This is the last antitrust win we'll get for years, isn't it?
I know Trump doesn't like Big Tech, but I doubt his admin will punish them meaningfully, but just rail about censorship.
this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2024
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This isn't a win I think. They are yet to meet in the court with Google.
The DOJ will file a revised version of its proposals in early March, before the government and Google return to the DC District Court in April for a two-week remedies trial.
Microshit treatment incoming IMHO
People larp these headlines too much
Ehh just fight it for a month pay king trump some money and bam their golden.
This is exactly what will happen. Same thing with Albertsons and Kroger too.
Okay but consider them taking this moment to let Elon buy it and using it to control information on the clients end 💀
Maybe we'll actually see people switch to Firefox if that happens.
That would end the internet/world.
Hot take: they sell Chrome but keep Chromium.
Seeing how tech illiterate some of these people are, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what ends up happening
Just...please for the love of whatever dirty do Microsoft. Fucking sick of their shit recently with One Drive.
All mega corps but it won't happen
There's literally so much else they should do, google docs, sheets, drive, phones, maps, earth, calendar, play store, translate, etc.
Good work, continue please.
What is the issue with docs, sheets, drive, phones, calendar, play store?
There seems to be plenty of options in all of these spaces. Play store isn't even on a lot of android devices.
Correct. My example for another necessary intervention would be YouTube. That's a space in which Google does have a monopoly.
Exactly. There are workable alternatives to most of the others, but YouTube has a stranglehold on that type of content due to the network effect. Examples of alternatives:
- docs/sheets/drive - Microsoft Office 365, OnlyOffice, or self-host LibreOffice Online (through Collabora CODE builds); if you just need drive, there's also BackBlaze, AWS, DropBox, etc
- phones - I use GrapheneOS on their Pixel devices, but plenty of other Android phones support LineageOS/DivestOS/CalyxOS
- calendar - still looking for a replacement for my smart watch, but I've been using my Nextcloud install; there are also some FOSS calendars that support CalDav as well, so look around
- maps - I've been using Organic Maps, which has been great; main problem is searching for addresses, but if it's in there, the directions so far have worked fine; there's also Apple maps, Bing maps, and probably some others
- translate - it's built in to Firefox, and it seems to work well enough in a pinch
But there's really not much for YouTube. I guess there's Odyssee, Rumble, and a few others, but they don't have anywhere near the content as YouTube, so they're not really practical alternatives. I actually sub to Nebula which is the closest to a replacement so far, but there's still a ton of content that doesn't have a direct replacement there.
Most definitely. They need viable competition.
People wondering what Chrome has to do with a search monopoly:
The obvious benefit is that they can default the user's search provider to Google.
But the more nefarious benefit is that, by controlling both the client and server, they can unilaterally decide the future of web standards. They don't have to advocate for proposals, gain consensus, and limit themselves to well-supported standards the way other companies do. They can just do it, gain the first-mover advantage, and force others to follow suit.
If they don't like HTTP/2, they can invent their own protocol and implement it for their search servers and Chrome. Suddenly, using Chrome with Google Search is way faster than using Chrome with Bing or using Firefox with Google Search. Even if Microsoft and Mozilla don't like the protocol, they now have to adopt it or fall behind.
This has happened. QUIC was deployed in 2012. Firefox gained support in 2021.
They're doing the same thing with Privacy Sandbox, and you can also look at browser feature compatibility tables to see how eager Google is to force their own interpretation of every not-yet-finalized web standard as the canonical interpretation.
Alphabet’s Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker, says the DOJ is pushing “a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.”
I'm honestly curious how this would "harm Americans".
Alphabet’s Chief Legal Officer sounds like Donald Trump
I fear this is exactly who they're courting.
That statement is technically true.
The billionaire owners are Americans.
Everyone really does need to have that at the forefront of their mind. When the C-suit, wall street, and politicians talk about "Americans" they aren't talking about us schlubs.
The corporations are people too!
Google pretending they have any other nationality other then “the global internet” is cute in a disgusting way.
If they're allowed to choose who they sell it to this won't change anything
Sell it to Mozilla so they can make it uninstall itself and install Firefox instead in the next update
I think they should sell it to me.
4 $ Final Offer
Too much for me, I'm out 🏳️
Step 1: Buy Chome
Step 2: End development
Step 3: ???
Step 4: ~~Profit?~~ Non-Profit Firefox?
They should force it to become a worker cooperative. It's the only solution that doesn't allow for corruption
brOURser comrade.
Nationalize?
For a lot of things yes.
However I do not want to use a browser developed by the US gov tyvm
My comment is more in line with the corruption aspect. As much as I think they deserve it, giving it to the employees would be more akin to them winning the lottery. In the space of a year, they will have gone public, shareholders would have stormed in and we would be at square one.
Nationalisation at least has a chance of getting rid of the money corruption aspect. Sadly, the three letter agencies are probably deep in every browser already so I don't think any solution takes care of that.
I understand your point though. Personally, I will never use chrome no matter what happens, ha.
Yep, nationalize everything that's essential or at least offer a nationalized alternative and let the private sector try to compete.
I literally salivate at the thought of it happening to the telecom industries.
The Reuters article suggests prohibiting payments to Apple so that Chrome users on their hardware default to Google search. What about default settings to Firefox? Similar agreements finance a large portion of Mozilla's revenue.
Sounds like they are preparing for this by killing off ChromeOS
https://www.androidauthority.com/chrome-os-becoming-android-3500661/
Another thing to add to the google graveyard.
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