Huge win for Internet freedom: Google must sell its Chrome browser
Huge win for Internet freedom: Google must sell its Chrome browser
The DOJ's antitrust decision to break up Google's monopoly is a huge win for a better and fairer Internet for all
Inb4:
Breaking news, google sells chrome to Oracle
Breaking news, google sells chrome to Adobe
Breaking news, google sells chrome to Microsoft
Breaking news, google sells chrome to Epic Games
Breaking news, google sells chrome to Tencent
With the amount of money that chrome would sell for, I only see this getting much much worse.
Chromium might get shut down and it becomes closed source.
there are lots of good articles about this news from other sources.
unfortunately the link in this post is an advertorial for snakeoil: tuta published this for the sole purpose of marketing their non-interoperable encrypted email service which has an incoherent threat model.
And just like that another misinformation "news" site was blocked.
This is a tech company blog, not a news website.
Oh sorry, still crap, though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I guess thats cool but it doesn't solve the lack of alternatives.
What worries me is who's gonna buy it
Elon Musk
alphabet
Broadcom?
Is this case decided yet? If I understood the news correctly, they plan to force Google to sell its web browser.
This is just what the DoJ is asking for. Google will give their proposal in December. Then the judge will rule later in 2025. Then no matter what Google will appeal. Nothing is going to happen for years, if at all.
In Trump’s america google will have the easiest time getting what they want.
I don't think it is, the article doesn't say much beyond opinions. I also can't find any news talking about it being decided, just proposed.
Thanks for checking. I didn't find any other recent news on this topic and the original article is from yesterday.
Misleading headline. They have asked a court to force it, not triggered anything real, yet. Google will fight it hard because its one of their most powerful surveillance tools.
because it's* one of
People who think this is going to really cause a disruption really did not live through the past thirty years of US tech companies being told to break up only to reform again, only stronger.
Google also got fuck you money to make upset politicians to disappear.
There's probably arguments to be made both for and against this ruling. I don't assume this is all good just because I don't like Google.
Now name them sell YouTube... Or better yet, split it into multiple companies.
Oh God I don't want my YouTube hidden behind multiple paywalls of varying quality. I agree that something should be done about it but it's frankly a miracle of inertia that YouTube hasn't been more aggressively monetized.
And yes, before anyone comments with "have you seen YTs monetization???!!?!!!!", I do in fact mean even more than the shit show it currently is.
YT is the one I'm mixed on, on one hand, the ads are annoying AF if you're not premium and they're becoming more user hostile towards ad blocking every day
But on the other hand, hosting and providing bandwidth for video is not cheap. Hosting and providing bandwidth AND allowing users to upload whatever they want no matter the length (I think there's a limit of 10 hours, which is MORE than generous IMO) OR quality (seriously, who even has the setup to watch 8k videos lol) is REALLY NOT CHEAP
So who else other than Google can provide what YT provides at scale?
YouTube also lost billions for years and years. Not certain they've turned an overall profit yet.
Mixed feelings on this.
I'm not entirely sure the internet landscape will change that much with google selling the browser side of their business and might only result in less funding and security for web browsers as a whole.
I say this as a Firefox user, fwiw. I honestly don't think people only use chrome because google products work better on chrome. Frankly, I've never had a problem with a google service on a firefox browser.
Yeah, for all people here complain about every web browser being chrome, the average web browser experience is so much better now than it was when Microsoft controlled the typical web browser.
Google is far from perfect, but the chromium project has resulted in a generally good browser. But I have serious doubts about the future of the chromium project in the hands of Meta or some other tech giant.
To whom? Who will then fund Chromium? Also, what will happen to Firefox now Google can no longer fund 88% of Mozilla with their bribes?
To whom?
Monkey paw says Oracle
Still better than Meta
Monkey paw says Oracle
Still better than Meta
I'm not so sure about that one chief. I think they both suck pretty hard.
Don't you put that evil on us.
Bruh can't they make it ots own company and then sell shares? (Prefarably without a majority shareholder) >!Or be forced to make it a nonprofit but that's too utopian thinking!<
Why shouldn't they be able to pay apple and mozilla to select google as their default search engine? Will this also be prohibited?
It's been ruled in court. More detailsEdit: nope, sorry, thanks to @Mocheeze@lemmy.world for correction
The leading browser on the market? I don't know the price but I suppose any technology company with enough money. Regarding Chromium, it's another matter but I suppose that using it in so many browsers without development will not be
any technology company with enough money
I know, that's the problem. They are all at least somewhat evil.
why would anyone buy it when it's primary profit-generating activity is driving traffic to google
There's a lot of reasons to own it, one potential profit source being selling what the default search engine is. Just because Google doesn't own it doesn't mean they won't pay to be the default search. They pay a lot for this on Firefox. (Yes, this is being looked into to and may stop, but they can still sell being an option for the default search engine, or other things.)
Sure but does that outweigh the costs that google was eating while using the browser as a loss leader for search and ads? I doubt they’re going to keep hosting and distributing updates from their CDN for free.
The only people who can afford to own it shouldn’t be able to buy it for the same reasons they’re forcing google to sell it.
cool, now do youtube
This post talks a lot about Google's search engine. I'm curious how all the issues that were brought up about the search engine will be improved with the browser being sold off.
Decisions by people who don't understand, advised by people who don't want them to understand, funded by people who are prepared to sacrifice a browser to appear like they're doing something.
Wow. It's actually happening
If they sell the browser how will the buyer afford to continue development? We either get more intrusive ads, tracking, or both.
I am concerned about government overreach.
Very true. If it could happen to Google, it could happen to any one of us.
But not business monopolies?
Because this monopoly doesn't directly affect them in a way that's obvious to them; but gummnit baaaad.