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U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

reuters.com

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Re: U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

#151

Post by ericmay »

simion314 wrote: post #137
ericmay wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t view the link without paying unless you are simply showing that Amazon has 13% of the global e-commerce market and 50%~ of the U.S. market. To answer your question - it doesn’t matter. We don’t determine monopolies simply because of market share. If we did, why aren’t we filing another anti-trust investigation against Microsoft and Windows? The point anyway is that people have no switching cost. Amazon faces…

>Apple I’m not sure how they’ve even been in the discussion Remember that Apple and Google pulled a legal app from their stores, regular Apple users (like 50% of US) can't install stuff on their device without Apple parental approval and the "make it a website argument also fails because Apple is does not let you install a better browser". 50% still affects a lot of people, though Apple fanboys will attempt to say is…

Depends on how you look at it. Are we comparing operating systems? Then we have a duopoly and should regulated Android as well. Are we comparing phone manufacturers? Well, there's a ton of them, Apple just competes and does the best.

> Apple and Google pulled a legal app from their stores

I can't sell anything I want at Wal-Mart. Doesn't PayPal not allow porn sites to do business? I don't see how this is different.

> Windows without a Microsoft approval or tax

So is it market share or what? What exactly is the monopoly? Microsoft doesn't allow me to play PlayStation games on Xbox. Most computers are sold with Windows operating systems. I don't know what the monopoly is supposed to be with Apple.

Re: U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

#152

Post by skystarman »

ohazi wrote: post #85
skystarman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The standard for antitrust enforcement for decades has been when the action of a company harms consumers. How does Amazon harm consumers? I mean precisely, how? Amazon is one of the most highly rated companies in the US by its customers. Its NPS score is 69 and 70 is considered "world class". I can get almost anything online shipped to my house the SAME DAY. If Amazon sends you the wrong item they'll let you keep the…

It's possible for a monopolist to have a great product that allows people to do amazing things that were never previously possible and still be harming the consumer. Microsoft had the leading desktop operating system in the 90s that allowed millions of ordinary people to start using computers for the first time, yet their browser bundling was considered problematic. Bell telephone allowed you to talk to people across…

Microsoft and Bell were successfully sued using existing antitrust law because they WERE harming consumers.

So again, how is Amazon hurting consumers?

Re: U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

#153

Post by skystarman »

IgorPartola wrote: post #114
skystarman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The standard for antitrust enforcement for decades has been when the action of a company harms consumers. How does Amazon harm consumers? I mean precisely, how? Amazon is one of the most highly rated companies in the US by its customers. Its NPS score is 69 and 70 is considered "world class". I can get almost anything online shipped to my house the SAME DAY. If Amazon sends you the wrong item they'll let you keep the…

https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-pressures-small-busine... Amazon Reportedly Pressures Small Businesses with Retaliation if They Don't Hand Over User Data

Again, how does this harm consumers?

Re: U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

#154

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy »

etripe wrote: post #135
Red_Leaves_Flyy wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm open to discussion. My inclusion of Netflix is based upon their ownership of content and distribution, last mile excluded. Which reminds me to mention: Comcast, and co, as well as the mobile carrier companies for inclusion. I'd definitely agree that Oracle should face more scrutiny but don't know enough about their business to say much besides the fact that they're starting to look like Yahoo and IBM. Facebook is…

How do you define "last mile"? I worked at ISPs that housed Netflix storage boxes in their access layer, i.e. the last site before the cable/fibre/copper pairs went to customers' houses or mobile towers. So do you specifically mean "except the access layer" (not accurate) or "except the last mile pairs" (accurate)? I think the distinction matters when considering monopolistic behaviour, because it determines service…

I'll defer to the experts on a definition here. I'm trying to speak generally about the tax funded infrastructure versus the actual work of connecting to the backbone providers and providing satellite rack space. The infrastructure costs virtually nothing to maintain and is great for rent seeking monopolists to own and neglect while running a city scale network connected to the backbone requires constant maintenance and upgrades to keep up with demand and the dynamic security landscape.

I guess my argument is Comcast shouldn't be they only competition for coaxial internet if they can't offer an internet only service, without discounts, for less than their cheapest regular rate off contract package.

