> Would trust-busting do any good? The main reason no practical alternatives to Facebook exist is the network effect. ... The only practical solution is regulat

> Would trust-busting do any good? The main reason no practical alternatives to Facebook exist is the network effect. ... The only practical solution is regulating ethical behavior of these incomprehensibly powerful corporations. While I think regulation definitely needs to be on the table to control the perverse incentives that would affect all Baby Facebook's, I don't think the network effect makes Facebook resistant to trust-busting. If a breakup mandates the successors to: 1) share the core IP (e.g. the Facebook brand and facebook.com, etc), 2) create and participate in an open federated social network protocol to blunt future network effects, and 3) divide Facebook's current userbase in a way that does not follow the contours of the social graph ...then I think the network effects will be muted enough to prevent the current monopoly situation from reoccurring.