Five years ago, Microsoft began offering a choice of browsers to European customers who were booting up a copy of Windows for…
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Chromecast gets Starz, Showtime and… Monopoly?
Casual games and TV shows from Starz and Showtime are coming to Chromecast in the latest update of apps for Google's streaming stick.…
Read MoreAntitrust experts slam Comcast merger plan, warn of threats to Netflix and Amazon Prime
More than 30 law and economics experts warned the FCC that a proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable would violate anti-monopoly laws, and will lead to harm for consumers.…
Read MoreIf you love books then you should be rooting for Amazon, not Hachette or the Big Five
The conventional wisdom seems to be that by putting the screws to publishers like Hachette, Amazon is displaying its monopoly powers and ruining the book industry. But it is actually making the market better -- not just for book buyers but authors too…
Read MoreGiants behaving badly: Google, Facebook and Amazon show us the downside of monopolies and black-box algorithms
Google, Facebook and Amazon have shown us again this week why the combination of a quasi-monopoly, vested interests and an inscrutable algorithm can be a dangerous thing for internet users, since it allows them to influence what we see, know and buy…
Read MoreGoogle uses secret Android deals for illegal search monopoly, lawsuit claims
A class action complaint says Google uses secret deals to force Samsung and others to make its search engine the default choice on mobile devices, which in turn harms consumers by making the devices cost more.…
Read MoreWe should be worrying about Google’s assimilation and consolidation, and here’s why
The Gmail-Google+ privacy row is interesting on its own terms, but it's really just part of a bigger picture that should concern all of us, particularly regulators.…
Read MoreAuthors Guild warns of monopoly in Amazon’s purchase of Goodreads
Amazon's purchase of Goodreads, an influential and independent social network for book lovers, is drawing fire from the Authors Guild.…
Read MoreWhy monopolies and commoditization would pollute the cloud
There's a common assumption that the Cloud's destiny is to be a public utility. Mark Thiele, of data center operator Switch, argues that would kill competition and innovation, and that IT can be a better option.…
Read MoreThe specter of “search neutrality” raises its head again
The latest criticism of Google as an unfair monopoly, which comes from the CEO of a comparison shopping site called Nextag, is riddled with flawed logic -- but the search giant has also invited this kind of charge with some of its recent behavior.…
Read MoreThe next big thing for data centers: DC power
Although we live in an AC-dominated world, DC seems poised for a comeback, particularly in data centers. Facebook adopted a DC architecture in its Prineville, Ore., data center. SAP spent $128,000 retrofitting a datacenter at its offices in Palo Alto, Calif., to rely on DC power.…
Read MoreAT&T backs off the T-Mobile fight
Following the FCC's decision to send the $39-billion proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA to an administrative hearing, AT&T has withdrawn its application to combine its spectrum with T-Mobile's from the regulatory agency. Additionally, it said it will take a $4 billion charge against earnings.…
Read MoreGoogle and the antitrust inquiry: Fighting shadows
The government's case against Google will have to grapple with some fundamental questions. What does the word "monopoly" mean when applied to a web-based entity like Google? And are network effects a barrier to entry, or are online monopolies inherently more fragile than their real-world cousins?…
Read MoreCan anyone even compete with Google any more?
One argument likely to play a role in the federal government's antitrust case against Google is that the company's market position is unassailable thanks to network effects and a number of other factors, and therefore it is literally unkillable. But is this really true?…
Read MoreWhether Google is a monopoly isn’t the point
Being a monopoly may be irritating to competitors, but it's not illegal. The problem with applying antitrust law to Google is that even if you assume it has a monopoly and is being anticompetitive, it's not at all clear how that is bad for consumers.…
Read MoreCongress doesn’t get Google, and it doesn’t get Congress
Is Google evil? Members of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights tried to decide that today in a hearing on Google's market power. The end result was the Senators requested Google make voluntary changes to its search ranking.…
Read MoreGoogle, this is why you’re under investigation
Those who questioned whether European regulators were right to open an antitrust investigation into Google's activities last year should take a look at the data again, as the company’s dominance across the continent reaches new heights — and new depths, too.…
Read MoreThe road to antitrust is paved with good intentions
Google says it has received a letter from the FTC about an investigation, but maintains in a blog post that it's just trying to serve users the best way it knows how. Will this Little Orphan Annie act fly with the feds? Unlikely.…
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