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US Treasury Secretary Calls For Google Monopoly Probe (theregister.co.uk)
After a 60 Minutes episode that focused on Google and its effective search monopoly, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin called for large tech companies to be investigated for potential antitrust violations. Asked whether Google was abusing its market dominance as a monopoly, Mnuchin told CNBC on Monday "these are issues that the Justice Department needs to look at seriously," and argued that it was important to "look at the power they have" noting that companies like Google "have a greater and greater impact on the economy." The Register reports: Mnuchin's willingness to directly criticize Google and other tech companies and argue that they should be under investigation is just the latest sign that Washington DC is serious about digging in the market power of Big Internet. It is notable that it was 20 years ago, almost to the day, that America finally dealt with another tech antitrust problem when the Justice Department and 20 state attorneys general filed suit -- on May 18, 1998 -- against what was then the most powerful tech company in the country: Microsoft.
Not Google.
He'll be a popular prison wolf.
Federal prison is a lot more fair than state prison that's for sure.
They didn't deal with the last issue. They swept it under the carpet. That's why you still only see windows in shops. That's why interoperability is still a joke. That's why the web is still broken. Wake up get rid of micros hit.
HILLARY CLINTON in ALCATRAZ PRISON
I guess he'll have to decide which he likes better, assuming he lives long enough to either serve his Federal or State sentence in entirety and move on to the other. Lol. Stupid traitor problems.
Dupe!
https://search.slashdot.org/st...
Editors: I suggest to just google the title you are about to publish to help avoid dupes.
Example: I googled for " US Treasury Secretary Calls For Google Monopoly Probe" and found the previously posted article right away ("Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Wants Justice Department To Scrutinize Big Tech")
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
How do you make a company, such as Google, force other people to use other search engines? After all, it is not in Google's control...
When it comes to searching, people have a choice, and most of them choose what they view as the best search engine. If it happens to be Google that can't be helped.
Perhaps we will see monthly search quotas now...
As a tour guide? That'd be neat. Sounds like a good job for a retiree.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Modern economic "trickle down theory" says if you make wealthy people and corporations richer, some of that money will trickle down to campaign contributions.
This is just a warning shot that the contribution was not enough to satisfy current needs.
Does that mean that they finally care about coercion among tech companies that block people from getting hired (i.e., the Steve Jobs blacklisting that pegs someone an Apple person and another a Microsoft person, preventing people from leaving their positions)?
Let's destroy the country because I hate Trump!
Too bad she needs that back brace and cannot walk up or down stairs without assistance. Thank god she is not president though right?
Google has been ripe for anti-trust for more than long enough. And for the people that are asking why lets break it down. Google is NOT just a search engine. Visit a few websites and look at who all is running scripts. Most sites will have at least 1 or more of googles analytic, tagging, ads, or static services. Next up is Android... do you use Android? Then you have a relationship with Google like it or not. Play Store is owned by Google or Alphabet whichever.
Do you use Chrome, google owns it. Remember when Microsoft was in trouble for just having internet explorer installed when you got it? The simple fact is that you cannot do nearly anything without Google on the internet. And while that might seem harmless it is not. Google tracks you, tracks what you do, catalogues what you like or it thinks you like. Google keeps bio-metrics and facial recognition of you. Once you are in, you are IN!
Google is in your business, they gather and correlate any an every bit of information about you that it can so it can sell it and use it to appropriate more information about you to sell as well. The problem is not just monopoly, it is anti-trust, and that means google colluding with and influencing or even "forcefully/maliciously influencing" businesses they partner with the same way Walmart and Amazon likes to push distributors and suppliers around with their largess...
If you are a small business... and google tells you that you need to do something or face being delisted or worse... what are you going to do? They are a big player and if you don't play according to their rules they have ways to make life tough for you, no one is going to actually care! Google just simply should NOT be allowed to be a browser, search engine, business data/analytic, application store, ISP, and ad service all at the same time.
Anti-Trust is NOT about keeping people from using google as a search engine, or ads, or as a content provider, or as application store, or as a mobile OS platform. Anti-Trust is about Google owning and operating all of those at the same time and keeping their API's in house just enough so that they are not easy to use by competitors. Because now that google owns most of the logic on the roads, you still have to bend to their will or you just get no service and websites will not serve up content to you unless you accept google!
This just in . . .
The good bruthas over at the GNAA are now offering free anal probes to all Slashdot editors and contributors. There is no limit on how many anal probes each qualified individual is entitled to! One or one hundred, it's up to you!!!
We'd just like to remind everyone that there is Bing.
