Does the open web require competitive markets?

[evan@cosocial.ca]

Does the open web require competitive markets?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_%28economics%29

#EvanPoll #poll

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@johnefrancis elaborate!

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@evan

I do want to say, however, that crafts people at the very least should be able to offer their wares for sale.

The worst aspects of the Internet come from the centralized commercial platforms. We could have a world of cities, providing Internet access, web, hosting services and online storage and processing.

They could be organizing in the same way the fediverse is. Every resident and local business gets access.

[virtuous_sloth@cosocial.ca]

@evan Yes, but democracy, if it has markets, also requires markets to be competitive, lest powerful actors get so powerful that democracy itself is functionally lost.

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@GhostOnTheHalfShell Interesting. Would you call a situation where every city provides services to citizens a "competitive market"?

[kaffeeringe@social.tchncs.de]

@evan Yes. We need a combination of publicly funded basic infrastructure and an economy of small to medium sized companies, that offer services for open-source.

Instead of big-tech, we need big-market.

[burnoutqueen@todon.nl]

@evan competition is a lie

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@burnoutqueen how so?

[burnoutqueen@todon.nl]

@evan

Just look at how everything is monopolized, for one

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@burnoutqueen that's not competitive, then

[malte@radikal.social]

@evan I'm no. Human societies have worked fine without competitive markets before and I don't see why a society with an open web would require it.

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@malte so, you prefer what we have now? Monopolies with rent-seeking enshittification?

[drpen@mastodon.social]

@evan no, not at all. But, people need money to live, do things, make things happen. Not much but some. This is the dilemma of the hippies, punks, ravers, any alt culture. Alt tech is the same.

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@DrPen i think it's interesting how much people are focusing on the "markets" part of this question, rather than the "competitive" part.

[leanderlindahl@mastodon.social]

@evan I most certainly don't have any answers, but it's a super interesting discussion. Somewhere in there lies the question of interoperability (if I'm using it correctly). I we could all connect and "talk to" FB users using other tools/services then users would have choice (competition would exist). We could have groups for our local community and invite to birthdays without being "slaves" to FB. And if we didn't like the algo, we'd use a tool/service with a different algo (or no algo).

[leanderlindahl@mastodon.social]

@evan I'd say yes, we need competition and regulation.

[drpen@mastodon.social]

@evan well, its not a trick question. Where's there's money, there's competition.

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@DrPen that's not true at all! Many of the Web's most important services are run as oligopolies or monopolies.

[anca@mastodon.xyz]

@evan the open web is in some ways antithetical to competitive markets (so no) and it needs a bit of government help in order to avoid being taken over by capitalists.

[drpen@mastodon.social]

@evan competition isnt only the obvious antitrust kind, its the stabs in the back, the bribery, the buying out /destroying the competition, those oligarch bros try to out do each other. Even the space rockets! Academia is packed with competitive salary and job title hunters.