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Advocacy Groups Are Pushing The FTC To Break Up Facebook (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the Verge:
Advocacy groups are calling for Facebook to be broken up as a result of its Cambridge Analytica scandal, subsequent privacy violations, and repeated consumer data breaches. Groups like Open Market Institute, Color of Change, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center wrote to the Federal Trade Commission Thursday requesting a major government intervention into how Facebook operates. The letter outlined several moves the FTC could take, including a multibillion-dollar fine, reforming the company's hiring practices, and most importantly, breaking up one of the most powerful social media companies for abusing its market position...
According to organizations like Open Market Institute and Color of Change, Facebook should be required to give up $2 billion and divest ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp for failing to protect user data on those platforms as well. "Given that Facebook's violations are so numerous in scale, severe in nature, impactful for such a large portion of the American public and central to the company's business model, and given the company's massive size and influence over American consumers," the letter reads, "penalties and remedies that go far beyond the Commission's recent actions are called for."
According to organizations like Open Market Institute and Color of Change, Facebook should be required to give up $2 billion and divest ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp for failing to protect user data on those platforms as well. "Given that Facebook's violations are so numerous in scale, severe in nature, impactful for such a large portion of the American public and central to the company's business model, and given the company's massive size and influence over American consumers," the letter reads, "penalties and remedies that go far beyond the Commission's recent actions are called for."
It's a free service. Just don't use it. What the fuck is wrong with people? If it's not the government trying to control us it's corporations or it's the "public opinion". How about you just go about doing your own thing and come up with something better? Ohh wait the entire world has plenty of alternatives!
For any breakup of Google or Facebook, the FTC should focus on splitting all the ad networks back out, and enforcing data escrow and consumer protection laws (a la consumer research companies like credit bureaus are now). DOJ can focus on un-doing the Instagram/WhatsApp mergers, etc. (For Google, FTC might be able to split Chrome and Chrome OS from the site, and Play Services from Android.
Next up: Amazon and its vertical commerce infrastructure monopoly.
Hopefully, after that point, the public cloud companies will agree to divestiture of those into non-vendor-lock-in utils. Maybe.
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
Damn I know reading the article is against our principles here, but at least read the summary. They're talking about the other networks Facebook owns, like Instagram, being split off, not turning FB itself into smaller FBs.
Only the courts, or congress can break up a company.
No, only the courts can break up a company. Congress has no authority to do that, and it is specially banned from doing so in Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 of the Constitution which prohibits any bill of attainder.
Also, "breaking up a company" can only be done if a company is declared a monopoly. There is no legal basis for using a breakup as punishment for leaking data or any other crime.
It's not unusual for Congress to pass a law that applies to a single company, though.
Citation needed.
They can pass a law saying: "All social networks founded in Cambridge, MA in 2004 must be broken up"
This is an example of a bill of attainder, which is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.
The law would be invalidated in the time it takes Facebook's lawyers to drive from their HQ to the courthouse.
There is, in my opinion, one major problem with Congress making a law that is that narrowly directed. If they can make a law that only applies to one company, then they can also make a law that only applies to you. Do we really want to go down that rabbit hole?
Another reason I don't like the idea of breaking up Facebook is look how well it worked on the phone company in the 60s and 70s. We're now back to monster companies like Verizon and AT&T. In the long run, that breakup really didn't accomplish anything.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
As Thomas Jefferson said of ex post facto laws "The federal constitution indeed interdicts them in criminal cases only". The Supreme Court has been consistent on this point since at least Calder vs Bull (1798).
> if you make a contract that is lawful at the time made, or you begin engaging in an activity, then congress cannot, and it would be unconstitutional for them to in any way attempt to invalidate your lawful contract or restrain your continued performance of your contract or activity after the fact
Congress can in fact nullify a contract for the sale of slaves, or for the delivery of whiskey, and has done so. What they can't do is make it a crime to have done those things in the past.
They can't make it a *crime* for a social network to have had more than 100 million users in 2015 and Zuckerberg in jail for what happened in 2015. They absolutely CAN say that starting next year, any social network which has over 100 million users will be divided up. If you want to argue otherwise, please cite a case for your assertion. It is my memory that the government did indeed free the slaves, prior terms of service notwithstanding. What they didn't do was criminally prosecute slave owners for having owned slaves in the past.