Interesting that this came out shortly after news that several other countries offered to help Republicans win the last presidential election...related? Sure a bit suspicious...it's not exactly news that large tech corporations have been gathering data...and shouldn't it be the Federal Trade Commission that champions a first looksee, not the Department of Treasury? Maybe if a Google search didn't turn up any results on Mueller investigations, the case against Google would disappear?
Tour guides have show proficiency in a subject and be able to convey knowledge verbally.
This should be very interesting. Are they a "web search" monopoly or are they an "web advert" monopoly or a "user uploaded video" monopoly. Should the government differentiate between say professionally developed videos and user uploaded web videos? I mean they have utter and complete control of the user uploaded video market and they take away peoples livelihood on a whim leaving people no where else to make a real living. I am just interested as to how they determine which factor is the monopoly or is it all of them. Is it because they dominate all of those areas and user each of the dominate areas to make each other even more dominant. It would be very interesting if congress decided they needed to split those businesses up, you may actually get more than one "YouTube" finally. I mean others exists but YouTube has to have like 95%+ market share of user uploaded videos.
Google? What about AT&T/Verizon/Comcast/Cox?
Google has made products that work, for the price of being tracked everywhere. They made Android as a way to get real-names tied to real devices that cell phones can also use to track the herd world-wide.
While I dropped regular POTS telephone in 2002, most people haven't. The profits generated by those companies month after month for the last100 years are obscene.
Cable ISPs are a monopoly, just like ADSLv2+ is a monopoly service. The last mile needs to be owned and managed by a separate company than all the other "pipes." Where I live, we did that with natural gas delivery and we have 50+ choices to get our gas now and don't have to deal with the terrible "support company" dealing with the pipes anymore. Every few months, a fresh report about the most cost effective gas provider comes out so people can choose which fits there needs.
OTOH, what power does the Treasury Sec have over Google?
https://www.google.com/search?q=monopoly+probe
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I'm confused.
What market do they monopolize?
In what situation does anyone not have a choice as to whether to use some product or service offered by google, or one offered by another entity?
Google didn't bribe Trump enough.
No one is forced to use Google Search, use Google Chrome, buy an Android phone, use Google Maps, or use any other Google service; you are free to use Microsoft Bing, the Firefox browser, an iPhone or a Garmin GPS.
Google services don't ship on Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, or the various flavors of Linux. People are "forced" to use Google products because they are superior - period.
This talk of Google being a "Monopoly" is B.S., plain and simple!
If we get everyone to use Bing instead, the government would be forced to break up Microsoft, instead!
You know what's funny? Both Apple and Microsoft greatly abuse their monopolies in their respective OSes, which actually seems impossible if you think about it.
yep, you got it. My ass hurts, the doc says it is hemorrhoids... But I think it has been from all the years taking it from the nice folks at Microsoft. Damn, they have been getting away with this for decades but now the boot is in the ass to both Facebook and Google...
This stinks like there is a dead fish under the passengers seat.
Who in the hell keeps giving Microsoft all the freedom they have and everyone else gets to be broken up??? I can expect more butt hurt from the bully that keeps telling me to bend over. yes I am talking about Windows 10 and Office...
Your Average Joe
so what is being done about Microsoft? 5,000 employee company is paying those bastards $1 million a year to keep the software cops from shutting the business down. Google is not extorting us for $1 million per year....
get off my lawn you punk!
Your Average Joe
use teh startpage search function. Google does the work and bears the cost, but there's no link back to monetising you the user. Wins all round!
It is ok to have a monopoly in one area if it was earned through skill, talent, luck, etc.
It is not ok to use that monopoly to take over other areas. Fortunately you posted your blithering crap as AC so no one needs to know how naive and stupid you are.
#Whataboutism
Go directly to jail.
Do not pass Go(ogle), do not collect $200 million.. .
people on the right end of the spectrum are now starting to push for antitrust enforcement for companies on the left side of the spectrum, how long until people on the left side of the spectrum start going after the banks and defense contractors?
In the end, who wins? The lawyers do!
I see someone has decided Google isn't donating enough money to politicians again.
This is the way much of the world works. The only difference is the west pays closer attention and such donations must be on the up and up.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Google actually has competition, in pretty much anything it does.
The cable industry doesn't, and it shows. Why hasn't Comcast been investigated?
This signature has Super Cow Powers
She's an intelligent woman, that I have no doubt. She has trouble with being forthright and conceding when she doesn't have expertise on a topic. Not knowing everything doesn't make you stupid. As for her public speaking ability? Hillary's public speaking abilities are not as bad as G.W. Bush, but on the other hand Bush would make a fantastic tourguide with his goofy charisma. (and has ability to climb stairs)
Not being able to say "I don't know" is a flaw typical of male slashdotters.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Maybe they should go after the ISPs first. Even Google gets slapped around by them.