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The worst possible antitrust outcome

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81–90 of 219 posts

Re: The worst possible antitrust outcome

#81
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, there's a strong public interest in having proceedings on record. US civil cases are supposed to have a presumption of openness, which the judge weighs against other interests, like protecting trade secrets, confidential business information, privacy of third parties, etc. The public record argument is fine; it's just a different argument than the extrajudicial punishment advocated by the original post.

I think the extrajudicial punishment he's advocating for is the wrath of the court of public opinion though? Unless I'm misreading.

The public interest is in judging the trial process, not in judging the defendant.

Suppose the government charges you with murder, searches your house, and finds your sex toy collection. At trial they present some elaborate thesis about how you used a sex toy to kill someone, but do not convince the jury, so you're found not guilty. The public has a legitimate interest in judging that the trial was handled with integrity and that the correct verdict was reached. They do not have a legitimate interest in judging you based on whatever private information presented at trial might in some way embarrass you (eg, photos of your sex toy collection). On balance, it could be that the public-record interest does in fact justify making public the evidence of the sex toys, but you have to justify it on those terms. The transparency is not itself intended to be punitive.

Re: The worst possible antitrust outcome

#82

The worst thing about Google is that they discovered the ad-model and created an entire generation that is entitled to free tools and services on the internet. People who think Gmail, drive, sheets, translate, Gemini, YouTube, search, android, etc., etc. are all inherently free services that Google is greedily slapping ads on. Google is a monster because people so heavily favor the ad-model over paying for things. Ka…

I think the ad model as the document model of the internet consumer was discovered long before Google, but otherwise agree with you.

Re: The worst possible antitrust outcome

#83
post #41
post #35

I generally like Doctorow's writing and agree with a lot of what he says here, but: "Google has stolen every fact about our lives, in service to propping up a monopoly that lets it steal our money, too." I still have all the facts about my life and I don't think any money has been stolen. I get that this is rhetorical, but he's gone over the edge here.

I think your phrase choice is also quite funny. Obviously a fact isn't physically stolen, it has been surveilled and sold to the highest bidder. Every fair chance a competitor had to offer you something better was taken from you, it just wasn't done in front of your face. And that data is becoming more and more valuable as we speak as all this AI data race heats up.

> and sold to the highest bidder.

Yikes, you are doing it too. Does accuracy in prose not count anymore?

When you have a strong case you shouldn’t have to bend the facts.

Re: The worst possible antitrust outcome

#84
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can I opt out from having my data shared with other companies? Sure, the easiest way you can do that is to move to Europe and petition its regulators to further tighten the screws. They might actually listen.

How is moving to Europe the easiest solution? What about my family and life?

> How is moving to Europe the easiest solution?

Because this can only be solved through legislature, and no matter what black swan event happens, there is no future in which the US legislature will take this problem seriously.

Re: The worst possible antitrust outcome

#86
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The direct reference was Bill Gates being forced to testify about internet explorer. Its hard to argue with that particular case. There are very few people who argue that the results of that intervention were unwarranted. I do find it a bit curious however, where later in the article theres a discussion about explicit collusion between corporates and the government. I vastly prefer the state and corps to be at odds w…

Regardless of the effects, I don't think the case against MS was brought with the intent to "punish" MS through the trial process. The government brought the case because it thought it could win, it did win, and a judicial remedy was imposed. Trials are inherently unpleasant, but a just system tries to minimize this, not exploit it. Any unjust policy (including just dispensing with trials altogether and allowing the…

>Regardless of the effects, I don't think the case against MS was brought with the intent to "punish" MS through the trial process. The government brought the case because it thought it could win, it did win, and a judicial remedy was imposed. Trials are inherently unpleasant, but a just system tries to minimize this, not exploit it.

Maybe. But then why was the google case actively sheltered and hidden from the public. The optics were considered in at least one of these cases.

Re: The worst possible antitrust outcome

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why do you think that will happen? how could that scenario be prevented, while still taxing money? if you put more effort into making your point, I'm sure you could get better engagement

Look at what Texas has been doing to California. People who assign billionaires as being the living manifestation of greed are somehow quick to hand wave away "billionaires will move to protect their wealth".

> Look at what Texas has been doing to California.

What might that be? California is still at the forefront of every technological innovation this country is seeing while Texas is at the forefront of theocracy.

California may be seeing a smaller share of the world’s innovation in the past, but that hasn’t moved to Texas, it’s moved to China.

Re: The worst possible antitrust outcome

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say "see ya!" and wave goodbye. You think people living in NYC, for example, the financial (and one of the major cultural capitals) of the entire world (not to mention all the other benefits of US residency) are going to bother with packing up their lives and moving overseas because the taxes are too high? Not to mention these people will still have obscene wealth in all likelihood. Some might, but I don't think we…

Maybe the reason it is the financial capital of the entire world is that historically the tax regime let people keep most of the money they earned.

Have you any evidence for this proposition?

Re: The worst possible antitrust outcome

#89
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should be forced to invest into all aspects of the social fabric that makes your success possible. Your reward is being able to be a successful philanthropist

Your 401k is their social fabric contribution.

How does a 5 year old use their 401k to increase the quality of their education?

Re: The worst possible antitrust outcome

#90

> One of the facts established in the verdict was that Google had been slipping Apple more than $20b/year in exchange for which, Apple forbore from making a competing search engine. Didn't Apple say that 1) they weren't interested in being in the Search Engine business 2) (in testimony) Google was by far the best search engine that they were going to use anyway ? Certainly, $20B/Y weighs on the scale, but knowing App…

His quote is stunningly disingenuous, I'm surprised to hear that coming from Doctorow. That Google has paid Apple to be the default search engine was a business deal that has been open knowledge for a decade or more. Other search engines could've paid to be the default. Apple didn't have a search engine when they created the iPhone, and why would they start? Ever? MS didn't do so well. And why would Apple want to mak…

Can you explain why Google Android can use Google search but Apple iOS can't use Apple search because that would be an anti-trust violation?
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