Document Type
Article
Abstract
Facebook, Google, Amazon, and companies like them are “data- opolies.” They control a key platform, which like a coral reef, attracts to its ecosystem users, sellers, advertisers, software developers, apps, and accessory makers. But is it ok for a few firms to possess so much data and thereby wield so much power? In the U.S., at least, antitrust officials so far seem ambivalent about these data-opolies. They’re free, the thinking goes, so what’s the harm? But that reasoning is misguided. Upon closer examination, data-opolies can actually be more dangerous than traditional monopolies. They can affect not only our wallets but our privacy, autonomy, democracy, and well-being.
Publication Date
3-27-2018
Recommended Citation
Maurice E. Stucke, Here Are All the Reasons It’s a Bad Idea to Let a Few Tech Companies Monopolize Our Data, Harv. Bus. Rev. (Mar. 27, 2018), available at https://hbr.org/2018/03/here-are-all-the-reasons-its-a-bad-idea-to-let-a-few-tech-companies-monopolize-our-data.