Will Trump take down Silicon Valley?… Why Google tried to silence us… The biggest threat facing Big Tech today… In the mailbag: “Bring in new blood”…
According to Bloomberg, there’s an unsigned executive order sitting on President Trump’s desk.
With a stroke of his pen, he could instruct the government to open antitrust probes into Google, Facebook, and Twitter. As one leaked version of the order puts it…
Because of their critical role in American society, it is essential that American citizens are protected from anti-competitive acts by dominant online platforms.
Like the feds did with John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil in 1911… and with AT&T in 1982… they could break these Silicon Valley giants into pieces.
And it’s not the only threat these Big Tech companies face. As you’ll find out in today’s essay, there’s a growing “rebellion” in the tech world that could make these data-harvesting platforms obsolete in a matter of years…
He may be right. But these companies don’t like any ideas that are at odds with theirs – period.
We know from experience here at Legacy Research.
Google “de-platformed” Legacy – along with dozens of other independent publishing firms – earlier this year. It refused to run our ads on its networks unless we changed our ideas… and how we express them.
(One essay Google’s censors flagged was by Legacy cofounder Bill Bonner. See for yourself what all the fuss was about here… and send your thoughts to feedback@legacyresearch.com.)
Bill Bonner Letter co-author Dan Denning has been exposing the tainted history of these internet monopolies… and how they’ve become a cancer on society.
He says there are two possible outcomes to Washington’s threats to clamp down on Big Tech.
The first is that Team Trump comes after the mega platforms with an antitrust suit, as it’s been threatening. But that would require a reclassification of what counts as monopolistic behavior. Dan…
For a successful antitrust case, companies must be causing commercial harm to consumers. That usually means using their dominance in an industry to force consumers to accept higher prices.
But most of the internet mega platforms offer services for free – at least in terms of dollars. Nobody pays to open a Facebook account. Nobody buys a subscription to use Gmail.
As Dan told us, it’s why he believes the second outcome is more likely – that the tech firms cave under the political pressure. Dan…
To avoid being hit with harsher regulations, they will cooperate openly with the government to surveil and control – or “nudge” – Americans to make the “right” decisions.
Not all developers support the Surveillance Society Google, Facebook, and others have been laying the foundations for.
Outside of Silicon Valley, folks are working on a new censorship- and surveillance-resistant “upgrade” for the internet. And they’re basing it on the same decentralized computing technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
You see, bitcoin wouldn’t be possible without the cryptography breakthroughs of the cypherpunk movement.
It was a group of computer-savvy privacy activists who, in the late 1980s, started to use cryptography to keep oppressive governments… and digital snoops… in check.
And although they no longer call themselves cypherpunks, the developers who are building out the crypto economy have the same goals.
A blockchain is just a fancy term for the decentralized computing networks cryptos run on.
On these networks, there is no head honcho calling the shots… everyone gets to keep control over their data… and nobody can censor information.
And that spells trouble for today’s mega platforms. Here’s pioneering cryptocurrency investor Marco Wutzer, who heads up our Disruptive Profits advisory…
Take Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, or Gmail. The same services can now be provided in a decentralized and encrypted way. That means you’re no longer the product… some corporation isn’t reading your messages… and you choose what personal data you want to share – and which third parties you want share it with.
It’s still early days. But over the next two years or so, a blockchain-based alternative will come along that hits the sweet spot. Facebook is already a dead man walking. It just doesn’t know it yet.
Facebook has more than 2 billion users. Even if there’s an alternative that doesn’t harvest and sell your data… and is also censorship resistant… most folks won’t care.
Right now, only a small minority of Americans are alarmed at the rise of a digital Surveillance Society.
But as we’ll get into more detail next week, a blockchain-based alternative to Facebook will also turn the economic model of social media on its head.
Instead of you giving up your data in return for “free” services – such as instant messaging and photo sharing – these new platforms will pay you for your data. Stay tuned…
Colleague Dan Denning’s Declaration of Digital Rights, which we shared with you last Wednesday, is still the hottest topic with readers… including one who’s also had a good run with the legal pot stock industry…
I bought three recommendations per Casey Research and stopped out of two. I’m now riding the remaining one, which is up 154% so far.
