people getting cut off for no reason at all (at least none that was made public), which is potentially scary if there are no alternatives and you depend on them.

Re: Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?

#10

Post by BerislavLopac »

mannicken wrote: post #5

As far as I understand, the legality of a monopoly depends on whether it takes anticompetitive actions. Microsoft wasn't put down just for being big -- it was put down for including Internet Explorer into operating system, thus using an unfair advantage to promote its monopoly.

And how do we know that Google isn't taking anti-competitive actions?
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