‘Google Is a Monopolist,’ Judge Rules in Landmark Antitrust Case

submitted a month ago by Otter

www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/google-an…

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30 Comments

Kerred a month ago, edited a month ago

If I am looking it up correctly, judge Amit Mehta was appointed by Obama (who had ties with Google), and still ruled google a Monopoly.

I just like stuff like this as it shows a judge can put bias aside in a ruling at least once, supposedly.

vithigar a month ago, edited a month ago

Not really. It could be simply that in an effort to not appear biased he over corrected and ruled more harshly against Google.

Now I'm not saying that this is what happened here, but it's just another facet of why it's important to avoid bias entirely, not simply trust that someone can rise above them.

Etterra a month ago

Except that bias is an inevitable consequence of human psychology. The trick is to minimize it.

vithigar a month ago

Yes. That's exactly my point. Minimizing it in this case means having a judge without any dotted line connections to Google.

Kerred a month ago

Agreed

TheTechnician27 a month ago, edited a month ago

!degoogle@lemmy.ml

I can't root my Android phone right now to install something like LineageOS, but yesterday, I sat down, installed ADB, and got rid of a mountain of unnecessary crap that comes packaged with Android and which is installed as a "system package" so you're not allowed to uninstall it normally (e.g. Gmail).

It's extremely easy.

Kokesh a month ago

Unlocking bootloader/flashing isn't so easy for most people. I root every device I get, but for normal users this process isn't easy. Also some manufacturers aren't so friendly towards people unlocking bootloaders. I remember Sony lowering camera quality when you unlocked/installed Cyanogenmod back in Z2 times, or more recently Asus preventing you from unlocking completely.

PlutoniumAcid a month ago

Eupean banking apps refuse to launch on unlocked phones. And you need said banking apps as mandatory 2fa to log into your online banking system.

So in EU you gotta choose between banking and rooting.

Kokesh a month ago

Denylist in magisk works for me in eu

PlutoniumAcid a month ago

Didn't work for me on a Samsung S6 or S10. Maybe I will try again some day but for now it's not worth the risk of never being able to go back, thanks to the Samsung physical one-time fuse.

My next phone should be a Pixel with Graphene...

Kokesh a month ago

So Samsung doesn't let users go back to stock & relock? That truly sucks!

Nonononoki a month ago

S10 LineageOS user here: Works with Lygisk and the Play Integrity Fix module.

Try Kitsune Magisk. I had problems with regular Magisk but this one works really well so far.

ISOmorph a month ago

Don't throw in all of europe into one pot. The banks in my country still sell separate PIN machines for 2FA, which work great.

PlutoniumAcid a month ago

Oh right, I completely forgot about the separate device that you have to plug into your computer and then also plug your card into the deviceand then enter your pin. It's almost as convenient as having the phone app!

ISOmorph a month ago

Well that sarcasm definitely backfired mate. The device I have is a QR Code scanner that works like a phone, with the important distinction that I can do with my actual phone what I damn well please.

cheddar a month ago, edited a month ago

You are talking about the id card reader, not independent 2FA devices that generate codes. Also, in some countries you can get a SIM card with special certificates that can be used for identification and document signing, they work on virtually any modern phone. I *think* that feature uses the SMS protocol underneath, but I couldn't find the confirmation.

The apps my bank uses run perfectly well on graphene

progandy a month ago, edited a month ago

Which is only available for a limited set of devices, does not have root, locks the bootloader again and is probably professional enough to get banks to approve their signing key. For those reasons it is nor a viable solution for everyone.

Fair point, I just wanted to mention that there are unofficial, de-googled OSs that do work with banking apps so that newbies don't get the wrong impression

PlutoniumAcid a month ago

❤️

Depends on the bank. Mine (BoursoBank) works on a rooted Lineage phone. I only had to add it to Magisk's exclusion list.

Grippler a month ago, edited a month ago

I only had to add it to Magisk's exclusion list.

Yeah you needed to install a program specifically to trick the banking app in to thinking it's running on an unrooted device, because it otherwise won't launch (because it's rooted).

I've used magisk before, and its a major PITA to use. Every time you update your phone you need to redo the whole process of setting up magisk again, which requires connecting it to your PC to and running commands in the terminal. Huge fucking PITA.

PlutoniumAcid a month ago

The apps of the three big European banks I have banked with were able to detect magisk and refused even when on the whitelist.

No you don't. You simply need to run the Magisk app after an update but before rebooting.

TheTechnician27 a month ago, edited a month ago

Yeah, the bootloader really seems like a challenge. ADB fortunately is extremely easy, especially if you use a tool like App Manager from F-Droid to correspond package names to specific applications.

Just adb shell when your phone is in developer mode and you hook up to your computer via USB, then pm uninstall --user 0 packagename.

Kevin a month ago

Add HMD Nokia to the blocking unlocks completely camp

Nobody a month ago

Lina Khan should be the next attorney general.

Nah, I think she's doing good work where she's at.