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United States Technology

States To Launch Antitrust Investigation Into Big Tech Companies (techcrunch.com) 47

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: The state attorneys in more than a dozen states are preparing to begin an antitrust investigation of the tech giants, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported Monday, putting the spotlight on an industry that is already facing federal scrutiny. The bipartisan group of attorneys from as many as 20 states is expected to formally launch a probe as soon as next month to assess whether tech companies are using their dominant market position to hurt competition, WSJ reported.
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States To Launch Antitrust Investigation Into Big Tech Companies More

States To Launch Antitrust Investigation Into Big Tech Companies

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  • ....news at 11.

  • Just like the FCC was when it was created.

    There was a monopoly, government investigated the monopoly and did not like it... because they had no control over it.
    They decided to create a regulatory agency... not to keep the monopoly from having power or to actually break it up... but to "regulate them as a monopoly". Those are the exact words for the charter of the FCC.
    Now the FCC grants and takes bribes for the very businesses they are intended to regulate to keep what is happening right now from happening.

    • And remember... Amazon's campaign contributions have nothing at all to do with how that probe will turn out for them... [cnbc.com]

      (just don't look too closely.)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      Monopoly government? Huh? There's another kind?

      The FCC takes bribes? Evidence or it doesn't happen.

      The FCC and Government enriched over the monopolies they now bless? You mean the ones that pay nearly no taxes? I fail to see how this is enriching government. If you mean politicians getting campaign contributions, possibly. But that is not the government, that is corrupt politicians. And the FCC was much fairer in years past unlike the current crew.

      " Government is only investigating to find out how Governmen

      • Agenda? You mean you've pointed out an agenda in that screed? I don't see it.

        The agenda is to put on a show for the public while the upper class pillages the citizens as usual. AKA the "government" are the corporations and the richest families in the country who fund it. Their agenda is to make you think the government works on your behalf. All the while using the dog and pony show for the confused indoctrinated masses to re-enforce and legitemize their own power.

  • Pure and Angelic (Score:3)

    by Zorro ( 15797 ) on Tuesday August 20, 2019 @10:40AM (#59105506)

    Facebook always has had the public's best intrests at heart.

    Google even has a corporate code of conduct "Don't Be Evil"

    I am sure they are all they say they are and in no way wish to put newspapers and radio out of business /s

    • I am sure they are all they say they are and in no way wish to put newspapers and radio out of business

      And what, exactly, makes newspapers and radio immune from competition?

      If I get my news from Google News, how is that fundamentally different than getting it from the New York Times? Other than that Google can get closer to realtime, what with not needing to wait for the morning edition of the newspaper to find out that something has happened?

      Alas, there's nothing in the Constitution or the legal code th

    • Google even has a corporate code of conduct "Don't Be Evil"

      No they don't and they never did. The world has this meme about Google since they published it once in their IPO filings. It was never their corporate moto and certainly isn't now.

  • ...pretty please with sugar on top. If there are ANY large technology firms that need hit at the State and/or Federal level with all the weight the respective Justice Departments have, it has to be the Monopolistic cable companies. They have preyed upon and bled the people for FAR too long. Spurious charges and fees. Almost regular sneaky rate increases in violation contracts in hope the customer does not notice.

    • That problem was resolved in 1934 when the FCC was established, by your kind of folks asking for exactly what you are asking for right now, what you don't like the results? If so, then why are you wanting to repeat history?

  • And it all started when Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer with Windows.

    • No, it started way before that.
      http://www.historyofinformatio... [historyofinformation.com]

      And I'm sure you can find other examples that started way before U.S. vs IBM.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by That YouTube Guy ( 5905468 )
      Microsoft showed the way on how to get out of antitrust by increasing lobbying budget from $0 to $100M+ per year in Washington, D.C. The tech companies are obviously not showing any love on to the states and they want their cut as well.

  • As intended (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Impy the Impiuos Imp ( 442658 ) on Tuesday August 20, 2019 @10:45AM (#59105528) Journal

    "We're setting up control of another set of corporations. Is it working to accomplish our goals?"

    "Yes! Corporate donations, junkets, and 'donations' are pouring in!"

  • So where's the list of states involved?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by lavaboy ( 21282 )
      yeah, this. Clearly none of the "tech giants" is pure as the driven snow, but ramping this kind of colonoscopy for an traditionally left of center industry right at the start of a key election cycle sounds less like legitimate concern for consumers and much more like partisan politics of pressuring the "tech giants" to throw their weight behind the "right" parties...
  • I think each company should be broken into a separate company that operates under a nations laws and serves that nations citizens. Tech companies have become bigger in nations and that is the root of the whole problem. Apple shouldn't be able to shop for a nation like Ireland willing to give them a 0.098% tax rate and play that against everyone else.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by lavaboy ( 21282 )
      hate to be that guy, but when your whole case rests on "following the rules", you might want to take a second look at your grammar...

