81–90 of 440 posts
I don't see how after the FTC came up empty the DOJ would fare any better as arguable the sherman act is a much tougher route, and the competition landscape has changed to google's detriment (amazon ads, facebook, etc). Anyway the article is quite scarce and the source is the WSJ so they might be trying to amplify some stuff or even advocate for it.
This is not meant to whataboutism, but the truth is the public/news cycles can only handle so many “tech” related items at one time. People are not “locked in” to any of the FANG companies nearly as much as they are their physical ISPs where they really do not have an option.
For everyone here squealing with glee: This will be just another Tuesday for the legal team at Big G ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Distressingly absent from this list is the company that cheerfully collects and sells even more data that Google about the average American's life and collects MUCH more of their money: Amazon.
Collects money, yes. But collects more data? I'm dubious.
If I were a bad person asking, "Who's more valuable to Hack for consumer data" I don't know how I could conclude it's anything but Amazon. Google might have your credit card and purchasing patterns, Amazon will. Google might know about your phone, Amazon will.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your reply almost immediately says you think a jury could be swayed by argument, sentiment or both. Does that not mean an antitrust suit may actually be reasonable, judged by a potently prosecutor? I think you meant "I don't want them found guilty" which is a different thing. If you really think there is no case to answer I don't think you understand what an antitrust case is about. It's about market dominance and an…
Any antitrust theory against Google would be pretty abstract given that they don’t charge for either search or Chrome. But the pop up trying to get you to switch to Chrome when you go to Google search is pretty much what you’d put in a textbook to illustrate leveraging a monopoly in one sector to gain market share in another. It’s extremely concrete and intuitive. That doesn’t mean it makes the case, of course. But i…
Distressingly absent from this list is the company that cheerfully collects and sells even more data that Google about the average American's life and collects MUCH more of their money: Amazon.
Collects money, yes. But collects more data? I'm dubious.
"Things you've bought before or looked into buying before" seems like much more useful data to sell ads than "non-shopping things you've searched for." It's definitely a higher signal to noise ratio.
Good. To quote an old friend who worked for Google: "I'm worried that if the rest of America knew what we were actually doing here they would literally come here and kill us..."
I'd be more interested in Google/Amazon/FB paying taxes than in anti-trust actions.
Google's corporate income tax rate in 2018 was 11.9% (2017 had an abnormally high domestic tax payment due to repatriation accounting; 2016 had a 19% rate). About 1/2 of their income taxes are paid domestically.
Europe's average corporate income tax rate in 2018 was 18%, the EU was 21%, the world was 23%. There are eight European nations with corporate income tax rates equal to or lower than what Google and Facebook are paying.
Their rates are low, no doubt about it. They're neither zero (paying no taxes), nor shockingly low given the very low tax rate jurisdictions available to them (eg in Europe).
Amazon is however avoiding taxes successfully. They've managed to temporarily delay the tax hit on their new profit machine. That won't last much longer.
The career officials at the FTC recommended antitrust action against Google back in 2012, but the political appointees shut them down. >When the Federal Trade Commission neared a momentous decision on whether to charge Google with violating antitrust laws in January 2013, the White House was watching closely. New emails uncovered by the Campaign for Accountability, a public interest watchdog organization, show that a…
Regardless, the FTC would have had a much better chance than the DOJ as they have specific broad powers more suitable to this case.
Dear Justice Department: Take a look at google AMP and how they use it to strong-arm publishers by linking it to search placement. You'll find some stuff.
AMP is just the start. I won't be surprised if we find out Google is promoting websites for using Google Analytics.