Today's links
- Demonopolizing the internet with interoperability: My op-ed in the Communications of the ACM
- This day in history: 2001, 2016, 2020
- Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Tag: trustbusting
Pluralistic: 23 Sep 2021
Today's links
- The Halloween Moon: A YA novel from Nightvale creator Joseph Fink.
- The music monopolists: Thinking outside the antitrust box.
- This day in history: 2011, 2016
- Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Pluralistic: 31 Aug 2021
Today's links
- Inequality, not gerontocracy: Who killed interest rates?
- Monopoly power and political corruption: Starve the (corporate) beast, shrink it until it fits in a bathtub.
- This day in history: 2006, 2020
- Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Pluralistic: 30 Aug 2021
Today's links
- India's 'toxic' ed-tech giant: How Byju's hard-sells desperate parents into taking out predatory loans for their kids' education.
- Podcasting "Utilities and Empires" and "FB's War on Switching Costs": A twofer from EFF's Deeplinks blog, on this week's podcast.
- This day in history: 2001, 2011, 2016, 2020
- Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Pluralistic: 28 Aug 2021
Today's links
- The "work ethic" is a dirty trick we play on ourselves: Rationalizing away the pointlessness and indignity of low-waged work.
- Facebook's war on switching costs: Network effects attract users, switching costs take them hostage.
- This day in history: 2001, 2006, 2020.
- Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Pluralistic: 13 Aug 2021
Today's links
- Smart cities are neither, 2021 edition: "Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition)."
- End of the line for Reaganomics: The OG antitrust is back, baby!
- This day in history: 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2020
- Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
Pluralistic: 12 Jul 2021
Today's links
- Podcasting "Tech Monopolies and the Insufficient Necessity of Interoperability": Corporate rivalries vs public power.
- The Sacklers will get to keep billions: What's a little mass-murder between friends?
- This day in history: 2006, 2011, 2016, 2020
- Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading
The EU, Tech Trustbusting, and Trade Wars
Thereâs a difference between protectionism and political will
Competition regulators in the EU, the UK and the US are all looking hard at concentration in the tech sector, and well they should: an industry that was once hailed for its dynamismâââfor being a sector where yesterdayâs world-spanning titans are sold for parts to companies that were mere napkin doodles a year or two beforeâââhas calcified into âa group of five websites, each consisting of screenshots of text from the other four.â
The reasons for tech concentration are pretty straightforward. Despite a lot of fatalistic tech exceptionalism about ânetwork effectsâ leading to inevitable monopolization, the actual means by which tech companies consolidated is actually easy to see in the historical record.
Continue reading "The EU, Tech Trustbusting, and Trade Wars"
A Monopoly Isnât the Same as Legitimate Greatness
Competent monopolists arenât good monopolists
If you do much reading about antitrust, youâre sure to come across Ida Tarbell, the campaigning investigative journalist whose masterful 1904 book, The History of the Standard Oil Company (free ebook, free audiobook), brought down John D. Rockefeller and his monopolistic Standard Oil Company, which was broken up in 1911. It split into seven companies, many of which are still with usâor were, until recent mergers (think: Exxon, Mobil, Esso, Chevron, Texaco, and Amoco).
Continue reading "A Monopoly Isnât the Same as Legitimate Greatness"
Pluralistic: 12 Jun 2021
Today's links
- The ACCESS Act: The most significant interop legislation in US history.
- This day in history: 2006, 2011, 2016, 2020
- Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading