FTC Reinstates Net Neutrality, Bans Non-Compete Clauses

[Arnox]

Net neutrality restored as FCC votes to regulate internet providers

The Federal Trade Commission has voted to restore rules to prevent broadband internet providers such as Comcast and AT&T from favoring some sites and apps over others — for instance, by slowing or blocking certain content or by offering higher speeds to customers willing to pay extra.

apnews.com

FTC bans non-competes: a business owner's thoughts

👉 https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes👉 https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/noncompe...

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Lina Khan's probably the main person to thank for this, but I'm sure many at the FTC are happy to actually be able to do their jobs now. Now I'm curious as to how the monopoly case against Apple is going to go. Hopefully Apple will be torn a new one.

 

[CharlieTheStooge]

Certainly an encouraging development. Although even if non-competes are formally banned I wonder if companies are still going to throw the might of lawyers around using excuses of trade-secrets or NDA being a conflict of interest to work for a competitor in the same field making such a ban only in name.

 

[Phiwise_]

>Now I'm curious as to how the monopoly case against Apple is going to go. Hopefully Apple will be torn a new one.

Anyone who supports this nonsense needs to be airlifted to Europe, where there are no major hardware manufacturers, for at least a decade. Put their money where their mouth is. The jackals who work at the FTC cannot be physically removed from their positions soon enough.

 

[Arnox]

>Now I'm curious as to how the monopoly case against Apple is going to go. Hopefully Apple will be torn a new one.

Anyone who supports this nonsense needs to be airlifted to Europe, where there are no major hardware manufacturers, for at least a decade. Put their money where their mouth is. The jackals who work at the FTC cannot be physically removed from their positions soon enough.

Wait, you don't support the lawsuit against Apple?

 

[Phiwise_]

Wait, you don't support the lawsuit against Apple?

Of course not. Why would I support bad law, just because I dislike the target this time? The harm of serving as precedent against morally superior future targets vastly outweighs the emotional satisfaction of arbitrary punishment against an enemy in the moment.

 

[Arnox]

Of course not. Why would I support bad law, just because I dislike the target this time? The harm of serving as precedent against morally superior future targets vastly outweighs the emotional satisfaction of arbitrary punishment against an enemy in the moment.

Alright. What exactly do you think is wrong with the lawsuit?

 

[Phiwise_]

Alright. What exactly do you think is wrong with the lawsuit?

It'd probably be faster to list the things that aren't wrong with it. TLDR: It's Apple's systems and services. They can make them however they want, and I can respond by buying however many of them I want. Trying to keep them alive by changing their services to however you think will work best instead of however they think they want to use up their capital is the antithesis of competition. It's just like with the antitrust discussions around the ActiBlizz/Microsoft merger. Everyone agrees both of these companies are a dying dumpster fire, yet many howl like chimps if you suggest merging the fires so they burn down faster. No, for some reason the men with guns must step in to ensure we do things the long, slow, and painful way, because that's what the health of society really needs.

Remember, the only reason any of this FTC absurdity has even a semblance of weight today is because almost three whole decades ago a boomer was too dumb to backup his bookmarks while uninstalling his web browser and the judge he brought the case to saw a career opportunity. Be smarter than the boomers. Reject anticapitalist nonsense out of hand.

 

[Arnox]

It'd probably be faster to list the things that aren't wrong with it. TLDR: It's Apple's systems and services. They can make them however they want, and I can respond by buying however many of them I want. Trying to keep them alive by changing their services to however you think will work best instead of however they think they want to use up their capital is the antithesis of competition. It's just like with the antitrust discussions around the ActiBlizz/Microsoft merger. Everyone agrees both of these companies are a dying dumpster fire, yet many howl like chimps if you suggest merging the fires so they burn down faster. No, for some reason the men with guns must step in to ensure we do things the long, slow, and painful way, because that's what the health of society really needs.

Remember, the only reason any of this FTC absurdity has even a semblance of weight today is because almost three whole decades ago a boomer was too dumb to backup his bookmarks while uninstalling his web browser and the judge he brought the case to saw a career opportunity. Be smarter than the boomers. Reject anticapitalist nonsense out of hand.

As someone who actually does support capitalism (to an extent), I don't think (SMART) regulation of megacorps like Apple is inherently a bad thing. But putting that aside, would you instead support just splitting Apple up into a bunch of smaller corps?