i Thursday September 06, 2018 @11:30PM (BeauHD)\r
i from the easier-said-than-done dept.\r
i\r
-i pgmrdlm shares a report from The Verge: Best known for coining\r
-i the phrase "net neutrality" and his book The Master Switch:\r
-i The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, Wu has a new book\r
-i coming out in November called The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust\r
-i in the New Gilded Age. In it, he argues compellingly for a\r
-i return to aggressive antitrust enforcement in the style of\r
-i Teddy Roosevelt, saying that Google, Facebook, Amazon, and\r
-i other huge tech companies are a threat to democracy as they\r
-i get bigger and bigger. "We live in America, which has a strong\r
-i and proud tradition of breaking up companies that are too big\r
-i for inefficient reasons," Wu told me on this week's Vergecast.\r
-i "We need to reverse this idea that it's not an American\r
-i tradition. We've broken up dozens of companies." "I think if\r
-i you took a hard look at the acquisition of WhatsApp and\r
-i Instagram, the argument that the effects of those acquisitions\r
-i have been anticompetitive would be easy to prove for a number\r
-i of reasons," says Wu. And breaking up the company wouldn't be\r
-i hard, he says. "What would be the harm? You'll have three\r
-i competitors. It's not 'Oh my god, if you get rid of WhatsApp\r
-i and Instagram, well then the whole world's going to fall\r
-i apart.' It would be like 'Okay, now you have some companies\r
-i actually trying to offer you an alternative to Facebook.'"\r
-i Breaking up Facebook (and other huge tech companies like\r
-i Google and Amazon) could be simple under the current law,\r
-i suggests Wu. But it could also lead to a major rethinking of\r
-i how antitrust law should work in a world where the giant\r
-i platform companies give their products away for free, and the\r
-i ability for the government to restrict corporate power seems\r
-i to be diminishing by the day. And it demands that we all think\r
-i seriously about the conditions that create innovation. "I\r
-i think everyone's steering way away from the monopolies, and I\r
-i think it's hurting innovation in the tech sector," says Wu.\r
+i [1]pgmrdlm shares a report from The Verge:\r
+i \r
+i > Best known for coining the phrase "net neutrality" and his\r
+i book The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information\r
+i Empires, Wu has a new book coming out in November called\r
+i [2]The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age . In\r
+i it, he argues compellingly for a return to aggressive\r
+i antitrust enforcement in the style of Teddy Roosevelt, saying\r
+i that Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other huge tech companies\r
+i [3]are a threat to democracy as they get bigger and bigger .\r
+i "We live in America, which has a strong and proud tradition of\r
+i breaking up companies that are too big for inefficient\r
+i reasons," Wu told me on this week's Vergecast. "We need to\r
+i reverse this idea that it's not an American tradition. We've\r
+i broken up dozens of companies."\r
+i \r
+i >\r
+i \r
+i > "I think if you took a hard look at the acquisition of\r
+i WhatsApp and Instagram, the argument that the effects of those\r
+i acquisitions have been anticompetitive would be easy to prove\r
+i for a number of reasons," says Wu. And breaking up the company\r
+i wouldn't be hard, he says. "What would be the harm? You'll\r
+i have three competitors. It's not 'Oh my god, if you get rid of\r
+i WhatsApp and Instagram, well then the whole world's going to\r
+i fall apart.' It would be like 'Okay, now you have some\r
+i companies actually trying to offer you an alternative to\r
+i Facebook.'" Breaking up Facebook (and other huge tech\r
+i companies like Google and Amazon) could be simple under the\r
+i current law, suggests Wu. But it could also lead to a major\r
+i rethinking of how antitrust law should work in a world where\r
+i the giant platform companies give their products away for\r
+i free, and the ability for the government to restrict corporate\r
+i power seems to be diminishing by the day. And it demands that\r
+i we all think seriously about the conditions that create\r
+i innovation. "I think everyone's steering way away from the\r
+i monopolies, and I think it's hurting innovation in the tech\r
+i sector," says Wu.\r
+i \r
+i \r
+i \r
+i [1] https://slashdot.org/~pgmrdlm\r
+i \r
+i [2] https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Bigness-Antitrust-New-Gilded/-\r
+i dp/0999745468\r
+i \r
+i [3] https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/4/17816572/tim-wu-facebook-\r
+i regulation-interview-curse-of-bigness-antitrust\r
i\r