Take action: Congress advances tech breakup bills that could affect your business (Google Business)

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Take action: Congress advances tech breakup bills that could affect your business (Google Business)

Post by funnyinterestingcool » Thu Feb 10, 2022 3:16 pm

The Senate Judiciary Committee recently voted to move forward with a controversial bill that would have unintended consequences for businesses like yours. A similar proposal has already made its way through the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

Send a message to your members of Congress now and tell them you don’t want to lose the digital tools that save your business time and money.

Tell them that digital tools are important to your business and ask them to oppose legislation that could disrupt your ability to reach your customers.

Take action

What’s at stake?
If passed, this legislation could stop Google and other leading technology companies from offering services that are critical to your business' productivity and ability to reach customers online. This could cost your business time and money.

Take action
Google’s public policy team is working with members of Congress and their staff to discuss the potential impacts of these bills.

Congress also needs to hear directly from you about how this legislation would affect your business. Use this form to easily contact your Senators and your Representative. Sending a message will take less than two minutes of your time.

Thank you,

The Google Customer Solutions Team
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hogweedblitz

Re: Take action: Congress advances tech breakup bills that could affect your business (Google Business)

Post by hogweedblitz » Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:48 pm

I saw this email from Google, but there was no indication as to what these bills could actually do to prevent Google from not listing you on their maps.

I went and looked up the bills, and found they are bills designed for Big Techs to keep gaining more and more power and control over all our lives. I dont see anything that targets small businesses unfairly, just the opposite. I got a feeling google is using this scare tactic to get you to fight these bills more to allow them to keep consuming more and more companies, wealth and power. vI like the idea that could have stopped Facebook from buying Instagram, thus passing their already tyrannical censorship and other rules Facebook has (like not being able to sell CBD even though its legal). I am starting to think this is a group of bills designed to protect all of us from these companies taking over and controlling what we have access to and what we can say and how we think.

And this letter google is sending out is trying to scare you into trying to stop these bills from going through, when I doubt they would have too much of an impact on small businesses. Most people wont look under the hood and see what is really going on.


Here is a lit of the bills and what they mean.

These six proposed bipartisan antitrust laws put Big Tech in the cross-hairs – and a House committee just OK'd them
Well, it's a start
Katyanna Quach Thu 24 Jun 2021 // 23:35 UTC
10 comment bubble on white

The US House Judiciary Committee this week approved half a dozen major bipartisan antitrust bills aimed at clamping down on the growing power of Big Tech and its monopolization of some markets.

The panel, led by Jerry Nadler (D-NY), debated for nearly 30 hours on Wednesday and Thursday to advance the wide-sweeping six-bill package. The proposed laws includes all sorts of measures to prevent companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and others from dominating their sectors of the technology industry.

There was likely plenty of lobbying and other wrangling going on in the back and foreground over the exact wording of the package. For instance, there was a concern by some lawmakers that Microsoft would end up avoiding certain provisions in the proposed acts that would otherwise hit Google and Apple. Tweaks were made – such as removing "mobile" from "mobile operating system" in the fine-print – to ensure no one was wriggling out.

After the bills were approved, Rep David Cicilline (D-RI), who leads the panel's subcommittee on antitrust, tweeted:

Here’s a quick overview of what was advanced by the committee to the next stage:

The American Choice and Innovation Online Act [PDF] tackles gatekeepers that police competition on digital platforms. It prevents a company from imposing rules and regulations that unfairly disadvantage third parties also offering products on that company's platform or operating system. The bill is sponsored by Reps Cicilline (D-RI) and Lance Gooden (R-TX).

The Platform Competition and Opportunity Act [PDF] puts the spotlight on acquisitions. Under the bill, dominant companies are not allowed to snap up competitors or purchase stocks and assets in competing businesses. While that would stop something like Facebook buying Instagram, there is a concern it may be a little too broad brush, and prevent things like a startup's innovative technology from reaching a mass market or audience via an acquisition by a well-resourced player. It was co-sponsored by Reps Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Ken Buck (R-CO).

The third bill on the list, the Ending Platform Monopolies Act [PDF], was the most controversial and passed by a narrow 21-20 margin. It ensures corporations can't sell their own product lines on own platform unfairly. This is aimed at companies like Amazon that mine sales figures to create their own branded products, such as cheap-as-a-chips AmazonBasics gear, disadvantaging smaller businesses. It was backed by Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Lance Gooden (R-TX).

The Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching or ACCESS Act [PDF] also passed. It ensures that platforms should be transparent about user data and allow third-party businesses to easily switch to other services at minimal cost. House Reps Mary Scanlon (D-PA) and Burgess Owens (R-UT) co-sponsored the bill.

The State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act [PDF] empowers state attorneys general in deciding the venue of antitrust lawsuits in federal courts. This is aimed at stopping tech titans shifting proceedings to courts that are perceived as friendlier or sympathetic to mega-corps, which also drives up the cost of litigation. Rep Ken Buck (R-CO) led this bill, which was cosponsored by Reps Cicilline, Dan Bishop (R-NC), Burgess Owens (R-Utah), and Joe Neguse (D-CO).

Finally, the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act [PDF] strengthens the ability for organizations like the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to enforce antitrust laws by increasing the fees for $5bn+ merger deals to fund more investigations, as well as appropriating $670m for the duo's antitrust teams. The bill was co-sponsored by Reps Joe Neguse (D-CO) and Victoria Spartz (R-IN).
“The Committee’s bipartisan investigation into digital markets uncovered overwhelming evidence of anti-competitive conduct that has seriously impacted consumers and small businesses,” said committee chairman Jerry Nadler.

“I’m proud to be joining my colleagues, once again in a bipartisan fashion, to introduce a package of legislation that will restore competition online and level the playing field for innovators, entrepreneurs, and startups. Our actions today to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement will ensure that our laws can finally and effectively meet the challenges of our modern economy.”


So Yea, I see this as a way Tech companies are trying to scare you into stopping this bill, when it helps laying down a fair playing field for everyone.

Guest

Re: Take action: Congress advances tech breakup bills that could affect your business (Google Business)

Post by Guest » Wed Feb 23, 2022 10:08 pm

I made a typo.. The line near the top should read:

I went and looked up the bills, and found they are bills designed to prevent Big Techs to keep gaining more and more power and control over all our lives.

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