And it’s Google an adtech company. How are they infringing on your rights in a way that you can just not use them?
Yes. US enforcement of the drug trade is waaaay more lax than it has been in the past. The last time I remember reading about federal enforcement against state legal weed enterprises was toward’s the end of Bush’s term which is now 13 years ago. Social attitudes have also drastically shifted. Several places have already started decriminalizing magic mushrooms and weed is legal in most states and it’s more a question of when it will stop being illegal federally.
> Is anyone trying to curtail police power?
Yes. There was the whole defund the police movement, there’s constantly lawsuits about the police, there’s been actual legitimate prosecutions (albeit rare) against police (which is a step up from it never happening ever even if laughably insufficient given the amount of outrage that needed to be generated). Just because you may not be paying attention doesn’t mean stuff doesn’t change.
> How are they infringing on your rights in a way that you can just not use them?
I’d recommend brushing up on economics textbooks and how monopolies disrupt the market. Specifically, there are the two most common ways:
1. Lower prices when a real competitor pops up that runs more efficiently to drive them out of the market, raise prices back up once they’re gone.
Lots of examples like this, not sure about Google itself. Eg look at what Amazon did to kill diapers.com even though that company was disrupting the market in a profitable way (ie Amazon couldn’t actually compete but instead used their pocketbook and shady business tactics to outmaneuver them and force them into selling themselves to Amazon ).
2. Leverage your majority/monopoly position to retain that position. The government’s position with this case is that having a majority position in the market means they’re able to retain that majority regardless of any external competition.
In all cases, Google is harming me by causing hire prices in the market and inefficiencies in the marketplace. Google is also big enough that this gets magnified by quite a bit and seeps into other areas beyond search.
Also, the “you can just not use them” argument is pretty tired and requires willful blindness. That argument has always been trotted out as monopolies always had “competitors”. That doesn’t alter that large businesses can have lots of negative impact just because of their size.
Police stop minorities in most major cities and profile. As far as weed enforcement by the federal government, as long as it’s the law, it can still be reintroduced. While Trump himself didn’t care to enforce it, his first AG very much wanted to but was stymied by a bipartisan unwillingness to fund it. But selective enforcement is still dangerous.
Who do you think a Desantis administration or a Pence administration would go after?
Google sells nothing of value at any meaningful scale - but ads.
You want to see a “million ad tech companies bloom”?
Yes you have complete agency not to use Google and they don’t even have a monopoly on advertising
I am, but actually the government is under many more legal constraints to do so than a private party. That’s why the government does all these end runs to buy data off the commercial data streams. Cut off those private data streams and the ability for government to do this gets significantly reduced.