[chungleong]

Given that Google and Facebook are natural monopolies, what newspapers are demanding seem fair to me. The law just levels the play field. The alternative--breaking up these Internet giants--isn't in the public's interest and probably won't work.

[HeWhoLurksLate]

   isn't in the public's interest

I, for one, would be very interested to see how that plays out. :P

[slang800]

Why wouldn't breaking up Google and Facebook be in the interest of the public?

[chungleong]

Because people value the convenience of Google's integrated services. Market fragmentation is unnatural in the software world. Generally, the winner takes all in a given category. If we break up Google, one part of it will end up vanquishing the other parts.

[slang800]

> People value the convenience of Google's integrated services

So, short-term convenience should prevent us from breaking up a monopoly? The long term benefits of having a competitive market far outweigh the inconvenience of having to use tools from separate companies, or buy ad space from separate markets.

> Market fragmentation is unnatural in the software world

Oh yeah, that's why we have one text editor, one operating system, one browser, one CMS, one type of forum software, one chat app, one web framework, etc. Right? Having a fragmented market with tens, if not hundreds of competing solutions would be weird.