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This also plays to the traditional way of looking at monopolies, that they raise prices. But Amazon (and looks like, now Apple) are using this "but customers pa
by atonse 7y ago
This also plays to the traditional way of looking at monopolies, that they raise prices. But Amazon (and looks like, now Apple) are using this "but customers pay nothing" excuse to say that their monopolies benefit consumers. But because of the intangible nature of data, the "data prices" and "privacy prices" we all pay, have gone way up. It's just that we don't have good ways of measuring that.
- SpicyLemonZest 7y agoSure, but it’s unclear whether that’s a problem that traditional antitrust regulations can effectively solve. If Apple’s forced to open up iOS, would your privacy focused App Store really be able to win on the open market? Remember that you can only protect privacy in that context by rejecting apps consumers would otherwise want to install.
- anoncake 7y agoI much prefer the EU stance on that. It assumes that monopolies harm the customers, no excuses.
- hokumguru 7y agoNearly every municipality in the USA has local monopolies on utilities and it hardly causes an issue. Monopolies can't always assumed to be bad for the consumer.
- anoncake 7y agoAren't these monopolies either owned by the municipality or strictly regulated so they can't abuse their monopoly? Monopolies are problematic because it means the usual market mechanisms don't work. If you use regulation to keep prices in check and to ensure quality, monopolies do work for the customer of course. The EU generally prefers to use regulation to artificially create markets though.