Add test for Slashdot + fix style
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1 PROFESSOR WHO COINED TERM 'NET NEUTRALITY' THINKS IT'S TIME TO \r
2 BREAK UP FACEBOOK (THEVERGE.COM) \r
3\r
4 Thursday September 06, 2018 @11:30PM (BeauHD)\r
5 from the easier-said-than-done dept.\r
6\r
7 o News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/09/06/2043213/professor-who-coined-term-net-neutrality-thinks-its-time-to-break-up-facebook\r
8 o Source link: https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/4/17816572/tim-wu-facebook-regulation-interview-curse-of-bigness-antitrust\r
9\r
10\r
11 pgmrdlm shares a report from The Verge: Best known for coining\r
12 the phrase "net neutrality" and his book The Master Switch:\r
13 The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, Wu has a new book\r
14 coming out in November called The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust\r
15 in the New Gilded Age. In it, he argues compellingly for a\r
16 return to aggressive antitrust enforcement in the style of\r
17 Teddy Roosevelt, saying that Google, Facebook, Amazon, and\r
18 other huge tech companies are a threat to democracy as they\r
19 get bigger and bigger. "We live in America, which has a strong\r
20 and proud tradition of breaking up companies that are too big\r
21 for inefficient reasons," Wu told me on this week's Vergecast.\r
22 "We need to reverse this idea that it's not an American\r
23 tradition. We've broken up dozens of companies." "I think if\r
24 you took a hard look at the acquisition of WhatsApp and\r
25 Instagram, the argument that the effects of those acquisitions\r
26 have been anticompetitive would be easy to prove for a number\r
27 of reasons," says Wu. And breaking up the company wouldn't be\r
28 hard, he says. "What would be the harm? You'll have three\r
29 competitors. It's not 'Oh my god, if you get rid of WhatsApp\r
30 and Instagram, well then the whole world's going to fall\r
31 apart.' It would be like 'Okay, now you have some companies\r
32 actually trying to offer you an alternative to Facebook.'"\r
33 Breaking up Facebook (and other huge tech companies like\r
34 Google and Amazon) could be simple under the current law,\r
35 suggests Wu. But it could also lead to a major rethinking of\r
36 how antitrust law should work in a world where the giant\r
37 platform companies give their products away for free, and the\r
38 ability for the government to restrict corporate power seems\r
39 to be diminishing by the day. And it demands that we all think\r
40 seriously about the conditions that create innovation. "I\r
41 think everyone's steering way away from the monopolies, and I\r
42 think it's hurting innovation in the tech sector," says Wu.\r
43\r
44\r
45 ** Safe Harbor (Score:5, Interesting)\r
46 (by Kunedog ( 1033226 ))\r
47\r
48 \r
49 There's a simpler way:\r
50 [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]\r
51 \r
52 If they want to curate content according to their political\r
53 bias, then treat them like the politically-biased media outlets\r
54 they are, legally liable for the content they host, instead of\r
55 platforms under "safe harbor" protections. If they want to\r
56 continue to be treated like platforms, then they can keep their\r
57 hands off their political opponents' speech.\r
58 \r
59 \r
60 \r
61 \r
62 [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMLLlnRCBqg\r
63\r
64 ** Re: (Score:2)\r
65 (by HornWumpus ( 783565 ))\r
66\r
67 \r
68 They're already not 'common carriers' so they really didn't\r
69 lose anything by curating.\r
70 The solution is to reestablish 'common carrier' protections\r
71 for those web forums that deserve it.\r
72\r
73\r
74 ** Re:Safe Harbor (Score:4, Interesting)\r
75 (by pots ( 5047349 ))\r
76\r
77 \r
78 I didn't read the article, but the summary has nothing to do\r
79 with what you're talking about. The issue at hand is\r
80 monopolies and the consequent stifling of innovation and lack\r
81 of competitive pressure, that being the only thing which\r
82 makes our economy work for people instead of against them.\r
83\r
84\r
85 ** Holy Fuck (Score:1)\r
86 (by Anonymous Coward)\r
87\r
88 \r
89 Why do I bother coming here anymore?\r
90\r
91 ** \r
92\r
93 ** Re: (Score:3)\r
94 (by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ))\r
95\r
96 \r
97 We don't even have that anymore.\r
98\r
99\r
100\r
101 ** Re: (Score:1)\r
102 (by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ))\r
103\r
104 \r
105 PHRASING.\r
106\r
107\r
108 ** \r
109\r
110 ** Re: (Score:1)\r
111 (by rojash ( 2567409 ))\r
112\r
113 \r
114 i really wanted to mod this up...but screw this mod point\r
115 rationing here\r
116\r
117\r
118\r
119 ** \r
120\r
121 ** Re: (Score:2)\r
122 (by LostMyBeaver ( 1226054 ))\r
123\r
124 \r
125 I honestly want the monopolies to pretend to strengthen\r
126 democracy.\r
127 \r
