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Assuming you're right and it's not a recognized antitrust harm, what's your opinion of it? Do you think it's ethical or good for society simply because it hasn

by gress 12y ago

Assuming you're right and it's not a recognized antitrust harm, what's your opinion of it? Do you think it's ethical or good for society simply because it hasn't yet been ruled illegal?

DannyBee 12y ago
If you want to base this on "good for society" or "ethical", i don't suspect you'll actually get anywhere in terms of coming to a conclusion. There are reasonable arguments on both sides. My opinion on things related to competition/antitrust are based mainly on evolution of law and economic viewpoints. Basically, over the past hundred years, courts have moved away from (and economists have strongly supported) declaring these kinds of things as "per-se" illegal precisely because evidence has not shown that you can simply point at them and say "yeah, this hurts competition" or "yeah, this hurts consumers", despite what one may think. In some cases, this evolution of law/economy has pretty clearly turned out bad for consumers price-wise (with the return of folks requiring retailers to sell at certain minimum prices). In some cases it hasn't. This particular thing, hard to say.
- gress 12y ago
  I know there are reasonable arguments on both sides - I'm really wanting to understand your personal view. It sounds as though you might think that ideas about ethics or good societies are things you prefer not to hold a view on given the quotes. The second part of your comment only mentioned prices as a factor in terms of what is good or bad for 'consumers'. I realize that you leave room for other ideas of what is good or bad, but in lieu of mentioning anything else, it seems as though this is all you are willing to put forward as a criterion. I guess I understand a little more about your perspective, but not much.
  - DannyBee 12y ago
    I don't really have a personal view on the ethics or societal good, to be honest. I try not to hold uninformed views, and i haven't had the time or honestly, desire, to do the research into history necessary to have an informed one. Truthfully, this kind of stuff is only tangentially interesting to me: Companies without physical resource monopolies (ie oil, diamonds, whatever) tend to come and go despite all efforts to the contrary. I don't expect Google, Facebook, or anyone else will be any different.

by gress 12y ago

Assuming you're right and it's not a recognized antitrust harm, what's your opinion of it? Do you think it's ethical or good for society simply because it hasn't yet been ruled illegal?

DannyBee 12y ago

If you want to base this on "good for society" or "ethical", i don't suspect you'll actually get anywhere in terms of coming to a conclusion. There are reasonable arguments on both sides. My opinion on things related to competition/antitrust are based mainly on evolution of law and economic viewpoints. Basically, over the past hundred years, courts have moved away from (and economists have strongly supported) declaring these kinds of things as "per-se" illegal precisely because evidence has not shown that you can simply point at them and say "yeah, this hurts competition" or "yeah, this hurts consumers", despite what one may think. In some cases, this evolution of law/economy has pretty clearly turned out bad for consumers price-wise (with the return of folks requiring retailers to sell at certain minimum prices). In some cases it hasn't. This particular thing, hard to say.

gress 12y ago
I know there are reasonable arguments on both sides - I'm really wanting to understand your personal view. It sounds as though you might think that ideas about ethics or good societies are things you prefer not to hold a view on given the quotes. The second part of your comment only mentioned prices as a factor in terms of what is good or bad for 'consumers'. I realize that you leave room for other ideas of what is good or bad, but in lieu of mentioning anything else, it seems as though this is all you are willing to put forward as a criterion. I guess I understand a little more about your perspective, but not much.
- DannyBee 12y ago
  I don't really have a personal view on the ethics or societal good, to be honest. I try not to hold uninformed views, and i haven't had the time or honestly, desire, to do the research into history necessary to have an informed one. Truthfully, this kind of stuff is only tangentially interesting to me: Companies without physical resource monopolies (ie oil, diamonds, whatever) tend to come and go despite all efforts to the contrary. I don't expect Google, Facebook, or anyone else will be any different.