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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCompanies burned by Big Tech plead for Congress to regulate Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google
BOULDER, Colo. Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google took a public lashing at a congressional hearing here Friday, where some of their smaller rivals, including Sonos and Tile, pleaded with federal lawmakers to take swift action against Big Tech.
Democrats and Republicans at times appeared stunned as they heard tales of technology giants wielding their massive footprints as weapons, allegedly copying smaller competitors features or tweaking their algorithms in ways that put new companies at a costly disadvantage. The testimony came as part of a wide-ranging antitrust probe into Silicon Valleys biggest players that House lawmakers aim to wrap up with recommendations for regulation in the coming months.
Its like soccer, said Kirsten Daru, the general counsel of Tile, which has accused Apple of acting anti-competitively. You might be the best team in the league, but youre playing against a team that owns the field, the ball, the stadium and the entire league, and they can change the rules of the game at any time.
The pleas for regulatory relief resonated with lawmakers, led by Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.), the chairman of the Houses top antitrust committee. It has become clear these firms have tremendous power as gatekeepers to shape and control commerce online, Cicilline said to open the session.
Washington Post
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/01/17/companies-burned-by-big-tech-plead-congress-regulate-apple-amazon-facebook-google/%3foutputType=amp
3Hotdogs
(12,409 posts)ATT, Verizon, Exxon-Mobile, Amazon? You'd never know there was such a committee.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,654 posts)The opposing team also pays the referees.
theaocp
(4,244 posts)Look at ANY problem in government and show how getting donor money out doesn't improve the situation. Climate change could be a joke instead of a dire prophecy quickly coming to fruition.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,654 posts)Farmer-Rick
(10,212 posts)Why do they care now?
Let's start with Wal Mart and Amazon and ComCast and oil and gas corporations.
These monopolies are why economies throughout the world have never recovered from the 2008 crash.
Out of control Capitalism has created monstrous Lords and Kings.
AllaN01Bear
(18,422 posts)paleotn
(17,965 posts)and just as nefarious. Microsoft should have been broken up in the early 2000's. No one should control that much of the OS market. Search and social networks are an indispensable function of the internet. Both should be regulated as utilities, who's purpose is to serve the public good first, the shareholders next, and the tech bastards dead last. And innovation, REAL innovation, is turned over to the small shops now out from under big tech's thumb. Innovation, not subservient to big tech maintaining its stranglehold, is true innovation. Not calling bugs features because otherwise it threatens their power.
scarytomcat
(1,706 posts)everybody can wins. I think we should limit wealth give others a chance, spread the wealth. Create jobs.
hunter
(38,328 posts)I would be upset, however, if I had to use Comcast as an internet provider.
Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, etc., are irrelevant in my personal universe. I don't have an android or apple phone. We don't have cable, satellite, or broadcast television in our home.
I'm guilty of using Amazon and Google
I think the most horrific technology ever invented is automobiles. Automobiles have a huge environmental footprint and they kill thousands of people every year.
Likewise guns.
Unfortunately guns and automobiles are sacred in the U.S.A..