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Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Wants Justice Department To Scrutinize Big Tech (cnbc.com)
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Monday joined the growing chorus of government officials concerned about tech monopolies. From a report: When asked if Google is a monopoly, Mnuchin said, "These are issues that the Justice Department needs to look at seriously -- not for any one company -- but obviously as these technology companies have a greater and greater impact on the economy, I think that you have to look at the power they have," Mnuchin told CNBC's "Squawk Box." Mnuchin acknowledged that antitrust matters don't fall under his jurisdiction, but said someone ought to be looking. His comments come on the heels of a "60 Minutes" segment on Google's unparalleled market share in online search. The Sunday night spot included an interview with Jeremy Stoppelman, co-founder of Yelp, which he said "would have no shot" if it were being built today.
Remember when Microsoft was the ULTIMATE EVIL in the known universe because you had to download Netscape manually on Windows?
But remember, Google tracking your every move is fine because their leadership is considered to be "woke".
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
We need a viable alternative to android/ios, webkit/edge/gecko amd/intel, nvidia/amd, systemd and a lot more.
News like this just makes me assume someone in the Administration is afraid of too many news stories and wants to be able to censor them.
Before Trump I at least looked for some explanation or rational reason. But it is all ruined. Every person in a position of power is corrupt and afraid of truth.
And while fake news is a problem, is rather have that and truth than lose both. While monopolies can guide or promote an agenda I'd rather be able to read reporting on that influence than have neither. Such a shame to have ruined giving the government at least a chance to explain itself. Now I just don't trust the explanation, before I even hear it.
skew things closer to reality, using "big data" and objective machine-learning algorithms.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Big Tech is no better than Big Oil or Big Pharmaceutical.
I hate fat people.
And here I thought that separation of powers meant that people from the Executive should shut the fuck up about stuff concerning the way Justice conducts its business.
that cause a single winner in each info-technology niche.
It's that one company executes better, and then the network effect kicks in, as that company collects more customers (who prefer it) and then gets the value of the collective interactions of and data from all those customers.
For consumers, often it's the case that having the search knowledge or the social network spread among different providers / applications just makes like more complicated for them, and reduces the simplicity and value proposition somewhat.
So is "free and fair" competition allowed to produce a clear winner, which people then definitely prefer, or is it not? What are the benefits and pitfalls of breaking up such a natural monopoly?
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
The drumbeat to investigate Google and Facebook started long before Trump. In fact the current push is primarily a response to Trump winning, in part because he was able to use Facebook analytics as effectively as Obama...
And because they helped Trump, even if inadvertently, Google and Facebook must pay. Or so goes the mantra of the day.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm a progressive -- I also think that Big Tech knows too much and is often in bed with government/TLAs.
Anything that destroys this cozy relationship and causes friction is good in my book.
We should also scrutinize government agencies and political offices while we're at it.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
What? All your phoney misdirection doesn't change the fact that Donald Trump Jr and Silent Jared, and Paul "House Arrest" Manafort all had a meeting with a self-identified Russian government lawyer about Russia's assistance to the Trump campaign.
It doesn't make up for decades of Russian money laundering followed by complete subservience to Vladimir Putin, whose Russian mafia pals kept Trump afloat financially.
No matter how Trump's Treason Team waves their arms, they have been caught red handed committing treason, which isn't just illegal.. it's wrong.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Monday joined the growing chorus of government officials concerned about tech monopolies.
How about the Treasury Secretary worry about banks that are a proven risk to the financial system first? The tech companies didn't cause a global recession within the last 10 years or require massive government bailouts or cheat people out of their homes and savings.
The Sunday night spot included an interview with Jeremy Stoppelman, co-founder of Yelp, which he said "would have no shot" if it were being built today.
We lived with Yellow Pages in the phone book for a hundred years, most of which was monopoly -- mandated at that -- for local and long distance together.
So..."So?"
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
The uranium never left the US, so you are just spreading misinformation for a known traitor.
Congratulations on betraying your country, you fucking turncoat.
This is like the Valerie Plame wild goose chase of the Bush 43 administration.
The only charges -obstruction of justice- had nothing to do with any prior crime being committed.
In otherwords, if there had not been any allegations no crimes would have even happened.
A spectacular waste of tax payer dollars amounting to little more than a way for the democrats to make themselves look less bad without actually contributing anything.
He seems to have no problem allowing Sprint and T-Mobile to merge, weakening what little competition there is among the wireless providers.
Yeah, but there's a good chance they'll cause the next one.
Oh I've got to hear this story. How exactly do you figure the big tech companies are going to throw the world into recession requiring massive bailouts and forcing people out of their homes? Be specific on the causal mechanism.
Were this a different administration, I'd be supportive of the move. In this case I'm quite skeptical about their motives and what they are really trying to accomplish. But breaking up an abusive monopoly is not over-reach. I just really doubt that that's what they'd be after.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Can we replace him with someone taller please? He can't be trusted to make big boy decisions.
Support your local school shooter, give them your firearms.
They don't want these companies to have less influence.
They just want more influence over these companies.
In fact, they want the companies to have more influence. They want to force them to use encryption that they can break. They've tried it before, and here they are trying it again.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Wow, pretty disingenuous of a guy running a company whose business model is to extort small businesses whining about Google's potential for abuse of power.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Microsoft was the target of an antitrust action in the late 90s / early 2000s. Then they ramped up their lobbying spending. The problem went away. Mnuchin is just looking to shake the money tree.
I'm sure he does. Note how the story begins, "When asked if Google is a monopoly, Mnuchin said, "These are issues that the Justice Department needs to look at seriously...". It then confirms that he knows this is not under his jurisdiction. But there's no reason for him not to have a general opinion, and be suitably suspicious of these companies. As most of us here are....