US DOJ targets Apple for potential antitrust probe
The U.S. Department of Justice has received jurisdiction to launch a probe into Apple's businesses practices as part of a wider review of antitrust concerns involving large technology companies like Google.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters on Monday reported the Justice Department met with the Federal Trade Commission in recent weeks to discuss jurisdiction of the potential Apple probe.
The DOJ and FTC hashed out authority over the matter at the same time as an investigation into Google, which will also be led by the Justice Department.
Last week, reports claimed the DOJ is planning to launch a probe into Google's practices as they relate to internet search and "other businesses."
The two government agencies, which split antitrust oversight duties, are ramping up scrutiny of big tech. On Saturday, a The Washington Post report said the DOJ would be tasked with watching Google as the FTC monitors Amazon. Facebook, another tech giant under constant scrutiny for its handling of user data, will be examined by the FTC, according to a Reuters report on Monday.
While the agencies have yet to make their plans public, the recent reports suggest a major government initiative to curtail or even dismantle bit tech's industry power is in the works.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters on Monday reported the Justice Department met with the Federal Trade Commission in recent weeks to discuss jurisdiction of the potential Apple probe.
The DOJ and FTC hashed out authority over the matter at the same time as an investigation into Google, which will also be led by the Justice Department.
Last week, reports claimed the DOJ is planning to launch a probe into Google's practices as they relate to internet search and "other businesses."
The two government agencies, which split antitrust oversight duties, are ramping up scrutiny of big tech. On Saturday, a The Washington Post report said the DOJ would be tasked with watching Google as the FTC monitors Amazon. Facebook, another tech giant under constant scrutiny for its handling of user data, will be examined by the FTC, according to a Reuters report on Monday.
While the agencies have yet to make their plans public, the recent reports suggest a major government initiative to curtail or even dismantle bit tech's industry power is in the works.
Comments
There are just too many of these people with too much time (and taxpayer money) on their grubby little hands.
DOJ has been looking at tech for years, going back to 2013. There has been a ton of public interest and concern about Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon. It's an issue that crosses party lines, with Trump's DOJ taking a closer look, right through Elizabeth Warren's statements about breaking up Amazon. Whether or not they find violations is anyone's guess.
Frankly in this era of division, the desire to hold these companies accountable for their actions cross party lines. I wouldn’t even call this a political problem as much as it is a legal frustration that has grown over more than a decade of not getting any traction with these companies.
As for privacy efforts being a factor, it is more a factor of companies not respecting ones privacy as the primary problem here. Apple certainly wants you to believe that process vary is their thing but that is more of a magic act than anything else.
How can having a closed, proprietary platform be anti-competitive when it does not hold a monopoly or even a majority share in its respective market? Being anti-competitive means you have some way of keeping others from competing in an open market. As an example, in the 90's Microsoft disallowed OEMs from shipping systems with an alternative OS, if they wanted to license Windows. And because Windows was basically a monopoly, OEMs couldn't survive without offering Windows. That pushed out all other competitors (other than Apple).
Sure there are some who are starting to complain about the App Store, but it's not an open, free market. It's a closed market that developers have to be allowed to enter. And Apple has the right to say, "No.", if they want. Those developers have a much larger alternative platform they can go to. If Apple were to tell iOS developers they weren't allowed to write for other platforms, then that's one way they could be considered anti-competitive, but they haven't done that.
There are special rules for monopolies for a reason - to make sure the open/free market remains active, allowing new companies with new ideas to enter. That's how any market thrives. It is not illegal to be a monopoly, but it's a much finer line to cross to do something that could be considered anti-competitive.
Nope. I was responding to "folk fountain". See their post.
What matters in these investigation is always how the market is defined.
In the overall smartphone market there is choice: if a consumer is unhappy with apple they can choose Android. That type of market definition would exonerate Apple.
However, if DOJ decides that the market are iPhone users which don't really have an option of switching to Android due to switching costs then this calculus changes.
As for right to repair. This one is bigger than Apple (see John Deere) but Apple is certainly going all in. Anything from Apple I've had to repair has been too old to cause a problem but things like the T2 chip making certain components only replaceable by Apple is disconcerting. And not even just, "You warranty will be void," but you computer won't work. I'm cool with Apple not necessarily helping me repair but I'm not expected them to actively get in the way. This definitely needs a bigger discussion. At this point, without more understanding, I wouldn't buy a mac with a T2 chip.