Re:Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech
by ethbr0 on Friday June 11, 2021 @06:47PM
(#27479441)
Approached from a novelty perspective, I think the exception is size and profit margin. These companies are simply too big (in terms of cash on hand & ability to generate profits). That's always been the problem with monopolies -- they get there, and then no one can compete.
Which in this case seems a consequence of first mover advantage + capital-light tech scaling (aka large profit margins) + huge total addressable markets.
Compared to Saudi Aramco's total profits -- Apple makes 63%, Microsoft makes 44%, Google makes 39%, Facebook makes 21%, & Amazon makes 13%. [0]
And that's compared to a business that literally pumps money out of the ground.
[0] https://fortune.com/global500/2020/search/?fg500_profits=des...
Re:Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech
by andreilys on Friday June 11, 2021 @06:37PM
(#27479361)
Breaking up has achieved excellent results before, as far as I can tell.
Source?
Re:Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech
by danShumway on Friday June 11, 2021 @07:08PM
(#27479586)
Railways, Bell.
Source: I use the Internet today and can see the effects firsthand, I'm part of an industry that exists pretty much because of that breakup. This stuff is pretty well documented.
Breaking up has achieved excellent results before, as far as I can tell. It's not a permanent solution to the problem, but neither is brushing my teeth.
It might be OK to have a process that needs to be periodically repeated when companies get out of control. It might even be preferable to large legislative efforts that significantly change what companies can and can't do. Are people really mad that maps show up in Google search, or are people mad that Google owns the world? I'm not sure, but maybe it's better to precisely target a temporary solution at the actual problem.
In general, I'm more on board with bills about vertical integration than I am with some other solutions people have proposed. But I'm also not necessarily opposed to skipping the whole thing and directly breaking up those companies instead. It seems to have had good effects in the past. And while I do think vertical integration is a problem, I'm not 100% certain that it's the biggest problem or that this is the best solution. I'm watching these bills kind of carefully.