128 At this point in time,\r
129 Jeff Bezos owns Amazon and news papers and whatever else\r
130 Satya Nadella is in control of one of the biggest new\r
131 networks (which slashdotters will never see because it's\r
132 through Edge and Bing)\r
133 The Alphabet boys are in control of what almost everyone in\r
134 the world sees\r
135 Zuck and Dorsey could easily control a MASSIVE amount of what\r
136 everyone sees.\r
137 \r
138 What's also important is that most of these people seem to\r
139 have some inkling of wanti\r
140\r
141\r
142 ** Re: (Score:1)\r
143 (by Tyger-ZA ( 1886544 ))\r
144\r
145 \r
146 It's correct that people want one point of access to a thing,\r
147 but nobody really wants a monopoly.\r
148 Assuming that one inevitably leads to the other is part of\r
149 the problem.\r
150 For example, with the video streaming sites, what we really\r
151 need is for them to collaborate on the platform (how you\r
152 login and watch shit) but compete on the content, meaning\r
153 that if you watch American Gods on the shared platform,\r
154 Amazon gets paid a share of your subscription, yet if you\r
155 watch Luke Cage on the same platform , Netflix gets paid\r
156\r
157\r
158 ** \r
159\r
160 ** Re: (Score:2)\r
161 (by LostMyBeaver ( 1226054 ))\r
162\r
163 \r
164 Nope... that was back before we had mass real-time media and\r
165 we didn't fully understand how incredibly fucked the entire\r
166 government was.\r
167 \r
168 Then there was FDR who had the national radio and used it as\r
169 a weapon against others in Washington to give him\r
170 near-dictator powers. And then he completely without\r
171 foresight fucked up the political system in America by\r
172 imposing term limits which meant that politicians who have\r
173 real plans that take more than 8 years to accomplish...\r
174 won't.\r
175 \r
176 When we got TV and had 1-3 channels,\r
177\r
178\r
179 ** Professor? Professor? (Score:2)\r
180 (by NoNonAlphaCharsHere ( 2201864 ))\r
181\r
182 \r
183 Professor Who???\r
184\r
185 ** Re: (Score:1)\r
186 (by antdude ( 79039 ))\r
187\r
188 \r
189 Dr. Who! :D\r
190\r
191\r
192 ** How (Score:2)\r
193 (by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ))\r
194\r
195 \r
196 exactly do you break up a company who offers a service for free?\r
197\r
198 ** Re: (Score:1)\r
199 (by pots ( 5047349 ))\r
200\r
201 \r
202 Facebook's service is selling advertising. It is not free,\r
203 they are the #2 advertiser in the world right now (I think\r
204 that's right, but I'm not going to look it up).\r
205\r
206\r
207 ** Facebook, Google, and Apple need to be broken up. (Score:1)\r
208 (by WCMI92 ( 592436 ))\r
209\r
210 \r
211 Microsoft has fallen below the zone they were once in.\r
212\r
213 ** And how would that solve anything for consumers? (Score:3,\r
214 Interesting)\r
215 (by Anonymous Coward)\r
216\r
217 \r
218 Facebook has grown because it offered the best social platform\r
219 for users. The point of social platforms is to connect with\r
220 everyone else. Fragmentation means people needing to belong to\r
221 and check multiple platforms. Trying to force competition won't\r
222 solve any user issues. However, once Facebook stops providing a\r
223 compelling service, people will move on their own. The same as\r
224 they gave up MySpace and the same as they rejected Google+. The\r
225 market chose Facebook and will purge it when time comes.\r
226 The same with Google. There were plenty of entrenched search\r
227 services when Google came to be. Users chose it because it was\r
228 better. The old search services died because they didn't evolve.\r
229 If Google stops being the best fit option, people will go\r
230 somewhere else. They already have choices like Bing and Duck\r
231 Duck Go. As the service is free, people are choosing based on\r
232 functionality, not on price. Those that don't like the privacy\r
233 price of Google are opting for other services. You can't just\r
234 declare another search service is required and then force the\r
235 public to use it so that you can claim to have multiple services\r
236 with comparable market share.\r
237 If people were given a choice of all you can eat steak or beets\r
238 at equal cost, odds are that the majority would choose steak.\r
239 When you remove cost and scarcity, the premium option will\r
240 dominate. Digital services don't have scarcity like physical\r
241 products do. It's a different economy.\r
242\r
243 ** Re: (Score:1)\r
244 (by pots ( 5047349 ))\r
245\r
246 \r
247 > Facebook has grown because it offered the best social\r
248 > platform for users.\r
249 As stated in the summary: Facebook has grown by purchasing\r
250 their competitors. The summary mentions WhatsApp and\r
251 Instagram specifically.\r
252 \r
253 Your comment about the problem with fragmentation is an\r
254 example of why Facebook needs to be broken up by an outside\r
