Google must sell Chrome to end search monopoly, says US justice department

I hope that this doesn’t apply to Chromium too. I would be pretty concerned about the future security of Chromium-based browsers if Chromium gets sold.

I think the goal is that Google has no direct hands in the browser space, so they would not be the stewards of the Chromium project. They probably would still be able to have employees work on the project, but someone else would have to be the owners

Article title is a bit clickbaity as Google won’t have to do anything, most likely for years, as the parties await judgement and then go through the appeals process.

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The title doesn’t say Google has to do anything, it only communicates what the US justice department has said in their court filing. It is up for the court to decide what the end-result will be.

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fair enough, my assumption is that most readers would interpret the title as an order Google has to comply with not just as a request to a court but I can see your point.

Do you think lawmakers can tell the difference? :rofl:

Who will manage the browser engine then? Maybe they will start a foundation (which will do no innovation, lag behind in security, and pay CEOs millions without any result, like Mozilla) or to another company (of course Chrome under Amazon is the dream right?).

This is just idiotic executive demand on the levels of making cloudflare divest its web operations. I would rather have Google and Cloudflare manage browsers and web standards than a foundation having 50 different projects with abysmal leadership and overpaid executives who can’t agree on common standards or companies like Meta or Amazon anywhere near my browser.

Hopefully the new administration kills this or at least targets other monopolies like AWS, Apple, Microsoft enterprise/Windows, Linux servers, ARM chip architecture, GSM mobile standards, etc. Let the lawmakers understand how messy and insecure the world is without common standards and their enforcers (who by virtue have the monopoly on it).

The solution to monopolies is fair market opportunities, not forced handovers. EU has the right ideas here.

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You explained my thoughts and worries better than I could, thanks.

Yeah, I’m really not sure how this will go. I think it’s best to let Google keep Chrome and other stuff that they have made and/or improve like Android, which they also made successful as it was failing as camera software. Meta should be broken up as they bought out their competition instead of making anything other than Facebook and Messenger. They bought WhatsApp, Instagram, Giphy, Oculus, etc. Google, Apple and Microsoft at least make their own hardware and software products. Google and Apple make the most secure devices in the world (Android and iOS). Meta made Facebook and Messenger which are terrible for privacy and humanity as a whole.