I’m pretty sure they cannot delete us from Free Republic:)
That said, it IS time to bust these monopolies.
1. Transport
2. Directory/Search
3. Content
Those would be the minimum separations. And no company should be able to own more than one service in any category, or ownership in more than one category.
Examples: Google Search could not also own Youtube and GMail. And they could not also expand into laying fiber and wireless too.
Facebook would be a completely standalone service. No news, no directory, no Instagram...nothing else.
Spin them off. Stridently monitor compliance with BIG, BIG cash rewards for whistle blowers...paid by fines extracted from the monopoly.
We have great experience as a nation with this, and it’s always worked for the better.
1. Standard Oil
2. Ma Bell
Add equipment as a fourth category.
YouTube was much better before Google bought it out. Everything featured on the front page is leftist propaganda now.
They’re not monopolies.
THEY’RE NOT MONOPOLIES.
Transport? I work for a big “transport” company. They’re very careful to not be a monopoly, having had a rather high-profile run-in with the issue. Google is getting out of the fiber business (only used it to scare other transport companies into improving). SpaceX literally launched the test for a redefining transport competitor a few days ago. There’s lots of competition, and lots of change to come.
Directory/search? You have plenty of options. Maybe not as good as Google, but not because Google has some unfair advantage. Basic search capability has actually become simple enough to implement that it’s a senior programing project.
Content? Gobs of options. People treat FB & Twitter like they’re something special, but they’re not. Someone could easily set up a Twitter competitor, without the censorship.
THEY’RE NOT MONOPOLIES. There’s no special treatment, no domineering access to limited resources.
And breaking up Ma Bell was, in retrospect, stupid.
Great post and spot on!
That's about the most arbitrary segmentation possible. Plenty of useful platforms span those, other than the last mile, which many forget, is a stupid local monopoly. Leting the government define and enforce those segmentations would be extremely damaging to technological progress and freedom in general.
These people live in a digital world and seem to think they are immortal.....if they aren’t careful, some bad actor may “put that name to the test”.