Re:Consumers Would Pay the Price for Breaking Up Big Tech
by dredmorbius on Saturday July 23, 2022 @12:49PM
(#32205031)
That would be an improvement.
It's also not the only option. Public funding or a mechanical royalties paid in large part through broadband providers (ISPs / telcos / wireless providers), possibly along the lines of ASCAP / Harry Fox, might be an option.
"Free" Internet is not free. Advertising support is paid through spending on consumer products. That works out to north of $117/year per person in FB's most lucrative markets (US/EU/Japan), of about 1 billion people. That's $468 for a household of four. For Facebook alone.
Total global ad spend was $600 billion as of a few years back, or $2,400 for that household of four. Are you realy getting $2,400 worth of value via clickbait, disinformation, outrage media, and the like? Keep in mind that substantive content fares quite poorly under the "attention economy".
I've suggested an ISP-based content fee, indexed to regional wealth (more expensive in higher-income / higher-wealth areas). See:
It's also not the only option. Public funding or a mechanical royalties paid in large part through broadband providers (ISPs / telcos / wireless providers), possibly along the lines of ASCAP / Harry Fox, might be an option.
"Free" Internet is not free. Advertising support is paid through spending on consumer products. That works out to north of $117/year per person in FB's most lucrative markets (US/EU/Japan), of about 1 billion people. That's $468 for a household of four. For Facebook alone.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32118404
Total global ad spend was $600 billion as of a few years back, or $2,400 for that household of four. Are you realy getting $2,400 worth of value via clickbait, disinformation, outrage media, and the like? Keep in mind that substantive content fares quite poorly under the "attention economy".
I've suggested an ISP-based content fee, indexed to regional wealth (more expensive in higher-income / higher-wealth areas). See:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28329203