The internet is the everything app; it's currently somewhat decentralized but it's becoming more and more centralized every day.
And the benefits of centralization are immediate and obvious; the downsides are hidden, localized, and not clear.
And the benefits of centralization are immediate and obvious; the downsides are hidden, localized, and not clear.
Stuff that changes that nature of the internet presents the danger to liberal democracy.
Similar things that were baked into the internet continue to provide dividends today, but it has to be intentional, and as more and more of the modern internet is designed by groups of companies rather than groups of academics it can shift.
- McLuhan
Anti-trust regulation is supposed to solve this, but in the US at least it seems we've settled on a status quo where we pretend having two giant players in a market rather than one is enough to protect the interests of consumers, despite many many examples where that has proven not to be the case.
Only if it's provably harmful. And only if you hire people into the anti-trust regulation role who are perfect uncorruptable beings that can see the future consumer implications of each business decision.
Given the regulators we've hired so far are neither, we shouldn't be assuming regulations can solve this.
In reality, regulations give a big first mover advantage. It's much easier to incorporate regulations when you're up and running than come in as a new competitor and slam into a wall of red tape, which due to years of relationship built up is much more porous for the incumbants.