4 ms·

> It's interesting - the comments section appears to be a litany of excuses for big tech just to see what sticks. Not sure what comments section you're reading

> It's interesting - the comments section appears to be a litany of excuses for big tech just to see what sticks. Not sure what comments section you're reading. In the one I see, most of the top comments are celebrating the possibility of these companies getting broken up. There's only the niggling problem that the law probably doesn't provide a provable cause of action supporting said breaking up.

whimsicalism 6y ago
> There's only the niggling problem that the law probably doesn't provide a provable cause of action supporting said breaking up. Well, I think we should change our anti-trust law to deal with platforms. I think it is pretty confident of you to say that a priori there is no legal reason you could break up these companies. The top comment when I commented was this one https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24698720 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24698720. You're right that the tenor of the top comments now has already shifted.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
  > I think it is pretty confident of you to say that a priori there is no legal reason you could break up these companies. I'm actually making this statement a posteriori, specifically a posteriori of reading up on what the antitrust laws in this country currently allow and don't allow. That being said, I could easily be wrong, which is why I said "probably." :) As to changing the laws, this is all well and good, but it's hard to see that happening under a divided government, given Democrats and Republicans have different ideas of the effects they'd like to see out of such a break-up. If they can't do something extremely popular like legalizing marijuana or providing universal healthcare, I am not sure how effective they're going to be at less popular actions like breaking up Google or Facebook. We'll see I guess.
  - whimsicalism 6y ago
    > As to changing the laws, this is all well and good, but it's hard to see that happening under a divided government, I think the laws ought to change. I agree that it is likely that a combination of a divided government, plus political capture of Democrats by the tech industry, means that it unlikely we will see a shift towards economic justice any time soon.

whimsicalism 6y ago

> There's only the niggling problem that the law probably doesn't provide a provable cause of action supporting said breaking up. Well, I think we should change our anti-trust law to deal with platforms. I think it is pretty confident of you to say that a priori there is no legal reason you could break up these companies. The top comment when I commented was this one https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24698720 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24698720. You're right that the tenor of the top comments now has already shifted.

asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
> I think it is pretty confident of you to say that a priori there is no legal reason you could break up these companies. I'm actually making this statement a posteriori, specifically a posteriori of reading up on what the antitrust laws in this country currently allow and don't allow. That being said, I could easily be wrong, which is why I said "probably." :) As to changing the laws, this is all well and good, but it's hard to see that happening under a divided government, given Democrats and Republicans have different ideas of the effects they'd like to see out of such a break-up. If they can't do something extremely popular like legalizing marijuana or providing universal healthcare, I am not sure how effective they're going to be at less popular actions like breaking up Google or Facebook. We'll see I guess.
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  > As to changing the laws, this is all well and good, but it's hard to see that happening under a divided government, I think the laws ought to change. I agree that it is likely that a combination of a divided government, plus political capture of Democrats by the tech industry, means that it unlikely we will see a shift towards economic justice any time soon.