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Google
Aug 6, 2024 7:14:14 GMT -5
Post by ferris1248 on Aug 6, 2024 7:14:14 GMT -5
A decision with far reaching consequences. The appeal results will be interesting. "WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge on Monday ruled that Google’s ubiquitous search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation, a seismic decision that could shake up the internet and hobble one of the world’s best-known companies." "The highly anticipated decision issued by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta comes nearly a year after the start of a trial pitting the U.S. Justice Department against Google in the country’s biggest antitrust showdown in a quarter century." "After reviewing reams of evidence that included testimony from top executives at Google, Microsoft and Apple during last year’s 10-week trial, Mehta issued his potentially market-shifting decision three months after the two sides presented their closing arguments in early May." “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote in his 277-page ruling. He said Google’s dominance in the search market is evidence of its monopoly." "Google “enjoys an 89.2% share of the market for general search services, which increases to 94.9% on mobile devices,” the ruling said." "Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said the company intends to appeal Mehta’s findings." “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” Walker said." apnews.com/article/google-antitrust-search-engine-verdict-apple-319a61f20fb11510097845a30abaefd8
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Google
Aug 6, 2024 7:21:19 GMT -5
Post by cadman on Aug 6, 2024 7:21:19 GMT -5
I understand the decision, but what is the punishment? How do you stop people from choosing Google? You can't break up a search engine into multiple companies like they did ATT.
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Google
Aug 6, 2024 7:58:22 GMT -5
Post by bswiv on Aug 6, 2024 7:58:22 GMT -5
One possible solution is to alter patent law such that the time available to keep the rest of the world from competing is reduced. Would take a act of Congress but could be done.
Of course there is the prohibition of ex post facto to surmount.
In any event.......rather than force why not simply subject them to competition?
And no......there is no reason that in a industry which moves as fast as technology that a patent needs to be 17 years to accomplish what patents are supposed to do. In fact......the argument can be made that the current patent situation encourages concentration.
But.....that's just a pipe dream.......the best we can hope for is some creative ( AND LEGAL ) means of allowing them to have competitors.
Actually.....of more import than the ads thing is the gatekeeping on information.....if one wants to be concerned by anything be concerned by that.
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Google
Aug 6, 2024 8:04:11 GMT -5
Post by billybob on Aug 6, 2024 8:04:11 GMT -5
Don’t know about all that stuff. But to me Google doesn’t work as well as it used to. I get limited results and one or two pages of returns. Used to could finally find what you were looking 5 pages back. This is all looking for something that is hard to find Not the local pizza place down the road
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Google
Aug 6, 2024 8:26:45 GMT -5
Post by cadman on Aug 6, 2024 8:26:45 GMT -5
One possible solution is to alter patent law such that the time available to keep the rest of the world from competing is reduced. Would take a act of Congress but could be done. Of course there is the prohibition of ex post facto to surmount. In any event.......rather than force why not simply subject them to competition? And no......there is no reason that in a industry which moves as fast as technology that a patent needs to be 17 years to accomplish what patents are supposed to do. In fact......the argument can be made that the current patent situation encourages concentration. But.....that's just a pipe dream.......the best we can hope for is some creative ( AND LEGAL ) means of allowing them to have competitors. Actually.....of more import than the ads thing is the gatekeeping on information.....if one wants to be concerned by anything be concerned by that. They have plenty of competitors, most people prefer Google due to them being the first with a really good search engine. There is Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckgo, and many others to choose from. Google, for most people is simply the best one out there. The competition is out there, most people don't want to switch. It is like Coke and Pepsi, these two own the soda market and have a duopoly. They have competition, but 70% to 80% of the people prefer these two products. They were the first and protect their market share as does Google. I guess the government or courts could require Google to open source some of its patents, but I doubt that would change consumer preference. I doubt the government can do much to change or stop Google from being number one.
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Google
Aug 6, 2024 8:58:29 GMT -5
Post by madm002 on Aug 6, 2024 8:58:29 GMT -5
I think this is a bad decision. You invent a catagory, build a business, execute well, and obtain a leading position, and then the government says noooo you cant do that. There are a number of options out there for browsers, Edge, Bing, Safari, DDG, Firefox. Why not just let the market decide.
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Google
Aug 6, 2024 9:04:38 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by illinoisfisherman on Aug 6, 2024 9:04:38 GMT -5
Google is evil. I never knowingly use Google
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Google
Aug 6, 2024 9:42:36 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by johngalt on Aug 6, 2024 9:42:36 GMT -5
I quit using google a few years ago. Haven’t missed it.
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Google
Aug 6, 2024 9:53:39 GMT -5
Post by bswiv on Aug 6, 2024 9:53:39 GMT -5
One possible solution is to alter patent law such that the time available to keep the rest of the world from competing is reduced. Would take a act of Congress but could be done. Of course there is the prohibition of ex post facto to surmount. In any event.......rather than force why not simply subject them to competition? And no......there is no reason that in a industry which moves as fast as technology that a patent needs to be 17 years to accomplish what patents are supposed to do. In fact......the argument can be made that the current patent situation encourages concentration. But.....that's just a pipe dream.......the best we can hope for is some creative ( AND LEGAL ) means of allowing them to have competitors. Actually.....of more import than the ads thing is the gatekeeping on information.....if one wants to be concerned by anything be concerned by that. They have plenty of competitors, most people prefer Google due to them being the first with a really good search engine. There is Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckgo, and many others to choose from. Google, for most people is simply the best one out there. The competition is out there, most people don't want to switch. It is like Coke and Pepsi, these two own the soda market and have a duopoly. They have competition, but 70% to 80% of the people prefer these two products. They were the first and protect their market share as does Google. I guess the government or courts could require Google to open source some of its patents, but I doubt that would change consumer preference. I doubt the government can do much to change or stop Google from being number one. I'd have to do some digging......and as my memory is not what it was I may be conflating something that ain't so......but at least some of the listed engines actually piggyback on Google...........which may not matter.....or maybe it does not solve things. I've been using Bing a little...........now if I can just remember how to block AMAZON from appearing in a search.
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Post by gogittum on Aug 6, 2024 10:53:33 GMT -5
How on earth are you s'posed to remember which company you bought a widget from 2 or 3 years ago ?? Much simpler to open "My Google" to see when you bought what and re-order it with a simple click. I use it constantly.
Google built a better mousetrap and it shows.
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Post by bswiv on Aug 6, 2024 11:00:31 GMT -5
How on earth are you s'posed to remember which company you bought a widget from 2 or 3 years ago ?? Much simpler to open "My Google" to see when you bought what and re-order it with a simple click. I use it constantly. Google built a better mousetrap and it shows. For a whole lot of it.....surely. My concern is not on the economic side as that is surmountable. Much the rather it is with the ubiquity of their searches and potential that those searches will be in some way manipulated. If you read the piece on Wikipedia and if you've noted what's happened......well.....you know where I am going.....I do not trust them at all. Though......it's a open question as to how the leanings of the folks at Bing or any of the others are different....
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