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This comment makes it sound like AWS controls web hosting for the entire planet. There are literally thousands of web hosting options; Parler can go find a dif

This comment makes it sound like AWS controls web hosting for the entire planet. There are literally thousands of web hosting options; Parler can go find a different one.

read_if_gay_ 6y ago
Then you can't get the news out because Google blocks you from search, nobody can tweet about your site, you can't find it on the app stores, Facebook won't let you put ads, and/or Cloudflare won't give you DDoS protection, so I guess you just make your own parallel universe?
- heimidal 6y ago
  None of the examples you've cited are the only option. Can't use Google, Facebook, or Twitter? Advertise on TV, buy billboards, or hand out flyers on the corner. Can't use CloudFlare? Buy another solution or spend millions to build one yourself -- CloudFlare is, by no means, the sole provider of such services. The minute you force a company to do business with people they don't want to do business with is the minute you've nationalized the business. So that's the solution -- if the US government so strongly believes that these resources are vital to society in the way that, say, the electric grid is, they need to turn them into regulated utilities. Until then, they are profit-seeking companies who believe they are protecting their shareholders by choosing to refuse service to a customer.
  - read_if_gay_ 6y ago
    None of these examples is the only option in the same way your local power company isn't the only option for getting power, because you can also buy a generator. We still consider power companies a monopoly. It doesn't matter much that some alternatives exist if they are so inferior.
    - erikpukinskis 6y ago
      Power companies are considered a monopoly because they have a special right of way to run their lines. I can't just put my own power lines up on the high tension lines that run over state owned land, or the telephone poles that run down city owned streets. And from a practical standpoint, depending on how _much_ power you need there may be no other way to get power to your property besides the grid. None of that applies to Amazon. For every service they offer, there's an alternative available.

This comment makes it sound like AWS controls web hosting for the entire planet. There are literally thousands of web hosting options; Parler can go find a different one.

read_if_gay_ 6y ago

Then you can't get the news out because Google blocks you from search, nobody can tweet about your site, you can't find it on the app stores, Facebook won't let you put ads, and/or Cloudflare won't give you DDoS protection, so I guess you just make your own parallel universe?

heimidal 6y ago
None of the examples you've cited are the only option. Can't use Google, Facebook, or Twitter? Advertise on TV, buy billboards, or hand out flyers on the corner. Can't use CloudFlare? Buy another solution or spend millions to build one yourself -- CloudFlare is, by no means, the sole provider of such services. The minute you force a company to do business with people they don't want to do business with is the minute you've nationalized the business. So that's the solution -- if the US government so strongly believes that these resources are vital to society in the way that, say, the electric grid is, they need to turn them into regulated utilities. Until then, they are profit-seeking companies who believe they are protecting their shareholders by choosing to refuse service to a customer.
- read_if_gay_ 6y ago
  None of these examples is the only option in the same way your local power company isn't the only option for getting power, because you can also buy a generator. We still consider power companies a monopoly. It doesn't matter much that some alternatives exist if they are so inferior.
  - erikpukinskis 6y ago
    Power companies are considered a monopoly because they have a special right of way to run their lines. I can't just put my own power lines up on the high tension lines that run over state owned land, or the telephone poles that run down city owned streets. And from a practical standpoint, depending on how _much_ power you need there may be no other way to get power to your property besides the grid. None of that applies to Amazon. For every service they offer, there's an alternative available.