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0 pointsnus073y ago0 comments

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/06/lina-khans-bat...

For more context. A long but good read on the current FTC chairman.

0 comments

Lina Khan may have written great papers but she isn't fit for the job. She harbors a hate for big tech and cannot be impartial in her dealings.

See her recent attempt to prevent Meta from acquiring Within. There is no sane, level-headed case that could possibly paint this acquisition as an antitrust violation. Even most legal experts will agree that Lina Khan's case is a stretch at best.

It's clear that this case is simply motivated by a hatred for Meta more than anything rational, and such decision making can harm the emergence of nascent technology such as AR/VR.

xxpor3y ago

The FTC chairperson is a part of the Executive branch, not a judge. It's not her job to be impartial; she's allowed to have a point of view.

granzymes3y ago

FTC commissioners wear many hats. They exercise executive power in a rulemaking capacity, but they also have both prosecutorial and quasi-judicial power. They can authorize complaints, and the commissioners sit as an appellate court to review the decisions of their in-house court.

whatshisface3y ago

I don't know anything about the acquisition, but speaking generally, appointees leave less lasting precedent when they spend their time chasing individual vendettas rather than establishing consistent ruts that the system can run down once they leave.

basch3y ago

There is a point where changing the rules now appears to benefit incumbents, despite them being the targets here. Nobody new will be able to grow this way to compete with existing large players. If they cant acquire small things, they will just be forced to clone them, yet the smaller tier players wont be able to "just clone things."

Instagram falls into the same category. When Mark acquired it, it was tiny. He is who grew it. Facebook acquired a mobile camera app because it didn't have an app yet. Same how it acquired Beluga and turned it into messenger. Adobe acquiring Photoshop, then Macromedia. Mirosoft acquiring Powerpoint and then hotmail.com.

cmrdporcupine3y ago

I don't think your analogy holds here; Instagram was already an active and popular social network before Facebook acquired it, not a "camera app." Did it grow? Certainly. While we don't know what would have happened to it had FB not bought it, it's quite possible FB bought it precisely because it was growing and becoming 'cool.'

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jessaustin3y ago

Legal opinions vary. Certainly Robert Bork would agree with you. He would also probably agree with your vicious libel of Chair Khan.

Those who really care about the development of particular technologies typically don't welcome consolidation in related industries. It wouldn't have been good news for electric cars, if Tesla had been acquired by GM in say 2008. Why the unhinged invective against Khan?

xvector3y ago

It's neither libel or unhinged. I'm not the only one out there that finds the case around Within a stretch at best.

Plenty of mergers and acquisitions have driven technological progress, and so long as they aren't anticompetitive it's not problematic. See Meta and Oculus, for instance, or Apple's merger with Next.

Acquisitions and mergers fundamentally reduce duplication of work and allow you to combine building blocks to create something greater. Blindly blocking any and all of them as Khan is, is indicative that her bias against big tech has the potential to harm progress overall for no perceivable actual gain.

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ClumsyPilot3y ago

> She harbors a hate for big tech

Oh no, how the big tech has suffered since she took up the post, their profits have... Tripled? This cant be right!

Is Big tech a cult and anyone not worshipping them is the enemy?

You do realise her job is to police big tech, not to do their bidding. She should like them no more than a prison guatdrd likes prisoners.

eropple3y ago

Can you enlighten me as to why this is only a problem when somebody is not reflexively in favor of handing the keys to everything to large companies, and not when they are?

scythe3y ago

From Wikipedia:

>Within was named[13] the #1 VR app for iOS by Apple Insider, featured[13] as "Best New App" on iTunes and is the most downloaded and highest rated[14] cinematic VR app for Google Cardboard.

This appears to be a clear-cut case of consolidation of key companies operating in a sector. Care to share why you think this isn't "sane"?

stonogo3y ago

How does this hatred work? Does she keep a leaderboard? Does big tech include foreign companies? I don't know much about this person other than the usual media bio sketches. Where can I read more?

xvector3y ago

It works through frivolous lawsuits attempting to block everything Big Tech does regardless of reason, eg the acquisition of Within, which has no justifiable antitrust case whatsoever.

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0 comments

xvector3y ago

Lina Khan may have written great papers but she isn't fit for the job. She harbors a hate for big tech and cannot be impartial in her dealings.

It's clear that this case is simply motivated by a hatred for Meta more than anything rational, and such decision making can harm the emergence of nascent technology such as AR/VR.

xxpor3y ago

The FTC chairperson is a part of the Executive branch, not a judge. It's not her job to be impartial; she's allowed to have a point of view.

granzymes3y ago

whatshisface3y ago

basch3y ago

cmrdporcupine3y ago

1 more reply

jessaustin3y ago

Legal opinions vary. Certainly Robert Bork would agree with you. He would also probably agree with your vicious libel of Chair Khan.

xvector3y ago

It's neither libel or unhinged. I'm not the only one out there that finds the case around Within a stretch at best.

Plenty of mergers and acquisitions have driven technological progress, and so long as they aren't anticompetitive it's not problematic. See Meta and Oculus, for instance, or Apple's merger with Next.

2 more replies

ClumsyPilot3y ago

> She harbors a hate for big tech

Oh no, how the big tech has suffered since she took up the post, their profits have... Tripled? This cant be right!

Is Big tech a cult and anyone not worshipping them is the enemy?

You do realise her job is to police big tech, not to do their bidding. She should like them no more than a prison guatdrd likes prisoners.

eropple3y ago

Can you enlighten me as to why this is only a problem when somebody is not reflexively in favor of handing the keys to everything to large companies, and not when they are?

scythe3y ago

From Wikipedia:

>Within was named[13] the #1 VR app for iOS by Apple Insider, featured[13] as "Best New App" on iTunes and is the most downloaded and highest rated[14] cinematic VR app for Google Cardboard.

This appears to be a clear-cut case of consolidation of key companies operating in a sector. Care to share why you think this isn't "sane"?

stonogo3y ago

How does this hatred work? Does she keep a leaderboard? Does big tech include foreign companies? I don't know much about this person other than the usual media bio sketches. Where can I read more?

xvector3y ago

It works through frivolous lawsuits attempting to block everything Big Tech does regardless of reason, eg the acquisition of Within, which has no justifiable antitrust case whatsoever.

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse