News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Google Is Eating Our Mail by mthoms on Friday April 26, 2019 @02:08PM (#19760295)
>Also, I think that right now companies like Google and FB should be treated and reasoned about like states. To think that they will not abuse their power in one way or the other - just like countries do - is also "a little" naive.

That companies this big ought to be reasoned about just like Nation States is a very interesting idea.

Re:Google Is Eating Our Mail by arrosenberg on Friday April 26, 2019 @02:52PM (#19760708)
Alternatively, we could reject the notion entirely and revive the antitrust movement. Centralized private power is just as, if not more, dangerous than centralized public power and we aught to have a discussion about whether nation-state size companies are really a desirable feature.
Re:Google Is Eating Our Mail by ericol on Saturday April 27, 2019 @10:51AM (#19765807)
I think both the approaches in your comment and the one above (Or any comment to that matter) are worthy of a lengthy discussion.

But my point was more directed towrds understanding how companies this big are starting to behave.

I do think antitrust is a way to look at it, but the anti trust laws in the US I think are difficult to point towards Google for instance (Probably the same about European laws)

> we aught to have a discussion about whether nation-state size companies are really a desirable feature

I think it goes a way longer than that. Obviously private companies are subjected to a lot less scrutiny than states, but states do miss behave and do not run into the risk of eternal intervention, unless they really fuck up, and even then.

Re:Google Is Eating Our Mail by eggsome on Friday April 26, 2019 @09:20PM (#19763134)
Forcing mega corps to assume the responsibility of statehood is one of the key plot points in the "Poor mans fight" series of books. (some of the best sci-fi I've read in a while too).
Re:Google Is Eating Our Mail by ericol on Saturday April 27, 2019 @10:45AM (#19765783)
Hey, thanks for that. Interesting. I'll take a look at those books.