dagblog - Comments for "On Breaking up Google - this is not your Grandma's Monopoly"

I'm now in a business that

Michael Maiello — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 21:19:03 +0000

In reply to On Breaking up Google - this is not your Grandma's Monopoly

I'm now in a business that deals in digital amplification and am amazed at how manufactured our online experiences are and how Google and the big social networks make it possible. Now, in a way, it may not be any worse than the old network television days, though a commercial is typically a commercial while the internet is pretty much all undisclosed product placement.

Offered as a FWIW, because

artappraiser — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 03:15:18 +0000

In reply to On Breaking up Google - this is not your Grandma's Monopoly

Offered as a FWIW, because just ran across:

This is a super smart letter which succinctly hits of antitrust questions about Facebook: Insta/WhatsApp deals, exclusionary conduct in closing out apps and importantly, less discussed degradation of product quality upon dominance. https://t.co/Hgs2qOS3h5
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) March 20, 2019

Facebook is doing their best

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 16:40:44 +0000

In reply to You make a strong case. The

Facebook is doing their best to convince me they're truly evil.

Google's biggest evil may be Youtube, though it also may be hidden algorithmic control of what appears on page 1 of search results (and condemn the rest to hell) may be spawn if the devil. Alt-right actors have been able to game that system in the past, putting say 6 spam/spin/hijack listings out of first 10 results to normalize an extreme position and promote a completely illegitimate tiny web site over say CNN and CNBC.

In a way I'm still hoping for Amazon (Buffett and Dimon - gack!) to make good on promises of improving healthcare and driving down costs - something rigged competition has failed to do. Part of this is digitalization of health data, part is bringing in a godzilla to crack heads of slower, more crooked gorillas. Give them 10 years to smack things around and *then* break them up? Too dangerous?

Education btw - why does all the power of reputation go to a few "elite" schools? Why is a Yale tag on a Biology degree more than Wake Forest or Pepperdine or UNH? Where's the real evaluation of what people learn, and how does that tie into sky high tuition cost and actual taught knowledge (rather than perceived hobnobbing/access to future power bone), the yearly SAT scramble, the fake qualifications/activities that somehow show how marvelous kids are when they shut down from any actual innovation and creativity to jump thru these hoops...)? Imagine if a player comes in and redefines post-education access to big kahunas, so that college really is only about things taught, not about myths around if your roommate might be Bill Gates or Sergei Brin - what happens to this hyper-charged NCAA March madness of study choice? Can an Amazon-like ratings roll over the ever-dodgy US News and what-not big wide painted brush approach? Why are 48-52 classes taken from 18-22 so goddamned important anyway? And if that's really the case, why do most high schools suck so bad?

Now this new development

artappraiser — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 15:50:59 +0000

In reply to On Breaking up Google - this is not your Grandma's Monopoly

Now this new development makes me think about things from their P.O.V. Where are they going to go if they see both major parties as not smart enough to even know if they are an enemy or not?

Statement from a Google spokesperson: "We are not working with the Chinese military. We are working with the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense, in many areas including cybersecurity, recruiting and healthcare.” https://t.co/4Wv9jVHv8R
— Vivian Salama (@vmsalama) March 17, 2019

You make a strong case. The

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 14:38:15 +0000

In reply to On Breaking up Google - this is not your Grandma's Monopoly

You make a strong case. The landscape is so fluid and the competition so fierce that consumers are doing just fine, thank you very much. When Toys-R-Us was going under, my wife and I had to rush to spend our leftover baby gift cards before the deadline. Among other things, we bought a Minny Mouse bicycle helmet at a steep going-out-of-business discount. And yet, it was still more expensive than the same product at Amazon. Anyway, it's hard to shed tears for the demise of a big box retail chain that put so many mom-and-pop toy stores out of business back in the day.

I do think we need to be wary of these giants becoming more abusive in the future, however. It won't take the form of "goons" beating up competitors--and frankly it never did even in the old days. The chief danger is that powerful companies will use their influence to manipulate government, just like the Robber Barons used to do, pushing policies and legislation that benefit them and hurt their competitors, not to mention consumers and workers. But as you say, we're not there yet, at least in the tech sector, and the fall of Microsoft shows how quickly things of change.

Anyway, great piece, very persuasive.

File under "with the best

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 13:55:34 +0000

In reply to On Breaking up Google - this is not your Grandma's Monopoly

File under "with the best intentions", why I worry that people will take this new tech/marketing/social media stuff on w/o understanding the details, players and structural problems.

“Since the GDPR’s implementation in May, the rank and market share of small- and medium-sized ad tech companies has declined by 18 to 32 percent in the EU, while these measures have increased for Google, Facebook, and Amazon” https://t.co/wYW35VXchF
— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) February 24, 2019

Your answer may be different.

artappraiser — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:33:08 +0000

In reply to On Breaking up Google - this is not your Grandma's Monopoly

Your answer may be different. Just struck me as somewhat applicable:

No. https://t.co/86y7vyb5vp
— Richard Florida (@Richard_Florida) March 13, 2019