Re:Is it futile to un-Google?
by manigandham on Sunday September 13, 2015 @06:31PM
(#10213005)
Then the government is how we handle this. I'm always surprised at how the companies get all the blame as "evil" when they're just doing what they're allowed and supposed to do.
Do these people also hate the massive companies that provide them the internet, oil, electricity, laptops, houses, and everything else they use to basically live their life?
The law is the final line and that's what should be worked on - if people want change they should focus their energy here.
The people opting out here are the digital equivalent of those attempting self-sufficiency, growing all their own food and making all their own clothes. It's inconvenient, clunky, and you still need to buy stuff.
The issue here is that due to network effects, Google (+ FB, Ebay, Twitter, Amazon) provide more utility as the monopolies they have inevitably grown into. That means they are a form of vital infrastructure, not competing businesses in a diverse marketplace. (If we don't like the idea that they are 'too big to fail' and actually should be protected, a glimmer of an alternative is provided by China which seems to have stood up functional alternatives to these in a fairly short period, albeit mandated by regulation.)