      • hate to be that guy, but when your whole case rests on "following the rules", you might want to take a second look at your grammar...

        Then don't be that guy. When you can't attack his argument you instead resort to attacking his imperfect grammar. His point is valid, his message was close enough that you know what he meant. It's almost like you're conceding that he's right yet still wanting to get in the last word.

    • companies aren't there to serve a nation's citizens. they are there to server their customers.

      don't get me wrong, i hate these companies. but it's the governments that you should be annoyed with. they are the issue. the companies can "shop for a nation" because that's what the laws the governments made say they can do. and for companies to become international, multiple governments need to be in on it.

      They get his big because the governments allow them to buy competition. and they avoid taxed because

      • There will always be a country that undercuts the others, and that is good for no one. You can't expect all countries to make laws not in their own best interest.

  • Return control of mass media to State Corp. Restrict user input into the broadcast medium as much as possible. Heh, after reading Twitter for a half hour, I damn near agree. I kid of course. The freedom to speak is essential, but the internet has confirmed that people are nuts. We just gotta deal with it.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      The US freedom of speech and after speech found a nice way around all that.
      Freedom of the press too.

  • In other words (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

    Uncle Sam's pockets are feeling a little empty lately. It would be a shame if something happened to your nice tech company.

  • Why stop there? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Ogive17 ( 691899 ) on Tuesday August 20, 2019 @11:52AM (#59105846)
    Telecoms (including internet providers), health care, insurance.. they all need to be added to the list.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Telecoms just slow some networks.
      They don't listen in to curate sinful words, art, politics, history, movie reviews... DRM, crypto.
      Would a POTS service listen to each call and drop the call/account due to the use of the wrong word during a conversation?
      Does health care stop due the wrong politics getting detected?
      Should all insurance stop when a persons political comments are detected?
      Upload a very funny political meme and no insurance ever again?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
        Keep it on topic, Alexi. This is about anti-trust, meaning anti-competitive behaviors.

        Every industry I listed has merged into a handful of poor choices and they've all been government approved. It's amazing that, as consumers, our choice in providers has dropped while our prices have continued to rise.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by AHuxley ( 892839 )
          What "behaviors" would that be?
          Working together on a CoC?
          Acting together to enforce a CoC?
          The poor choices other sectors listed might have dont take away from what social media would like to curate/finds sinful.
          Social media big tech gets a free pass on past CoC actions?
          But "telecoms" as in POTS? ISP?, health care, insurance should feel the power of big gov regulation, extra new political relegation?
          Look at health care, insurance and telecoms? Then open up big tech and socila media to gov scrutiny?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
            Reading your posts, I wonder if you're a real person or simply some script designed to respond with barely decipherable sentence fragments.

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by AHuxley ( 892839 )
              I am sure the AI social media company can work that out.
              Then remove the comments due to terms in the "decipherable sentence fragments" CoC?

              Is Moscow or Vladivostok timezone bot that's having problems?
              All comments must be decipherable, sentences and not quote fragments?
              Note was left for next 12h shift of account use to make better use of quotes and be more average Joe like.
              We promise better use of account with more quotes, longer sentences and more on topic Americana.
    • Telecoms are Republican backers. In 2017 Republicans [senate.gov] killed a rule [congress.gov] which limited ISPs from spying on us, with the excuse that it wasn't fair that Google/Apple/Facebook/Amazon didn't have the same limitations. Rather than applying those same limitations (or similar limitations) to Google/Apple/Facebook/Amazon, they just removed all of the spying protections.

      Since then they have further aided ISPs by killing net neutrality, allowing for larger monopolies and mergers, and lowering the bar on what is conside
  • It just sounds like something in the public domain. Much like Kleenex, Band-Aid, for old people Nintendo.

  • The bipartisan group of attorneys from as many as 20 states is expected to formally launch a probe as soon as next month to assess whether tech companies are using their dominant market position to hurt competition, WSJ reported.

    Bezos wakes up in the morning fondling his dominant market position, he contemplates pretty much nothing else all day long (except for a short respite during rocket-ship recess), and then he dreams about it even more during the night. None of the other titans are all that far behind

  • Let's investigate the tech companies. Oh, that bailout was actually for shady real estate companies? What industry is the US president most associated with? Nevermind. forget about that bailout thing. Let's investigate the tech companies because...

  • I've been talking about this for a while now - https://youtu.be/RFA92mXjXLI [youtu.be] and it looks like the state guy isn''t going to help much, but the fact is that they're muscling around like the monopolies they are, which isn't good for consumers, innovation, tax income or much of anything except lining their own pockets.

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