Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons
license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary
on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the
entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/


                 Ben Thompson Examines US Big Tech Legislation

   Adam Engst

   As you may have read, lawmakers in the US House of Representatives have
   proposed [1]a set of bills designed to rein in the power of Big Tech:
   specifically Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, though Microsoft
   would also likely be impacted. This is just the beginning, and there's
   no guarantee that any of these bills will be signed into law. However,
   House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline has done a savvy
   job of introducing them'all the bills are sponsored by a Democrat and
   co-sponsored by a Republican, and some could be sacrificed in favor of
   others during negotiation. Over at Stratechery, Ben Thompson has [2]a
   thoughtful overview of the bills and which companies stand to be most
   impacted'Apple is high on the list. It's too early to do anything but
   keep an open mind about the situation. Even if you're not a fan of
   regulation, these companies have brought this scrutiny on themselves
   through unabashedly controversial behavior.

   [3]Read original article

References

   1. https://cicilline.house.gov/press-release/house-lawmakers-release-anti-monopoly-agenda-stronger-online-economy-opportunity
   2. https://stratechery.com/2021/the-cicilline-salvo/
   3. https://stratechery.com/2021/the-cicilline-salvo/

.