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from the mary-is-merry-cause-she's-gonna-marry dept.
White House considering launching an antitrust probe on Google and Facebook:
The growing tension between U.S. President Donald Trump and large internet companies is not likely to peter out anytime soon. A draft executive order that could potentially target Google, Facebook, and other social media companies with an antitrust case is said to be in the early stages of work.
The draft order, obtained by Bloomberg, is meant to authorize federal regulators and law enforcers to investigate the business practices of the internet giants for potential antitrust violations. It is worth pointing out, however, that the draft is not official yet and has not been formed as part of the White House's policy-making process, according to Lindsey Walters, deputy White House press secretary.
Additionally, it has not been reviewed yet by any government agency. But once the draft is signed, specific government agencies are mandated within a month to provide recommendations for actions intended to uphold "competition among online platforms and address online platform bias." It doesn't specify the names of the companies, however.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday September 25 2018, @04:25PM (4 children)
There are people who hate Google, and have done so almost from the beginning. There are people who hate Facebook, and have done so almost from the beginning. Some of those are the same people.
I don't. Google did improve search. If you were around when Mosaic was the browser, you know whereof I speak. They followed up with a lot of useful software and services they gave everybody for free. Facebook, too, managed to improve on earlier social networks like Meetup and Friendster.
But i moved on, and everyone else can, too. As long as that's possible, that we choose to not participate and suffer no consequences, then let's do that if we don't like where those companies are headed.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by urza9814 on Tuesday September 25 2018, @06:09PM
That's only half of the issue. The other half, which I think is the far bigger issue, is how they leverage their dominant position in one area in order to capture another. For example, all the numerous websites that use Facebook as a login (sometimes without any other options); or groups which post events only on Facebook; or the many websites which require Google Captcha to even log in. I block Google on my home network...which means I can't comment on many news articles, I can't order things from Sparkfun.com, websites which rely on JQuery libraries are often broken, I can't send email to gmail users because they get rejected as spam because they come from a smaller mail provider....it makes life rather difficult in a large number of ways, and there are a number of cases where avoiding Google entirely means just not using the Internet for that particular task -- assuming there are any other alternatives available.
It's similar to the recent EU suit against Microsoft requiring them to provide a choice of browser to new users. Because Microsoft is competing in two separate industries -- operating systems and web browsers -- and by bundling the two together and using the OS to promote their browsers they make it harder for other browsers like Firefox or Chrome or PaleMoon to compete.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 25 2018, @06:57PM
The people in China cannot choose to participate, and will certainly suffer consequences. They have no opt-out.
America is great in that we can oppress others and get a bonus if we work extra hard at it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday September 25 2018, @10:28PM (1 child)
-rs.
I thought he was dead.
I'm going to keep using FB.
While I do realize that it's stylish for the neckbeards to hate on Facebook, you haven't come up with anything that my friends from high school regards as any better.
It's not enough to have a product that has superior technology, security or privacy - you have to sell it to people like my mom.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 25 2018, @11:27PM
Trading your privacy and everyone else's (since Facebook has shadow profiles on non-users) so you can occasionally chat with people who are hardly relevant to your life at all isn't worth it. Hell, if you can't be bothered to find an alternate means of communications with them, then they don't mean much to you or you don't mean much to them.
Your mom can stuff it.