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We ultimately decided landlines needed to be subjected to pretty stringent regulatory requirements in return for their monopoly (before ultimately breaking them

by ethbro 10y ago

We ultimately decided landlines needed to be subjected to pretty stringent regulatory requirements in return for their monopoly (before ultimately breaking them up). Hopefully the same will happen to Facebook if they retain market share in 20 years.

WalterBright 10y ago
The government created the AT&T monopoly.
- ethbro 10y ago
  I defer to you, but my take would be that the government simply declined to fight it on anti-trust grounds between ~1910-1970. On the other hand, I don't think you can ignore Bell Labs or the fact they they did build some amazing infrastructure. Would the world have been better off on the whole with more competition in AT&T's heyday?
  - jacobolus 10y ago
    Go read Tim Wu’s book The Master Switch. The details of these media/communications monopoly histories are fascinating. It’s hard to answer your counterfactual definitively, but probably, yes.
    - drvdevd 10y ago
      Thanks for this. Looks interesting.
      - drvdevd 10y ago
        Including this great quote from the front: "At stake is not the First Amendment or the right of free speech, but exclusive custody of the master switch." — FRED FRIENDLY