
Google is losing allies across the political spectrum - Deinos
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/08/google-is-losing-allies-across-the-political-spectrum/
======
maxxxxx
They are just getting too big and have too much information. I wonder if a tax
system could be created that discouraged companies to grow beyond a certain
size and instead favored smaller ones. The potential for abuse by giant
companies like Facebook and Google is just too much.

~~~
losteric
The change you want is political campaign finance reform. Everything else is
secondary.

Without financing reform, the accumulation of wealth leads to political
influence that furthers the accumulation of money and political power...
creating laws that constrain the market to favor the big players over free
innovation and competition.

Google/FB are not alone... broadcasting, fossil fuel, agriculture,
pharmaceuticals, cell network, retail chains, financial corporations,
individual citizens are by far the least significant voice in our elections.

~~~
wmil
Campaign finance changes can't do what you think they can. Political influence
just flows naturally from immense wealth.

Canada has a complete ban on corporate donations. So whenever Bombardier wants
something they just add on "or else we'll have to cut thousands of jobs" and
they get it.

You can even argue it's a better deal for large corporations. They get to keep
their influence but never get shaken down for donations.

------
jakebasile
Good. Corporations are not your friends, and you shouldn’t trust them. Their
interests may temporarily align with your own but this is ephemeral.

------
xster
> Disclosure: My brother works at Google.

His brother is the cofounder of Firebase? He must have some pretty interesting
dinner conversations.

------
Aron
Google is scary but I suspect it's actually a decently moral incarnation
relative to many alternatives, and is really a victim of the confluence of a
few megatrends that are unavoidable, such as the simple technical ability to
systematically monitor and profit from monitoring all behavior (to good and
bad), and the ability to affect all discourse and information flow. These are
megatrends that Google just happened to have a lead on. I have no faith that
we will replace them with anything better if we decide to tear them down. I
also don't find it a coincidence that Google is at-risk because of the recent
spike in our authoritarian PC left which is pathologically obsessed with
tearing down all productive institutions.

------
sunstone
It's starting to seem like there's an orchestrated anti-Google media campaign
under way. I wonder who's behind it?

------
pasbesoin
Google is reminding me of when a very well regarded (also, internally, by its
employees) grown-large company went public.

It wasn't all instantaneous, but over the course of a couple of years, it went
from highly sought to bureaucratic pressure cooker.

At Google, the engineers aren't running the show any more, I'm guessing. And
it shows.

------
karakrakow
I'm happy with Google having political influence than any other company.

But overall I'm disenchanted with tech companies doing the same things that
earlier big corporations did to gain political influence.

Probably naive, but I was thinking they'll change the game wrt lobbying etc.

Is no one 'disrupting' political influence?

------
yahna
I think they are too big, have too much information, have too many near-
monopoly positions they abuse, and far too much control over the internet.

Same thing applies to facebook, and to a lesser extent Amazon.

break them up.

~~~
benlorenzetti
None of them are a monopoly. There are alternative search engines, email
providers, and phone OSs. There are alternative social media platforms and
alternative online and physical marketplaces. There is no natural factor about
them that tends toward a monopoly (like limited wireless spectrum or need for
public right of way). US Government doesn't have the right to selectively
punish people or their companies just because it's politically popular right
now.

Beyond that, there is really nothing wrong with monopolies in general, only if
they became monopolies via government corruption like, ma bell, wired ISPs,
alcohol, and possibly big banks, big defense, and big pharma. Google built
search from nothing and remains by far the best offering. Facebook spends
exorbitant sums to aquihire its rivals and preserve its market share. Amazon
has always reinvested and certainly has made shopping and web hosting less
expensive for me.

While I agree they have too much of our personal information and influence
with elected officials, the solution isnt more regulation which would crown a
loser and make lobbying an even better investment. Should we also break up
Bing, Twitter, and EBay?

------
rtx
As somebody who has received immense value from Google, I am sad to see the
limit of human ingenuity. You start with good intentions but your genius
becomes a burden.

