5 ms·

Seems misguided. The real problem with the internet is that large corporations are allowed to have a presence on it. Google for example, should be completely ba

Seems misguided. The real problem with the internet is that large corporations are allowed to have a presence on it. Google for example, should be completely banned from the internet.

boxed 3y ago
Maybe we should also ban all people. Clearly they are ruining it! /s
- vouaobrasil 3y ago
  Well, in all seriousness, I do believe the internet would be far better without Google or large corporations.
  - repelsteeltje 3y ago
    Or a more modest attempt: how about keeping the assets but breaking up the large corporations? With Android on iPhone, Chrome blocking Google's tracking, Amazon.com hosted on Azure, MS 365 and Google docs competing on merits rather than sheltering under respective coorporate umbrellas.... We'd still have much of the same crap, but the ecosystem would be much more dynamic and interesting.
    - boxed 3y ago
      Breaking up how? Splitting MS into Office and Windows creates two (functional) monopolies. Split it into Windows, Excel, Word, Powerpoint creates 4 monopolies. Imo the only split that makes sense is to split it down the middle: TWO companies which BOTH have the rights to Excel. Half the engineers in each.
      - vouaobrasil 3y ago
        That is an interesting approach: Excel "Community Edition" and Excel "Old Microsoft Edition", and have them compete. Also, perhaps: after 20 years, software must be open-sourced.
        repelsteeltje 3y ago
        > Also, perhaps: after 20 years, software must be open-sourced. Wow! Wouldn't that be great?! Like as in an international constitutional kind of ground rule saying any software must ultimately become source-available after X years and becomes public domain after Y years. (Still plenty of wiggle room for monopolistic closed source, but at least it wouldn't be that way forever.)
        boxed 3y ago
        I was saying two competing closed source companies. Markets work best when they emulate nature: speciation, selection, competition. Successful companies should be split with all IP shared by the two daughter corporations.
  - boxed 3y ago
    I'm old enough to remember when Google was good. I don't think this is a scenario you have thought through. Now, the problem with social networks is that they all are going for maximum market share. Which is the same as going for toxic and divisive communities. The collapse of Usenet in the Eternal September was just the opening salvo. It has happened to Facebook, it happened to Twitter, it has already happened to Threads (that place is worse than twitter now by far!), and it happened to many other less known things in between. Any IRC channel above a certain size becomes toxic or useless or both, any Discord. Any group of people in the same room all screaming. The solution isn't to ban big corporations. The solution is to build smaller "cells" with limited "immigration".
    - vouaobrasil 3y ago
      Well, if large corporations are banned, then large social networks could not exist easily since no one would have the resources to run them. So, I still stand by destroying large tech corporations.
      - boxed 3y ago
        Yea, but Google really ushered in an era of making the internet MUCH more useful for decades. Then they destroyed it all, but for a while it was great.
        vouaobrasil 3y ago
        I don't agree.
shikon7 3y ago
If you ban Google from the internet, many people would still use Google, but stop using the internet
- manuelmoreale 3y ago
  How’d you see that working? How can you use Google without the internet?
  - joshspankit 3y ago
    Not the op, but there are several that jump to mind: - A Google-branded network separate from the internet - Browsing the cache - Since this hypothetical reality includes them being restricted from the internet, maybe they don’t need to link at all and they just give the information instead of the link to the page it’s on
aethertron 3y ago
How large should Google have been allowed to get, before kicking it off the net?
- vouaobrasil 3y ago
  A good question. Perhaps a rule like this: the top 10 tech companies should be put to a worldwide referendum on whether they should be allowed to exist. If "no" is the majority, they should be dismantled into smaller companies or turned into public utilities.

Seems misguided. The real problem with the internet is that large corporations are allowed to have a presence on it. Google for example, should be completely banned from the internet.

boxed 3y ago

Maybe we should also ban all people. Clearly they are ruining it! /s

vouaobrasil 3y ago
Well, in all seriousness, I do believe the internet would be far better without Google or large corporations.
- repelsteeltje 3y ago
  Or a more modest attempt: how about keeping the assets but breaking up the large corporations? With Android on iPhone, Chrome blocking Google's tracking, Amazon.com hosted on Azure, MS 365 and Google docs competing on merits rather than sheltering under respective coorporate umbrellas.... We'd still have much of the same crap, but the ecosystem would be much more dynamic and interesting.
  - boxed 3y ago
    Breaking up how? Splitting MS into Office and Windows creates two (functional) monopolies. Split it into Windows, Excel, Word, Powerpoint creates 4 monopolies. Imo the only split that makes sense is to split it down the middle: TWO companies which BOTH have the rights to Excel. Half the engineers in each.
    - vouaobrasil 3y ago
      That is an interesting approach: Excel "Community Edition" and Excel "Old Microsoft Edition", and have them compete. Also, perhaps: after 20 years, software must be open-sourced.
      - repelsteeltje 3y ago
        > Also, perhaps: after 20 years, software must be open-sourced. Wow! Wouldn't that be great?! Like as in an international constitutional kind of ground rule saying any software must ultimately become source-available after X years and becomes public domain after Y years. (Still plenty of wiggle room for monopolistic closed source, but at least it wouldn't be that way forever.)
      - boxed 3y ago
        I was saying two competing closed source companies. Markets work best when they emulate nature: speciation, selection, competition. Successful companies should be split with all IP shared by the two daughter corporations.
- boxed 3y ago
  I'm old enough to remember when Google was good. I don't think this is a scenario you have thought through. Now, the problem with social networks is that they all are going for maximum market share. Which is the same as going for toxic and divisive communities. The collapse of Usenet in the Eternal September was just the opening salvo. It has happened to Facebook, it happened to Twitter, it has already happened to Threads (that place is worse than twitter now by far!), and it happened to many other less known things in between. Any IRC channel above a certain size becomes toxic or useless or both, any Discord. Any group of people in the same room all screaming. The solution isn't to ban big corporations. The solution is to build smaller "cells" with limited "immigration".
  - vouaobrasil 3y ago
    Well, if large corporations are banned, then large social networks could not exist easily since no one would have the resources to run them. So, I still stand by destroying large tech corporations.
    - boxed 3y ago
      Yea, but Google really ushered in an era of making the internet MUCH more useful for decades. Then they destroyed it all, but for a while it was great.
      - vouaobrasil 3y ago
        I don't agree.

shikon7 3y ago

If you ban Google from the internet, many people would still use Google, but stop using the internet

manuelmoreale 3y ago
How’d you see that working? How can you use Google without the internet?
- joshspankit 3y ago
  Not the op, but there are several that jump to mind: - A Google-branded network separate from the internet - Browsing the cache - Since this hypothetical reality includes them being restricted from the internet, maybe they don’t need to link at all and they just give the information instead of the link to the page it’s on

aethertron 3y ago

How large should Google have been allowed to get, before kicking it off the net?

vouaobrasil 3y ago
A good question. Perhaps a rule like this: the top 10 tech companies should be put to a worldwide referendum on whether they should be allowed to exist. If "no" is the majority, they should be dismantled into smaller companies or turned into public utilities.