Welcome to Big Tech on Trial. This free newsletter is brought to you by the BIG newsletter with daily coverage on the Google antitrust trial reported by Lee Hepner and additional commentary from Matt Stoller.
> Next, Weinberg testified about the attempts DuckDuckGo made over the course of several years to pitch browsers on making DuckDuckGo the default search engine for their private browsing mode. “We thought it was a pretty great pitch to browsers,” Weinberg said.
> But Weinberg explained that DuckDuckGo couldn’t penetrate the default agreements Google already had in place with browsers that prevented the browsers from using a different default for private browsing. DuckDuckGo’s pitch to browsers turned out to be a “quixotic exercise.”
I don't think we're in disagreement here, but just to clarify. Murphy suggested that DDG is not trying to compete for defaults, that they're just a niche search engine. That's at odds with DDG CEO Weinberg's earlier testimony.
I think it's indicative of Murphy's ideological worldview that privacy is not really what people want, and that users are actively bargaining away their personal private information.
I'm in complete agreement with you. Thanks for clarifying my point.
I found most of Murphy's testimony...odd, but that comment about Duckduckgo was just plain bizarre. It's up there with "choice screens are bad for competition" in terms of whackiest things I've read from Murphy in this article.
Duckduckgo is my default search engine on my Brave browser. Anyone using google, safari or Microsoft should understand all their searching is tracked and with all their other data sold and used for profit at your detriment.
As an economist I wrote off so-called economists like Murphy and the worst of them all, Milton Friedman, long ago. For all their brilliance, they are all complete idiots, never understanding the real world effect of their work. No one needs to be an economist to realize that the corporate consolidation creates monopolies giving corporations market power to charge prices that generate excess profits. I love telling these jerks the economics is NOT A SCIENCE.
Oh, please do. I love feedback. I learn from it. I found nuances that made me at least better understand the context of the world order that formed his positions, even if I still don’t appreciate the results.
I will. Communication is always the key. Hopefully each day we learn something new. Today I learned that the Taft Hartley Act makes it illegal for American unions to strike in support of other unions. Unlike European unions. Elon Muskrat is finding out the difference at Telsa.
Sigh. Common sense seems to have become a recessive gene in this country. On another note, I see BBC and EU journalists commenting more on this trial now. The EU has gone to trial (after Google) three times in a row now and won all of them. Over eight billion $ in fines thus far and counting. Not to mention the laws they’ve passed (e.g. USB universal charging standards) and others still in the works. And yet, apparently, big tech makes enough of a decent profit margin to very much wish to continue to do business with them and even bend to the will of their laws that protect EU consumers. What the heck is our problem? (That’s rhetorical, BIG readers probably already have an idea…)
Consolidated, merged, acquired, bought, exchanged stock, more productive, eliminated waste these are words that affect our lives without a shot being fired.
> DuckDuckGo is not trying to compete for a broader market. They’re not really competing for defaults.
Duckduckgo testified several weeks ago in this courtroom that they struggled to get browsers to set them as the default: https://www.bigtechontrial.com/p/what-is-it-like-to-compete-against
> Next, Weinberg testified about the attempts DuckDuckGo made over the course of several years to pitch browsers on making DuckDuckGo the default search engine for their private browsing mode. “We thought it was a pretty great pitch to browsers,” Weinberg said.
> But Weinberg explained that DuckDuckGo couldn’t penetrate the default agreements Google already had in place with browsers that prevented the browsers from using a different default for private browsing. DuckDuckGo’s pitch to browsers turned out to be a “quixotic exercise.”
I don't think we're in disagreement here, but just to clarify. Murphy suggested that DDG is not trying to compete for defaults, that they're just a niche search engine. That's at odds with DDG CEO Weinberg's earlier testimony.
I think it's indicative of Murphy's ideological worldview that privacy is not really what people want, and that users are actively bargaining away their personal private information.
I'm in complete agreement with you. Thanks for clarifying my point.
I found most of Murphy's testimony...odd, but that comment about Duckduckgo was just plain bizarre. It's up there with "choice screens are bad for competition" in terms of whackiest things I've read from Murphy in this article.
Duckduckgo is my default search engine on my Brave browser. Anyone using google, safari or Microsoft should understand all their searching is tracked and with all their other data sold and used for profit at your detriment.
As an economist I wrote off so-called economists like Murphy and the worst of them all, Milton Friedman, long ago. For all their brilliance, they are all complete idiots, never understanding the real world effect of their work. No one needs to be an economist to realize that the corporate consolidation creates monopolies giving corporations market power to charge prices that generate excess profits. I love telling these jerks the economics is NOT A SCIENCE.
Agree. Aristotle’s 13 fallacies should be required reading in economics (as well as most disciplines for that matter). Too late for Friedman, but……
FYI - interesting new (and different) biography out on Friedman for those interested - “Milton Friedman - The Last Conservative “ by Jennifer Burns.
I hope it points out his total lack of compassion and humanity. I will let you know after my read. Thanks
Oh, please do. I love feedback. I learn from it. I found nuances that made me at least better understand the context of the world order that formed his positions, even if I still don’t appreciate the results.
I will. Communication is always the key. Hopefully each day we learn something new. Today I learned that the Taft Hartley Act makes it illegal for American unions to strike in support of other unions. Unlike European unions. Elon Muskrat is finding out the difference at Telsa.
I disagree. Milton Friedman and his acolytes DID understand, "The real world effect of their work."
From their perspective, increasing inequality and poverty was a feature, not a bug.
Thanks, that confirms his inhumanity.
Fantastic coverage of the trial, thank you all for doing this! Take google down!
Sigh. Common sense seems to have become a recessive gene in this country. On another note, I see BBC and EU journalists commenting more on this trial now. The EU has gone to trial (after Google) three times in a row now and won all of them. Over eight billion $ in fines thus far and counting. Not to mention the laws they’ve passed (e.g. USB universal charging standards) and others still in the works. And yet, apparently, big tech makes enough of a decent profit margin to very much wish to continue to do business with them and even bend to the will of their laws that protect EU consumers. What the heck is our problem? (That’s rhetorical, BIG readers probably already have an idea…)
Thanks Lee. Nice having you with your experience on board.
Consolidated, merged, acquired, bought, exchanged stock, more productive, eliminated waste these are words that affect our lives without a shot being fired.
isn’t that cozy 💎🪄🧩