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A comment on Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers Join In. Parent comment

Re:Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers ... by bduerst on Monday June 03, 2019 @07:40PM (#20090203)
That is because the DOJ website is only interested in defining lawful vs unlawful monopoly, not defining what a monopoly is.

The definition of the word "Monopoly" is already widely denoted as supply side control:

- Wikipedia: The exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly)

- Investopedia: A monopoly exists when a single entity is the sole provider of a particular asset or service. (https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032415/whats-differ...)

- Oxford Dictionary: The exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service. (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/monopoly)

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Re:Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers ... by stcredzero on Monday June 03, 2019 @09:05PM (#20090754)
The definition of the word "Monopoly" is already widely denoted as supply side control:

That's obviously too narrow. Someone controlling the demand side could be just as obnoxious. A company in a company town is in control of the demand side of the labor market, for example.

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Re:Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers ... by bduerst on Monday June 03, 2019 @09:43PM (#20090974)
So you think Oxford Dictionary, Wikipedia, and Investopedia are all too narrow with words?

Control of the demand side of a market is called a Monopsony, not Monopoly. It's mentioned in the thread above, more info here: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/monopsony.asp

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Re:Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers ... by stcredzero on Monday June 03, 2019 @09:57PM (#20091048)
You are correct, sir! I remember now HN has had this discussion before. However, I think most people would refer to both a Monopsony and Monopoly as the latter.
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Re:Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers ... by kortilla on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @12:43AM (#20091959)
No, that’s not true. People rarely even consider that there is a special term for being the only buyer or controlling all of the buyers.

I can’t think of any scenarios where people referred to the military as having a monopoly on the missile market. It doesn’t make sense because it doesn’t even make missiles.

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Re:Antitrust Troubles Snowball for Tech Giants as Lawmakers ... by stcredzero on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @12:09PM (#20096348)
I can’t think of any scenarios where people referred to the military as having a monopoly on the missile market.

But Farmers being ravaged by middlemen would use that term about the middlemen buying their crops.

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