And Digital Rights? What rights? I know the Constitution speaks of “rights,” but there is the actual physical world and then there is a bunch of humanly promoted and defined stuff such as rights. The humanly defined is BS unless the ruling powers support it. Otherwise it’s just fantasy land.
– Paul C.
You and your readers wonder how to restore freedom and reduce the government’s growing power over us all. We can begin in the coming elections. Vote OUT every one of the sitting politicians nursing at our public teat. Vote for independents, members of minor parties, or at least the other major party.
If only a sitting politician is running, don’t vote. Do it again the next election, and the next. Destroy both the Democrat and Republican parties as they now stand. Bring in new blood. At least that will make it more expensive for the Deep State… They will have to pay off ALL the candidates that action will soon provoke.
– Chuck B.
I like your ideas, but I think the battle is lost on Boobus americanus.
– Chris B.
Yes, I’d sign a statement, if I thought it wasn’t too late! I fear, without drastically strengthening the Antitrust Laws (and actually enforcing them), it may already be too late! This is not something most folks even believe is happening! How do you have a sane conversation when no one knows what is really going on? (Or they don’t want to know.) Save who, and what, you can, gentlemen! I applaud you!
– Noreen K.
The use of CCTV in many democracies has proven an effective deterrent to crime and increased convictions. Facial recognition software is a natural next step in policing, especially if foreign acts of terrorism are suspected. So no, I can’t support limiting police powers in that way. We may as well ask that we remove CCTV and forbid the use of fingerprints and DNA. On the other hand, legal tender and my private data are mine, for sale or not.
– Peter A.
Remember, the business of government is furthering the business of government.
– Roland K.
I understand 100% what you are saying about China and its “selective” news policy. The Tiananmen Square thing was hush hush even before China began its heavy-duty secretive news censoring it now has. I last visited there in 2015 and was going somewhere in a cab with my son and we passed Tiananmen Square. My son, who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese asked the driver if he remembered what happened there a few years ago. The driver got very red and broke out in a sweat, nearly dropped us off at the curb until my son begged his pardon and dropped the subject.
When I asked him what had just happened, he told me that “rumors” were going around that people were not to “discuss” what happened at Tiananmen Square, or that it didn’t happen at all, or they would be arrested and put in jail. That was pre-censorship as it is now.
The Chinese government has been known to make people “disappear” for a time and imprisoned and suddenly “reappear” without explanation. Trump had better not mess around with China because they are now stealing our “intellectual property” and gaining in industrial strength.
– Julie N.
It seems clear to me that human beings must have privacy, freedom of speech, and guarantees of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness if there is to be any civil culture anywhere in the world.
Here’s hoping that the issues raised by the actions of one of the giants of the new (to me) electronic dominance – which has permeated the world with cell phone and computer types of interpersonal contact, as well as created an end to any semblance of private identity – may inspire efforts to push back the 1984 style of today. The “Irish blessing” should be applied to Dan’s ideas, as it appears to me… May the sun shine upon ye and the wind be at your back.
– Anonymous
It’s real simple, guys: amendments one and four of the Bill of Rights. Private business is just that. Free speech is just that. Start your own platform if you can’t control what exists. I don’t like my info being mined any more than the next person (Amendment Four). Especially if Google was funded with government money.
– John A.
Could our Declaration of Digital Rights help bring back privacy? Or is it too late? Write us at feedback@legacyresearch.com.
Regards,
Chris Lowe
September 27, 2018
Dublin, Ireland
P.S. We’re just two and a half weeks away from the Legacy Investment Summit in Bermuda. Bill Bonner, Doug Casey, Teeka Tiwari, and Jeff Clark will be flying in… along with the rest of the Legacy team.
Glenn Beck will also be joining us… as will master speculator Rick Rule and Emmy Award winning reporter John Stossel. If you haven’t saved your spot yet, I urge you to do it here now.