
After Google's Fitbit deal, EU says worrying when firms targeted for their data - moneil971
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fitbit-m-a-alphabet-eu-idUSKBN1XH25S
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shartshooter
_“In general we have a concern if companies merge because of data,” Vestager
told a news briefing at Web Summit._

I'm no fan of Google buying up Fitbit but how are you going to prove that an
acquisition/merger is due to data?

You're going to have to codify these regulations and big companies with lots
of lawyers are going to find slippery language to get by unless you have
something as clear and firm as _" every data subject in Fitbit's database must
opt-in to Google having access to it."_

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ljm
The problem with Fitbit isn’t entirely the data either, because when you get
the request to consent again you essentially have an ultimatum: accept the new
terms and your fitness tracking bracelet will keep working. Decline, and it
won’t.

I would hope that interfaces to Apple health, etc. that work through Bluetooth
will continue to work, but they still require the mobile app to facilitate it,
and as far as google is concerned it’s now living on borrowed time. Two years
from now and it’ll be in the graveyard along with everything else.

What do you do about that except give in and let Google acquire even more
aspects of your life to resell it, or abandon the tech and produce more waste?

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colechristensen
Which drives a point which all of us should really want anyway.

You simply shouldn't be allowed to sell physical objects forcibly linked to
network services.

i.e. vendors need to publish APIs and unlock procedures in order to
participate in the market.

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ocdtrekkie
I feel like allowing vertical integration was our biggest flaw in antitrust
law. It allows lock in ecosystems. Hardware, software, and services should not
be allowed to be sold by the same company.

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jammygit
What about purism and system76? Some integration is great, especially when one
part of that integration can’t usually be profitable in its own

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ocdtrekkie
I was irritated to learn Purism was launching services, and I think it's both
a distraction and a conflict of interest.

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reustle
Does it make sense at some point to stop allowing companies to buy up any more
companies? Past $10bn annual revenue? $25bn? What harm does that do, compared
to letting competition / smaller companies exit peacefully? (where can I read
more about this suggestion, as I'm sure it's not new?)

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mc32
Sure but it’s not like Fitbit was going to survive long on its own, so if not
google it would have needed another suitor. That said I am sad they had to get
bought out and that they were bought out by a company which lets acquisitions
whiter on the vine.

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echelon
> Sure but it’s not like Fitbit was going to survive long on it’s own

Fitbit was profitable. Sure, it wasn't hyper-growth, nor was it earning insane
advertiser money, but it didn't have to be those things. Fitbit had best-in-
class fitness tracking hardware and software that worked cross-platform.

Fitbit should have never IPO'd, focused on reducing operational costs, and
turned into a lifestyle business. They were never destined to join FAANG.

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rickncliff
Not sure what's more alarming, these regulators looking to micromanage
companies or the number of comments supporting this stuff.

The focus on tech companies is unwarranted as unlike other sectors no one's
been hurt by these companies all the "harms" these policies are based of are
hypothetical.

And by the way reuters are the ones making this about google.

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ocdtrekkie
Here in the US, I filed an FTC complaint and contacted my Congressman. Enough
is enough, and the government has the power to stop this. Fitbit going away
will cause massive consumer harm, both to the 28 million existing Fitbit
owners whose devices will shortly become worthless, and the almost assured
higher prices of the smartwatch and fitness tracker market arising from one of
the cheaper brands being absorbed and killed.

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tomComb
If nobody bought Fitbit they were going to keep declining and then die. This
way the employees keep their jobs, Fitbit can maintain our increase investment
so users and competition benefit. That's what you want isn't it?