Re: U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

#155

Post by skystarman »

lenkite wrote: post #106
skystarman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The standard for antitrust enforcement for decades has been when the action of a company harms consumers. How does Amazon harm consumers? I mean precisely, how? Amazon is one of the most highly rated companies in the US by its customers. Its NPS score is 69 and 70 is considered "world class". I can get almost anything online shipped to my house the SAME DAY. If Amazon sends you the wrong item they'll let you keep the…

Amazon regularly carries out malpractice by flouting federal regulations as described at https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/amazon-i...

Us antitrust law has no jurisdiction over what Amazon does in India...

Re: U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

#156

Post by bko »

vlovich123 wrote: post #122
bko wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not just whatever marketplace, anti-monopoly legislation focuses on markets where the players own a significant share of the full market. It depends on what you call the marketplace. Look at the broader "retail" sector > The eCommerce giant [Amazon] accounted for 3.2 percent of total consumer spending in Q2 (spanning all categories, including retail) and 9 percent of total retail spending... When it comes to c…

If you define the marketplace as the US economy, Amazon looks like a tiny blip. If you define it as in-person retail Amazon is non-existent. The analogy I would use is that e-commerce retail is smart phones in 2008 (maybe a bit later) and the broader retail market includes landlines and feature phones. Even today landlines exist and feature phones are sold. The growth trajectory for e-commerce won’t change and big bo…

> The growth trajectory for e-commerce won’t change and big box retail won’t encounter a meaningful resurgence.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. I like the convenience of online shopping, but I also like convenience of immediately taking possession and curation. I'm price sensitive of course. I buy most of my electronics from Best Buy. Their prices are almost always the same as Amazon and if they're not its trivial to ask for a price match, which they always do.

Obviously Best Buy or other retailers can't stock everything, but they can stock a lot of the things I want to buy in Electronics. And they leverage Amazon search, ratings and price. They're just more convenient. They have been doing very well over the last decade.

I think people extrapolate too much of the current trends. Physical retail has been around longer than Amazon and will likely be around when Amazon is gone.

Re: U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

#157

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy »

nmfisher wrote: post #133
Red_Leaves_Flyy wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me stupid, but what exists on android that users on iOS are begging for that only exists on android because of the "freedom" of the platform. I'd like to take a moment to say that android is just handicapped because I can't run a different OS, or screw around in the OS and change things to my whims. But no ones talking about that, why not?

> Call me stupid, but what exists on android that users on iOS are begging for that only exists on android because of the "freedom" of the platform. Right now, Fortnite.

Epic is trying to strong arm their way into a position of power against steam and apple so they increase their take off the casino they've filled with children. Like under 10 years old children, asking parents to buy them skins. Skins and loot boxes are the worst thing to happen to gaming and should be regulated. I, and many others are firmly on Apple's side on this issue. If Epic made revolutionary or just great games and didn't get children addicted to digital heroin then I'd give their argument more consideration. I don't want kids sideloading random casino malware just because the kid at recess says it's cool.

Got a better example?

Re: U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

#159

Post by ma2rten »

dbetteridge wrote: post #6

"A year after initiating the investigation, we received testimony from the Chief Executive Officers of the investigated companies: Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai. For nearly six hours, we pressed for answers about their business practices, including about evidence concerning the extent to which they have exploited, entrenched, and expanded their power over digital markets in anticompetitive…

Where did you copy that from? I don't see the report linked anywhere.

EDIT: I found the link further down the thread https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20210414/111451/HMKP...

Re: U.S. House committee approves blueprint for Big Tech crackdown

#160

Post by mr_toad »

pojntfx wrote: post #50
Red_Leaves_Flyy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't bury your flag on this argument. Many users don't care about that stuff, and Apple is winning the privacy war through decisions like these.

Well, the alternative to PWAs is publishing through proprietary app stores - the users might not care to much, but it's incredibly important for us as devs. Also, one really can't trust a proprietary browser like Safari with their personal data - while one might be able to switch from Chrome due to FLOC on Android, Linux, Windows etc., Safari would _force_ the change on their users, with them being unable to switch t…

> Well, the alternative to PWAs is publishing through proprietary app stores

This is what PWA really boils down to isn’t it. It’s not about standards or openness it’s about money. It’s about bypassing the App Store to do whatever the fuck you want.

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