News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Google and Facebook are monopolies. Does it matter? [audio]. Parent comment

Re:Google and Facebook are monopolies. Does it matter? [audio] by dragonwriter on Thursday November 15, 2018 @06:45PM (#18464618)
> I think the interesting thing is that the users aren't the customers in these examples.

There is an exchange for value between Google (FB, etc.) and consumers; the fact that it's an in-kind exchange rather than money doesn't prevent anti-trust analysis from being applied.

There's also the possibility of monopoly in some advertising segment, sure.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Google and Facebook are monopolies. Does it matter? [audio] by benj111 on Friday November 16, 2018 @04:04AM (#18467519)
You /may/ be right, I don't think that current laws were written with that in mind, but the laws could be munged to encompass the relationship.

I suppose then the anti trust argument would be that they are able to 'ask' for too much private data. It seems to me a first step would be gaining price transparency. Who is the cheapest (asks for the less data).

Actually if your theory holds water, isn't there scope to argue that the consideration (your data) isn't properly defined in the contract, and keeps changing (via defaults, and technological progress). Could then this not then be dealt with via contract law and consumer protections?

[ Parent | on HN ]