Thursday September 06, 2018 @11:30PM (BeauHD)\r
from the easier-said-than-done dept.\r
\r
+ o Reference: 0102640274\r
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
o Source link: https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/4/17816572/tim-wu-facebook-regulation-interview-curse-of-bigness-antitrust\r
\r
\r
- pgmrdlm shares a report from The Verge: Best known for coining\r
- the phrase "net neutrality" and his book The Master Switch:\r
- The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, Wu has a new book\r
- coming out in November called The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust\r
- in the New Gilded Age. In it, he argues compellingly for a\r
- return to aggressive antitrust enforcement in the style of\r
- Teddy Roosevelt, saying that Google, Facebook, Amazon, and\r
- other huge tech companies are a threat to democracy as they\r
- get bigger and bigger. "We live in America, which has a strong\r
- and proud tradition of breaking up companies that are too big\r
- for inefficient reasons," Wu told me on this week's Vergecast.\r
- "We need to reverse this idea that it's not an American\r
- tradition. We've broken up dozens of companies." "I think if\r
- you took a hard look at the acquisition of WhatsApp and\r
- Instagram, the argument that the effects of those acquisitions\r
- have been anticompetitive would be easy to prove for a number\r
- of reasons," says Wu. And breaking up the company wouldn't be\r
- hard, he says. "What would be the harm? You'll have three\r
- competitors. It's not 'Oh my god, if you get rid of WhatsApp\r
- and Instagram, well then the whole world's going to fall\r
- apart.' It would be like 'Okay, now you have some companies\r
- actually trying to offer you an alternative to Facebook.'"\r
- Breaking up Facebook (and other huge tech companies like\r
- Google and Amazon) could be simple under the current law,\r
- suggests Wu. But it could also lead to a major rethinking of\r
- how antitrust law should work in a world where the giant\r
- platform companies give their products away for free, and the\r
- ability for the government to restrict corporate power seems\r
- to be diminishing by the day. And it demands that we all think\r
- seriously about the conditions that create innovation. "I\r
- think everyone's steering way away from the monopolies, and I\r
- think it's hurting innovation in the tech sector," says Wu.\r
+ [1]pgmrdlm shares a report from The Verge:\r
+ \r
+ > Best known for coining the phrase "net neutrality" and his\r
+ book The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information\r
+ Empires, Wu has a new book coming out in November called\r
+ [2]The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age . In\r
+ it, he argues compellingly for a return to aggressive\r
+ antitrust enforcement in the style of Teddy Roosevelt, saying\r
+ that Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other huge tech companies\r
+ [3]are a threat to democracy as they get bigger and bigger .\r
+ "We live in America, which has a strong and proud tradition of\r
+ breaking up companies that are too big for inefficient\r
+ reasons," Wu told me on this week's Vergecast. "We need to\r
+ reverse this idea that it's not an American tradition. We've\r
+ broken up dozens of companies."\r
+ \r
+ >\r
+ \r
+ > "I think if you took a hard look at the acquisition of\r
+ WhatsApp and Instagram, the argument that the effects of those\r
+ acquisitions have been anticompetitive would be easy to prove\r
+ for a number of reasons," says Wu. And breaking up the company\r
+ wouldn't be hard, he says. "What would be the harm? You'll\r
+ have three competitors. It's not 'Oh my god, if you get rid of\r
+ WhatsApp and Instagram, well then the whole world's going to\r
+ fall apart.' It would be like 'Okay, now you have some\r
+ companies actually trying to offer you an alternative to\r
+ Facebook.'" Breaking up Facebook (and other huge tech\r
+ companies like Google and Amazon) could be simple under the\r
+ current law, suggests Wu. But it could also lead to a major\r
+ rethinking of how antitrust law should work in a world where\r
+ the giant platform companies give their products away for\r
+ free, and the ability for the government to restrict corporate\r
+ power seems to be diminishing by the day. And it demands that\r
+ we all think seriously about the conditions that create\r
+ innovation. "I think everyone's steering way away from the\r
+ monopolies, and I think it's hurting innovation in the tech\r
+ sector," says Wu.\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1] https://slashdot.org/~pgmrdlm\r
+ \r
+ [2] https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Bigness-Antitrust-New-Gilded/-\r
+ dp/0999745468\r
+ \r
+ [3] https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/4/17816572/tim-wu-facebook-\r
+ regulation-interview-curse-of-bigness-antitrust\r
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** Safe Harbor (Score:5, Interesting)\r
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