1) Secrecy. Both individuals and companies are allowed to openly band together for the purposes of bargaining power. It happens all the time with standards bodi

1) Secrecy. Both individuals and companies are allowed to openly band together for the purposes of bargaining power. It happens all the time with standards bodies, lobbying organizations, industry consortia, patent-sharing arrangements, etc. Doing so in secret is usually seen as market manipulation. One of the requirements for a market to be 'free' is equal access to information, which secret agreements prohibit. 2) Power imbalance. Others have addressed this already, so I'll let it lie. 3) This agreement in particular was an attempt to create and abuse a monopsony position, which is in itself illegal. Many markets are regulated in order to ensure competition, by e.g. blocking mergers. Secret negotiations are often an attempt to bypass pro-competition regulations, by having two entities act in concert while pretending to be independent. In short, ends matter. Collusion to commit a crime is viewed differently than collusion to ask for a raise or collusion to not by a product.