Reply to post: But... Google is a monopoly

Google gets my data, I get search and email and that. Help help, I'm being REPRESSED!

Tom Wood

But... Google is a monopoly

If you want to search the internet, you have to use Google (more or less).

If you want to use Google, you have to hand them some amount of personal data.

That's the problem. It's like you are effectively the only apple supplier in the market (OK, there are a few other tiny suppliers, but their apples are very small and not very tasty and they have limited varieties) and you insist that if I want to get some apples, I'm not only going to have to hand over my pears but also information about how many pears I grow, what variety of pears, the secret recipe for my pear crumble and so on.

If the market were functioning correctly there would be multiple apple suppliers. One might exchange 3 apples for 2 pears plus all that data, and another might exchange 2 apples for 2 pears plus no data, and I'd have a meaningful choice.

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