255 entity: they have a natural monopoly, since real competition\r
256 from startups would lead to fragmentation.\r
257 \r
258 I've said this before, but if the government came along and\r
259 broke up the company by splitting off Facebook's front-end\r
260 from its back-end, then we could\r
261\r
262 ** Re: (Score:2)\r
263 (by jrumney ( 197329 ))\r
264\r
265 \r
266 > As stated in the summary: Facebook has grown by purchasing\r
267 > their competitors. The summary mentions WhatsApp and\r
268 > Instagram specifically.\r
269 While this is true, so far they have not bought their\r
270 competitors to shut them down, or to raise prices to the\r
271 detriment of consumers. They are building a monopoly, but\r
272 so far, it is not harmful from an economic perspective,\r
273 and unfortunately I don't think anti-trust law is\r
274 concerned with privacy, so the case for breaking up\r
275 Facebook is not strong.\r
276 Apple would be a much juicier target, especially as they\r
277 recently became the world's first trillion dollar company\r
278 (with Amazon close behind). Splitting out the\r
279\r
280\r
281\r
282 ** ok (Score:1)\r
283 (by Alyks ( 798644 ))\r
284\r
285 \r
286 why do I care about a guy whose biggest contribution to this\r
287 subject is clever phrasing?\r
288\r
289 ** Re: (Score:2)\r
290 (by Zontar The Mindless ( 9002 ))\r
291\r
292 \r
293 > Are you with me Doctor Wu\r
294 > Are you really just a shadow\r
295 > Of the man that I once knew\r
296 > Are you crazy are you high\r
297 > Or just an ordinary guy\r
298 > Have you done all you can do\r
299 > Are you with me Doctor\r
300\r
301\r
302 ** We need open platforms (Score:1)\r
303 (by Karmashock ( 2415832 ))\r
304\r
305 \r
306 These proprietary social networks are bad for free speech.\r
307 I have no problem with facebook, google, twitter, except that\r
308 they concentrate the internet in the hands of a few large\r
309 companies.\r
310 We need open platforms like HTML, TCP/IP, Email, Newsgroups, etc.\r
311 All old retrograde stuff according to the children. But there\r
312 isn't one of these social networks that couldn't be made P2P or\r
313 something that anyone could set up their own personal server for\r
314 that interlinked with each other.\r
315 A 20 dollar raspberry pi could host\r
316\r
317 ** Not a monopoly or required... (Score:2)\r
318 (by Archfeld ( 6757 ))\r
319\r
320 \r
321 I don't like Facebook either but its not a monopoly, nor is it\r
322 required in anyway to use the internet. Anyone could come up\r
323 with the next social network thing anytime now or you can just\r
324 NOT use Facebook. It isn't like an OS or a browser that is\r
325 necessary for use or access to anything. Facebook or Twitter are\r
326 tools of convenience and can easily be done without. If you\r
327 don't like what is being said filter it out or don't use either.\r
328\r
329 ** We had the chance... (Score:2)\r
330 (by erp_consultant ( 2614861 ))\r
331\r
332 \r
333 and blew it...with Microsoft. They should have been broken up\r
334 just like Standard Oil. But they were not and that just created\r
335 a precedent for companies like Facebook and Amazon and Google.\r
336 We reap what we sow.\r
337\r
338 ** Why I posted this (Score:2)\r
339 (by pgmrdlm ( 1642279 ))\r
340\r
341 \r
342 Look, I don't get my news from Facebook. Local, National, World.\r
343 Be it political or otherwise. I don't give a shit about who they\r
344 ban, and who they don't. I don't give a shit on who they censor,\r
345 and who they don't. Just don't care. Face book has purchased the\r
346 following which was competition. At least they didn't kill them.\r
347 They own Tinder, dating. They own Instagram, another form of\r
348 social media. And a couple others were mentioned in the article.\r
349 My profile was not used by that company that tried t\r
350\r
351 ** What the f____ (Score:2)\r
352 (by WolfgangVL ( 3494585 ))\r
353\r
354 \r
355 "Look over here! See? We're thinking about maybe eventually\r
356 doing something someday! (Pay no attention to the massive\r
357 personal data collection feast that\r
358 every-single-damn-corporation and government in the entire\r
359 bloody world is gorging on behind the curtain)"\r
360 WHY do people give so many shits for instabook and facegram?\r
361 It's not something anybody actually needs to begin with. For\r
362 fucks sake. Big tech is not "The internet"... in fact, the case\r
363 has been made that these companies are big evil time eaters that\r
364 p\r
365\r
366 ** Re: (Score:2)\r
367 (by pgmrdlm ( 1642279 ))\r
368\r
369 \r
370 Hell, let's start with the fact that before Facebook, what\r
371 ever. Credit cards are tracked, companies record everything\r
372 you purchase from them. Those company cards on your key\r
373 change to save 3 cents. That is all tracked. And it is all\r
374 shared via companies selling the information\r
375\r
376\r
377\r