It is time to break up Big Tech

February 19, 2021 ☼ privacylies

Source: MinnPost - Link

But Minnesota lawmakers also have plenty of power at their disposal. California has taken innovative steps to protect privacy and give people more control over their data, and Florida has proposed joining the mix. North Dakota recently introduced legislation that would end Big Tech’s grip on app developers, and Maryland just passed a tax on digital advertising. Now would also be a good time to end Minnesota’s tax giveaways to data centers.

I generally agree with the sentiment, but I hate the term “Big Tech”. Facebook (Facebook, Instagram) and Google (YouTube) are generally targets and rightly so. Amazon is not blameless. Twitter is not “Big Tech” but is a major player in disinfo. However, Apple and Microsoft are “Big Tech” but seem to be trying to protect privacy to some extent and are not players in the disinfo market.

Let’s concentrate on the problem companies.