<story><title>Why Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Need to Be Disrupted</title><url>http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/amp15895746/bust-big-tech-silicon-valley/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wpasc</author><text>Working in tech (not companies listed), I get somewhat irked at the recent barrage of &amp;quot;regulate&amp;#x2F;break them up&amp;quot; articles I keep seeing about tech companies.&lt;p&gt;Not being a big fan of regulation in general, but if you&amp;#x27;re going to regulate, should these companies be at the top of your list? There are plenty of wrongs being committed by a variety of companies and industries right now. Not saying these companies are as holier than thou than they preach to be, but they are all innovative and good companies. While they have practices that merit examination, so do many other companies that have histories of being far less transparent and far less proactive about change.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t mean to say the world of tech doesn&amp;#x27;t need a fair amount of reflection and self reflection, but this recent bandwagoning of &amp;quot;regulate tech!&amp;quot; seems reactionary and hype driven as opposed to more well intentioned. This guy was even mentioning his book... The media has covered tech in the last year in a &amp;quot;if it bleeds it leads&amp;quot; capacity that I think undercuts many of the valid points being raised. Idk, I could be wrong, but that&amp;#x27;s my two cents</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Slansitartop</author><text>&amp;gt; if you&amp;#x27;re going to regulate, should these companies be at the top of your list&lt;p&gt;Yes.  Two of them (Google and Facebook) basically control a huge fraction of the information people are exposed to on a daily basis, either directly on indirectly.  They&amp;#x27;re so dominant and aloof, that they can make or break businesses without even realizing it or caring.  Their control over information flow also has important civil society implications.&lt;p&gt;Amazon could conceivably control most American retail activity in the future, though it has a few retail titans that could conceivably stand up to it if they get their acts together [1].  At best, we seem to be headed towards a retail oligopoly.&lt;p&gt;Personally, I&amp;#x27;m much less worried about Apple, its control is much less pervasive.  Though I wish there were more alternatives to it other than Android.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.fool.com&amp;#x2F;investing&amp;#x2F;general&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;01&amp;#x2F;01&amp;#x2F;amazon-is-dominating-the-entire-retail-industry.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.fool.com&amp;#x2F;investing&amp;#x2F;general&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;01&amp;#x2F;01&amp;#x2F;amazon-is-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Why Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Need to Be Disrupted</title><url>http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/amp15895746/bust-big-tech-silicon-valley/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wpasc</author><text>Working in tech (not companies listed), I get somewhat irked at the recent barrage of &amp;quot;regulate&amp;#x2F;break them up&amp;quot; articles I keep seeing about tech companies.&lt;p&gt;Not being a big fan of regulation in general, but if you&amp;#x27;re going to regulate, should these companies be at the top of your list? There are plenty of wrongs being committed by a variety of companies and industries right now. Not saying these companies are as holier than thou than they preach to be, but they are all innovative and good companies. While they have practices that merit examination, so do many other companies that have histories of being far less transparent and far less proactive about change.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t mean to say the world of tech doesn&amp;#x27;t need a fair amount of reflection and self reflection, but this recent bandwagoning of &amp;quot;regulate tech!&amp;quot; seems reactionary and hype driven as opposed to more well intentioned. This guy was even mentioning his book... The media has covered tech in the last year in a &amp;quot;if it bleeds it leads&amp;quot; capacity that I think undercuts many of the valid points being raised. Idk, I could be wrong, but that&amp;#x27;s my two cents</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>r00fus</author><text>Exactly. Wouldn&amp;#x27;t say, Monsanto or BP be considered far more evil and manipulative?  What about those opioids pharmas that have literally destroyed small-town America through outright fraud&amp;#x2F;malfeasance?&lt;p&gt;Yeah, tech companies aint goody two-shoes, but there are bigger fish that need frying.</text></comment>