In New York, it is 11 o’clock in the morning. Tim Wu, appears in the Columbia Law School faculty, publicist and Professor of law, in the Trainer, for video conversation. Under the Obama administration, he was special Advisor to the US trade Commission and the National economic Council. He is one of the most distinguished commentators of the US technology economy and coined the term “net neutrality”. This means that all data will be treated in the Transmission on the Internet.
do you Have a Facebook Account?
I have deleted it. It was easy enough. The company has once again proven too much, that her ethics lacking, that she is willing to lie to the Public and make money on more important values. the Facebook you can’t trust.
you will also Facebook’s business model hold to be harmful: the exploitation of user data for advertising. Why?
attention, and data are the most valuable resources in the future. Therefore, the business model of Facebook, Google , Amazon and the other is to suck as much from us as possible. Therefore, they have built their products in such a way that it’s addictive.
take everything from us, but we get little in return.
Exactly. In the USA there is now a strong movement that no longer accepts that people change their lives, keep children away from the Computer.
What does that mean?
you can play on iPads and mobile phones. You say to yourself away from the screen.
Only a half an hour per day?
no, it’s extreme, not at all.
How do you deal, personally, with the attention hungry Internet companies?
I have set up screen – free time and zones in a space. To not home there is no screen, and after 18 clock and on weekends also. I feel better and healthier. I have two children, two and five years old. It is important for me to be really present when I’m with you. All of this goes hand in hand with the movement for healthier food, organic food, Slow Food, the concern for the environment. I’m not perfect, but these are my rules.
“company to lead the country, while its citizens lose control.”
before throw Google and Facebook that they are Fake News to blame and imperceptibly our decisions affect.
Yes. They dominate the Internet and thus have a fundamental Power on what we think and what we read. You are the future, along with Amazon and a few others. This concentration of power worried me.
What can we do about it?
In the United States there is a Tradition of how to deal with the Problem of the Size of firms. There are laws, even in Europe, to divide them into smaller pieces. In the case of Facebook it would be easy, because it has incorporated so many competitors.
Whatsapp, Instagram …
… should we split up, and already there is competition. Of Google you could disconnect Google Europe and the Rest in Google Search and its Ecosystems divide and the concentration of power reduce.
Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page will not like to hear.
no, but you have to obey the laws.
do not apply the laws?
In the United States, the antitrust law came for the last Time in Microsoft to use when it came to the Browser. Europe Google with similar laws around a bit chasing, but you should still be a lot of naughty.
elephant not only in the technology world.
In fact, are worn worldwide many sectors of the economy, too few companies. The economy has turned into a monopoly economy. In the USA, we have many industries that are dominated by monopolies: the television and cable networks, aviation, hospitals, insurance, banking. These few firms are increasingly leading the country, while its people lose the control over your life and your decisions.
Big corporations threaten democracy, write in your latest book. How the?
voters in the US want a lot of things: better drugs, controlled prices, such as in Switzerland, higher taxes for the Rich and lower for the middle class, paid parental leave. There are in the population, large majorities, but such policies remain in dreams of desire, because the companies and monopolies control the government very strongly. It will come to a great crisis in the United States, because the people endure. Therefore, they chose to Trump.
you Want to say that the large firms and the government cooperate?
Yes, exactly.
“Google has maneuvered themselves into a bad situation.”
you have once worked for Google. Disappointed?
Yes. Google was founded by truly good people. But they have made mistakes.
The business model is.
But it is not healthy. Google have got themselves into a bad situation and needs to constantly make more money, that is the rule in the US Business. You have fallen into your own trap. If you’re not bigger, you’re dead. That hurts them really.
All companies want to grow.
Clear, but how much is enough? The big question for the next decade is: Can we bring in companies that are profitable and healthy, but not so the growth that you have to throw your ethics and your product must deteriorate?
there Are role model companies?
Yes, for example, Kickstarter, Wikipedia, Patagonia. And the “New York Times”.
Why the “New York Times”?
In your mission statement says that Profit is secondary. First the product is. You could earn more money, if you would dismiss a Reporter, but she does not, because the product would suffer.
Facebook was never an idealistic company.
no, always something opportunistic. Unlike Google or Twitter . But these have failed to create structures so that you can get your Ideal.
The Online giant will not change their behavior.
no, which is why the governments need to be active. We need to smash the big Online empires and instead many install – federalist to be like Switzerland.
(Sunday newspaper)
Created: 02.03.2019, 20:53 PM
