Text-only version<p><a href="https://text.npr.org/2021/06/15/1006807299/lina-khan-prominent-big-tech-critic-will-lead-the-ftc" rel="nofollow">https://text.npr.org/2021/06/15/1006807299/lina-khan-promine...</a><p>(Was having problems retrieving the full blown version.)
A review article from Lina Khan that explains the new New Brandeis Movement, a move back to Brandeis type antitrust from Borkian antitrust that started in Reagan era.<p>The New Brandeis Movement: America’s Antimonopoly Debate by Lina Khan <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jeclap/article/9/3/131/4915966" rel="nofollow">https://academic.oup.com/jeclap/article/9/3/131/4915966</a><p>"We learned long ago that liberty could be preserved only by limiting in some way the freedom of action of individuals; that otherwise liberty would necessarily yield to absolutism; and in the same way we have learned that unless there be regulation of competition, its excesses will lead to the destruction of competition, and monopoly will take its place." – Louis Brandeis
Lets not forget who the Gov is. These same companies they talk of going after are the same companies that run the Gov/Country. 4 years from now nothing will have changed. Theater for the masses...
well congrats to all the progressives who work for big tech and voted Biden, here is karma completing the woke circle.<p>"As a man himself sows, so he himself reaps" — Mahabharata
This is fantastic news! Tech monopolies need much more scrutiny, and honestly, they need to have parts of the business model excised.<p>Apple's control of mobile computing and commerce, Google's takeover of the web, Amazon reaching into every business: Apple should be mandated to allow web downloads of apps, Google can't ethically be in charge of Chrome as a product, and Amazon can't operate so many business units to siphon off and destroy smaller businesses.<p>It's really nice to see Lina Khan was supported as a bipartisan appointment. It's good that she's young too -- she understands the technology, unlike a lot of our policymakers that struggle to comprehend the systems at play.<p>The government moves slowly, but they're clearly starting to dip their toes in. Change is coming.<p>If you're a capitalist, you want lean, fierce competition. What we have now is not that.<p>If you're a small business, startup, or free software proponent, this is a score for the home team. Let's keep it up! Keep calling and writing your legislators.
Based on the complete lack of movement from AMZN and related stocks, I have to guess no one is particularly shaking in their boots (or, it was known that this was going to happen).
I believe technology has a key part to play in a more fair, yet still highly efficient, marketplace.<p>The government should think about supporting or even mandating technical frameworks or protocols for information exchange and commerce. For example, much (although by no means all) of what Amazon does with it's product sales that provides a lot of the value is provide an information service that collects and queries a wide range of product data.<p>Cryptocurrencies are the starting point for this. Along with other types of decentralized systems which provide, despite the name, the best ways we have to operate large scale systems holistically (as well as democratically).<p>But to take a step back, rather than mandating protocols that could easily become dated and detrimental, prescribe or at least very strongly encourage systems for sharing, subscribing to and consuming those protocols. Maybe things like package registries, or perhaps package registries for smart contract programming libraries.<p>But overall, I do not think that we can have effective government that is not integrated into society in a high tech way. And despite the track record of governments being horrible, I doubt we can function without them.