Live data from Hacker News

DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

bloomberg.com

831–840 of 1001 posts

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#831
post #632

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could sell a lot of the data that Google now gets for free and uses for its ranking algorithms, like Clickstream sells data to SEO tools like AHrefs and SemRush.

Google doesn't use Chrome data for Ads or Search. They're not allowed to based on the TOS, and also they have government regulators watching carefully to make sure they don't make a mistake like that.

And what legal enforcement of the TOS is there? None. And what are the consequences of Google ignoring their own TOS? None.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#832

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Browsers should be developed by an intercountry nonprofit. Funded by all the countries' governments.

You might have missed recent news about Linux maintainers being kicked off for reasons having nothing to do with Linux. This will not work across "political borders" because psychologically we're all still cavemen in need of a tribe to stick to, and a group of "them" to hate on.

> psychologically we're all still cavemen in need of a tribe to stick to, and a group of "them" to hate on.

I'm not sure this is fundamentally true, but regardless of whether it is or not, our political systems have followed an historical path of development such that it behooves political leaders to think like this, and encourage their followers to.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#833

People here seem to be underestimating the advantages that Google gets just because of Chrome: - When you sign in to Google, you sign in browser-wide. Google now gets all of your browsing data, perfect for advertising. (If you ever doubt it, go check out Google Takeout. You'll be shocked at the amount of data you see there.) - They have special APIs and features that they get to use, and nobody else. Only because the…

Manifest V3 is just another nail in the coffin.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#835

People here seem to be underestimating the advantages that Google gets just because of Chrome: - When you sign in to Google, you sign in browser-wide. Google now gets all of your browsing data, perfect for advertising. (If you ever doubt it, go check out Google Takeout. You'll be shocked at the amount of data you see there.) - They have special APIs and features that they get to use, and nobody else. Only because the…

A browser with a huge userbase would be extremely lucrative for an unscrupulous owner. A new owner could sell full and identifiable clickstream data for all browser activity. A new owner could siphon information from the non-public web for AI training, corporate espionage, or any other purpose.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#837

People here seem to be underestimating the advantages that Google gets just because of Chrome: - When you sign in to Google, you sign in browser-wide. Google now gets all of your browsing data, perfect for advertising. (If you ever doubt it, go check out Google Takeout. You'll be shocked at the amount of data you see there.) - They have special APIs and features that they get to use, and nobody else. Only because the…

> This isn't an isolated attempt. You can see more of the same thing with Android. Here are more: - (jumping off of your second point...) Play Services does more than just handle stuff you sign into as a user -- it's also a dependency for everything from push notifications to screen casting. This actively poses issues building competing platforms, in that in order to give developers a path to shipping in your ecosyst…

You can root your Android device and replace Google Play Services with microG (https://microg.org).

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#838
post #746

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> browsers aren't really a self funding product They are, see how both Safari and Firefox, the 2nd and 3rd most popular browsers, have brought in tens of billions of revenue per year. Safari is immensely profitable, Firefox too would be if Mozilla wouldn't be run in an absurdly poor manner. > the user gains a huge amount of value by a browser being integrated into the OS, webviews in other applications, etc What is t…

Please provide proof that Firefox has "brought in tens of billions of revenue per year".

hundreds of millions per year, perhaps approaching ten billion lifetime, is more accurate

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#839
post #746

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> browsers aren't really a self funding product They are, see how both Safari and Firefox, the 2nd and 3rd most popular browsers, have brought in tens of billions of revenue per year. Safari is immensely profitable, Firefox too would be if Mozilla wouldn't be run in an absurdly poor manner. > the user gains a huge amount of value by a browser being integrated into the OS, webviews in other applications, etc What is t…

Mozilla literally gets paid by Google, and not sure how you can quantify Safari as being profitable on its own when it's the default for all Apple products and realistically, the only browser on iOS.

Apple also literally gets paid by Google for the same thing, but a lot more money.

Re: DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome

#840
post #632

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could sell a lot of the data that Google now gets for free and uses for its ranking algorithms, like Clickstream sells data to SEO tools like AHrefs and SemRush.

Google doesn't use Chrome data for Ads or Search. They're not allowed to based on the TOS, and also they have government regulators watching carefully to make sure they don't make a mistake like that.

We have actual Google documentation leaked that proves you wrong and that they absolutely do use Chrome data for ads. Catch up please.
Post reply on HN