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RAM Manufacturers Fined for Price Fixing
TufelKinder writes "From Law.com: 'In the largest fine ever obtained by San Francisco antitrust prosecutors, a Korean company has agreed to plead guilty and pay $185 million for its role in a conspiracy to drive up the price of computer chips.' Micron and Infineon have also been fined for their role in the scheme." From the article: "It's the third-largest fine of its kind in the United States, and it could be just a preview of even bigger penalties. The far-reaching computer chip investigation, which alleges wrongdoing from 1999 through 2002, affects thousands of consumers."
Honest
Will they pass the cost onto the consumer?
This has got to be a wake-up call to major corporations. This goes to show that price-fixing will not be tolerated in the tech industry. Now perhaps we could get this to extend to other industries such as DVD's/CD's, and maybe even OIL!
Okay, okay, I admit it, I'm drunk.
The cost of gas is shooting up to sky-high levels for many reasons:
a) OPEC has too much pricing power over crude oil
b) available supply is falling (it's finite)
c) demand is climbing (China, anyone?)
d) it's REALLY hard to get permission to build refineries in the U.S.
If seems to me that claiming "price fixing!" in this case is perfect example of the H.L. Mencken quote:
For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
Life is short: void the warranty.
Actually, the price of RAM will probably go up after this so said companies can afford to pay off their fines without reaching into their own pockets.
When a telephone company gets fined, where does the money come from? Increased prices/fees.
When an energy company gets fined, where does the money come from? Increased prices/fees.
When a car maker gets fined, where does the money come from? Increased prices/fees.
Why do you think this will be any different? They're just going to do it again, and not get caught.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
I wonder how much they profited. The fine for the top music industry companies was about $143 million but due to price fixing consumers were overcharged $480 million. That's a profit of about $337 million.
I have plenty of ram as it is. What the hell am I gonna do with 2gigs?
I'm old enough to remember a Radio Shack employee telling me that I'd never need more than 4K of RAM. Or of an Apple employee telling me some years later that I'd never need more than a 5 MB HD. Or now of you, asking what they'd ever do with 2 GB of RAM.
The more RAM, the less has to be done in a HD. I don't ever turn my computers off as it is and leave as many apps running as possible. Things are always just a click away and my access to things is nearly instantaneous. This is what I want, and I always want more.